Harvests

a few tweets and links of interest…

By billn on June 18, 2014 #harvests#other sites#the market#vintage 2014

First, Clive on 2004 – I feel my wrists being slapped…! 😉

Second, one wonders why he was able to accumulate so much – but hey – it’s just another profit…

Third, what really is this UNESCO thing?

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very warm in the cĂ´tes…

By billn on June 10, 2014 #harvests#travels in burgundy 2014#vintage 2014

The positive side to that is that flowering is, in the main, completed.

It is a good ‘set’ this year, so the vigneron(ne)s at least retain the possibility for a good harvest volume in 2014. The last great vintage ending in a 4 was 1964 – let’s hope that the 50th anniversary of that, is one to remember!

Of-course the negative side to this warm, muggy, weather is the incidence of storms. Many places have been hard-hit in France in the last 36 hours – parts of Bordeaux badly hailed again. Tonight in Chablis we had a threatening-looking sky, and even the odd thunder-clap, but as Tuesday ends – that’s the most of it.

As far as today is concerned, I have mainly been drinking Irancy!

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one eye on the sky…

By billn on May 29, 2014 #harvests#vintage 2014

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The vines in Chablis don’t have quite the same level of development, even in the Grand Crus (right, Les Clos yesterday), but in the CĂ´te de Beaune and CĂ´te de Nuits we are seeing more and more flowering in the vineyards.

The weather is currently a coolish 16-22°C – perfect for jogging! – and there’s some breeze too, but despite occasional threatening, moody cloud it’s remaining mainly dry here (so far) this week.

Chablis, by contrast, had some short, sharp bursts of rain yesterday afternoon – lucky for them that they’ve no flowers to perturb!

Many are the vigneron(ne)s keeping one eye on the sky, and for the next couple of weeks…

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the first flowers of 2014…

By billn on May 21, 2014 #harvests#travel pics#travels in burgundy 2014#vintage 2014

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Some of the first, anyway!

Once a week, the breakfast at Hotel Montrachet is my treat. Today, on the way back to Beaune, Clouseau-like, I poked around a few vineyards with my camera – today Puligny La Garenne and Meursault Les Perrières. In general the chardonnay of the CĂ´te de Beaune seems a little in advance of the pinot noir, likewise, find a a nice big south-facing wall and those vines that nestle against it – facing south – are even further in advance. Here you will find an occasional vine that is already flowering. It’s an outrider If you like, but my first sight…

Just outside the south-facing wall of the Clos des Perrières:

A little more Meursault Perrières:

Clos des Perrièes is the walled vines…

A few pics from Puligny Garenne too:

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on the subject of ‘normality’

By billn on May 20, 2014 #harvests#vintage 2014

The vines are settling into a more ‘normal’ rhythm too.

Following the warm March and April, it’s certainly been much cooler since then; consequently, the vines have slowed down their rate of growth – they are still a little ahead of the average, but not 3-4 weeks in advance of it like 1 month ago.

Burgundians (with holiday plans!) are now happier to be penciling-in mid-September as a more-likely harvest-time – versus late August only 1 month ago. Of-course it goes without saying that all are praying calm and dry conditions as soon as the flowers open…

A little tour, in and around Beaune today:

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chablis 2014 – to heat, or not to heat

By billn on April 16, 2014 #harvests#travels in burgundy 2014#vintage 2014

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There were many producers holding their breath last night, and will probably be doing the same tonight – it reached -2.2°C at 05h30 this morning.

The fact that it is dry gives a little more latitude, so the vines can better resist the cold, but still at -3°C the new leaves and shoots on those vines will be damaged. If the vineyard was more damp, they can really only tolerate -1.5°C! The forecast is for similar tonight. Apparently two nights last week were also equally worrisome.

It’s actually unusually dry in the vineyards, in one of the pictures below, you can see the workers of William Fevre having to water the new vines they planted last week in Grand Cru Preuses – otherwise they would die – pretty-much unheard of in April. On the other hand, lucky for them that they didn’t yet have to heat the vineyards or spray water to protect the vines. Spraying water is a double-edged sword; it’s effective, but once you start spraying you may have to do it more often…

Trace heating wires in the grand crus
Having to water the newly planted vines
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sun, ski and amiot’s 2006 morey les ruchots

By billn on April 10, 2014 #degustation#picture gallery#vintage 2014

Hard to believe, but the lull here was due to skiing, curtailed today by too much snow! Back home this afternoon, it was 22°C in the garden, no-wonder:

But following my evening jog – replacing one kind of (leg) ache with another – time for a little MSD 1er Cru action!

