Gevrey-Chambertin Les Crais – okay, if I was being picky, the chardonnay grapes are a little large 😉

In the last 24 hours I did three things I’d never done before (well, almost never…!) I ate a burger and chips approaching midnight after Friday’s late harvest finish, then today I had a nutella-filled doughnut for dessert (maybe the French description is more ‘come hither…’), and finally today, I triaged Gevrey villages grapes that would put most grand crus to shame – just lovely stuff – after the trudge of hard triage yesterday, I could almost sing!

Given the previous (late) evening’s culinary exploits, I chose to start the day with a run to Pommard and back; it was lightly, but incessantly raining, probably not a lot of fun in the vines! We assembled the various parts of our triage machine and about 10:45 began our assault on the grapes from Gevrey – lieu-dit Les Crais which neighbours La Justice – gorgeous grapes (see the picture above) that really put yesterday’s Charmes-Chambertin to shame in terms of cleanliness and form – one assumes not taste!

Lunch today was more of celebration of the boss’s birthday as we were simply too busy yesterday (La Romanée excepted!), paraphrasing Hilaire Beloc, I don’t remember the food, but the wine was 2004 Cristal, 1993 Meursault and 2002 Clos des Lambrays. I can’t remember the last time I experienced such a joyous trio of wines, they were that good!

Back to work after the Brillat-Savarin and the doughnut, the second tranche of our Gevrey Les Crais – from older vines – and possibly slightly cleaner (toss a coin) but I thought the cluster shape and smaller berries of the young vines more interesting. Of-course with grapes in such great condition, we didn’t need the blade, but with more Volnay coming in the afternoon, its return was mandated. Oh, and what an afternoon for picking – close to torrential rain for a few minutes, and incessant between 2-3pm – definitely very shitty in the vines…

Next on the triage table was Volnay Billard (villages-level) for which we decided to re-install (queue the Superman music) ‘the blade‘. You can see where it sits in the process, and how how it works, sort of, below – the last part shows where the air deflects the lighter berries that pass through the second vibration ‘table’ after the de-stemmer – well it would I was a half-decent videographer 😉 Anyway the grapes were surprisingly good – minimal triage was required, only to watch out for the rare spot of rot, and under-ripe clusters. Lastly we had some more Gevery-Chambertin Les Crais. Sadly not quite to the standard of this mornings batches as there was more bigger-berried bunches and more rot – occasional cases of fruit were just like this morning though, and clearly no worry as we were using (queue Superman music again) ‘the blade‘! There was blue sky and a little sunshine by 18:00 and they say summer will return next week – let’s see. Triage finished at 19:30 (Ooh! Early!) Potentially we may be finished by about 21:15 🙂

Blown debris hits the plate

…and falls into the bin

Contents of the bin…

Ah, traditional Burgundy – not the cassoulet, but the cassoulet with La Romanée 😉

The forecast rain was just a heavy downpour of a few minutes overnight, but the weather front had been delayed, so the morning was a mix of sun and clouds – more like 20° than the 25°C of Thursday. We triaged Beaune Les Cras – some rot to remove – and Volnay Les Lurets (from the lower, villages section) before lunch. Because we were expecting some of the worst grapes of the harvest, a new setup was demanded; under our destemmer was another vibrating table to triage the destemmed grapes, also with an ‘air-blade’ attached so that (based on density) shriveled or unripe grapes that had got through the first triage table would be removed. Queue the Mistral 60!

Most vintages are about how effective you triage, and the results looked excellent here!

The first drops of rain began after 1:00pm in Beaune, and the grower in Gevrey was concerned about rot – so decided to bring in their Charmes-Chambertin. With about a 45 minute break we had rain all afternoon, but first more Volnay Lurets and another parcel of villages Volnay before the arrival of our Charmes. The grape size was generally smaller on the older vines part of the Lurets, but a roughly similar amount of triage was needed for under-ripe and some rot. The villages Volnay that followed required just a little less triage, but pretty similar really. The Charmes had some nice small berries, but indeed there was already a little rot – the team worked hard to finish the lot – despite the Charmes being ‘unplanned’. Triage was completed by 21:00hrs – at least an hour of clean-up then required…
 

Mistral in-place

Grapes pre-triage

Post-triage…

My first time on the new TGV route – indicated 319 km/h towards Dijon – I would lose my car in France even for attempting that! And what a great way to arrive, on a summer-like autumn day of 25°C – definitely t-shirts by the triage table. Of-course the weather overnight (and tomorrow!) is forecast to be very wet, prompting (among others) Dominique Lafon to harvest his Montrachet this afternoon, likewise, Caroline l’Estimé was bringing in her Bâtard-Montrachet.

The home domaine has a few whites, and all were completed yesterday, save for a little hailed Corton-Charlemagne – it can wait – the weather from Saturday-onwards is again supposed to be benevolent. But today was the first day of reds at the domaine so time to get the sleeves rolled-up.

Before lunch came Volnay Santenots. This plot was barely touched by the hail, and the grape size was very small – the main factor in the low yields. Some beautiful bunches indeed, with no rot to triage, but lots of second-set and otherwise under-ripe bunches to look out for. Very happy with the quality of this – if not the quantity. Then lunch, a modest affair of Chassagne Tête du Clos (2011) and Grands-Echézeaux (2008) – there was food too…

Post-lunch we needed full concentration on our Santenay 1er La Comme. Year-in, year-out these grapes need the most triage – and so it was again today – rot, under-ripe grapes, you name it. The grapes actually tasted quite good, so let’s see how good the result will be. Third and last parcel of the day was Beaune Les Avaux – old vines but with a clone that usually delivers cherry-sized grapes. This year, surprisingly we had very modest sized grapes, indeed nice clean grapes too – there was a relatively rare spot of rot to triage, and the usual under-ripe / second-set bunches, but very happy with this, and it’s an early finish too – the last grapes triaged by 18:30 – still there’s 2 hours of clean-up ahead of us…

I’m sure we’ll get around to these…

Volnay Santenots

Beaune Les Avaux

Whose feet?

Lunch (a part…)

Ever get the feeling that you are 1 or 2 days late?

Despite a swathe of the Côte de Nuits being untouched, indeed needing at least another week in some areas, I see the pictures of Jadot’s Musigny rolling along the triage table (today…) and can’t help thinking – ‘oops!’

Yesterday some excellent producers in Meursault already finished their harvest – think Javillier and Fichet. Patrick Essa has some lovely millerandes in his Meursaults that have helped bring his sugar levels to something over 13° of potential alcohol. Coche-Dury started picking their Corton-Charlemagne this afternoon, and Dubreuil-Fontaine started picking yesterday. Still there is still plenty to cut in Chassagne and Puligny. A few domaines began harvesting their Beaunes and Pommards in the autumnal foggy mist yesterday, but today was a blue sky day. Reports on those grapes are that the fruit is relatively easy to triage, so what they will make wine with is good quality, but it is a rare plot that reaches 20 hl/ha where it was hailed…

Anyway, enough of these second-hand photos and experiences, with the weather set fair, tomorrow I will have grapes in my own hands – not to mention an occasional glass!!!

Photos from: Faiveley, Jadot, Caroline l’Estimé, Nicolas Rossignol

Nicolas Rossignol’s Clos des Angles

JN Gagnard’s Chassagne Caillerets

Faiveley Cazetiers

Jadot’s Musigny!

Whilst the overwhelming majority of red grapes wait on the vines, the chardonnay cutting is now in full flow; many were the domaines that started at the end of last week, more-so at the weekend, and now practically everyone has started.

There is a little to triage in some vineyards, almost nothing in others, interestingly the grapes are far from uniform in size – whilst the average size is relatively small, each bunch seems to have its fair share of canon-balls! The quantity of ‘millerandes’ is helping the potential alcohol levels, if not the potential yields – I’ve seen plenty of musts already with 13°+…

Reds will slowly but surely come into focus now – I’m there from Thursday, can’t wait! So-far, at least, the weather remains benevolent…

The Facebook images of various producers:

A warm week – it’s started with 22-23° but could be over 30°C by the weekend – but there’s a tricky storm forecast to get through on Thursday…

William Fevre will start picking on Thursday, same as many in Cote de Beaune. Other Chablis growers more likely next week

— Jasper Morris (@justjasper) September 24, 2013

Although they are in a minority, things are starting to get serious now; Olivier Lamy has already picked his first vineyard, and Patrick Javillier will also start now for some vines. As Jasper notes (above) many white wine producers will start before the week is out, though many wait, still assembling their pickers, chewing the cud – or making sugar readings. But many are also building up their arsenal of facebook pictures for their fans – nobody said wines were just made in the vineyards 😉

Of-course, some are more photogenic than others!
Pics ex: Bouley, Chicotot, Grivot, JN Gagnard, Roy

My local spy tells me that the first grapes are being cut in Meursault today. They also tell me that sugar may still be needed for those that wait until October to pick!!!

Pic. from Patrick Essa. Reds in Meursault yesterday

That’s how the harvest projections are still going. Whites grapes that were anticipated to be cut ~27th have now mainly been put back to the 30th-plus. One vigneron told me that it looks a little like 2008 for the whites, i.e. they may need to wait and wait but then pick very quickly before botrytis exerts any control. I did hear of some pickers who might pick some chardonnay next week – but they will only be able to make cremant I expect, as the grapes are not yet ripe.

As for reds, more and more are expecting their peak picking to be 3rd-10th October – doubtless there will be many domaines on either side of that window…

Let’s see, here are the current thoughts of Patrick Essa…