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2006 Pierre Amiot, Morey St.Denis 1er Les Rochots
Medium, medium-plus colour. It starts modestly, but it’s still a nose to sink into; a classic Morey nose of herbs, backed with dark fruit and maybe a little blood-iron for good measure too. Just an ounce of padding below the silky texture and flavours that are detailed, fresh and focused. Not a powerful wine this – you will find a number of villages wines with the same heft – but long and very interesting. And note, it costs less than most ‘name’ Vosne villages these days! Very tasty!
Rebuy – Yes

And a little Austrian action too:

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a vendangeur’s (pictoral) tale… (part dix)

By Marko de Morey et de la Vosne on October 29, 2013 #harvests#vintage 2013

But actually, days 11 and 12 – 11 being the last harvest day.

The wood burning stove thing looked like something out of an illicit still operation from the backwoods Southern USA. Très bizarre! Romain A was using it to heat ‘pure’, for bio purposes, very hot water although the initial lighting of the wood using a blow torch(!) A large vessel containing the water being heated sat on top of the stove with a plastic pipe running from it to draw off hot water. Romain was using the hot water to clean the screw thread mechanism thingie from the destemmer which was caked in a black gunge. Using the hot water and a scraper he got the metal parts back to clean, bare, metal using the wood stove heated hot water – this took up most of the day I think.

I could quite easily have brought Mystique home with me. Reckon he enjoyed the vendange as much as anybody & a return to quiet and no occupation at the Arlaud village maison & yard will be a little odd for him at first – doubtless his bird and rodent hunting activities will fill his days !

Day-11-Early-morning-and-freezing-start-on-Hautes-Cotes-above-Vosne.-Porteur-in-the-mist
Day-11-Early-morning-on-Hautes-Cotes-above-Vosne.-Porteur-Claude-in-the-mist
Day-11-Early-morning-and-freezing-start-on-Hautes-Cotes-above-Vosne.-Vendangeurs-in-the-mist
Day-11-Early-morning-Hautes-Cotes.-Vendangeurs-coffee-break-revival
Day-11-Early-morning-and-freezing-start-on-Hautes-Cotes-above-Vosne.-Vendangeurs-in-the-mist-2
Day-11-Hautes-Cotes-coffee-break.-Herve-right-of-centre-serving-coffee.-It-was-as-cold-as-it-looks
Day-11-Early-morning-Hautes-Cotes.-Vendangeurs-coffee-break-revival.-Sandrine-centre-Charleen-in-pink-showing-how-cold-they-are
Day-11-Hautes-Cotes-freezing-early-morning.-Les-Bretons-Tin-Tin-Annie-and-Alice-Chidaine-with-croissant
Day-11-Hautes-Cotes-freezing-early-morning.-Les-Bretons-Tin-Tin-Annie-with-Alice-Chidaine
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Day-11-Lovely-people-Mongolian-family
Day-11-the-incorrigible-J-PFeral-giving-Madame-from-Mongolia-a-smacker-to-celebrate-vendange-finish
Day-11-Evening-meal.-Mystique-tucking-into-his-own-helping-of-Shepherds-Pie
Vendange-lodgers-drinking-summary-beyond-the-always-on-tap-Aligote-PTG
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a vendangeur’s (pictoral) tale… (part neuf)

By Marko de Morey et de la Vosne on October 24, 2013 #harvests#vintage 2013

And whilst this is part nine, note it’s not day nine – it’s day ten as we had one day off…

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Porteur-in-Bourgogne-Rouge-claggy-mist-obscuring-Morey-behind
Vendangeurs-in-claggy-mist-brouillard
Early-morning-start-against-sunrise-and-light-rain
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After-lunch-Hautes-Cotes-high-trained-Chardonnay-vines
After-lunch-Hautes-Cotes-Chardonnay-post-picking-exit
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