If at first ... etc. trie, trie & trie again
Just back from 3 days at the triage table, and it was great, good and
oh my god (bad) in terms of the grapes. Where there was hail and rot we were
discarding as much as 25% of what was brought in - and remember that
there was already a 'rough and ready' trie at the vines! Finished the day
with Corton Rognets and these were beautiful grapes, very ripe, very
clean but interestingly with the greenest stems I've seen all week. I
think we did a pretty good job and look forward to tasting the wines as
they develop.
The majority of the grapes are now in, Domaine d'Ardhuy still have their Corton-Charlemagne to harvest, but their reds were done a day or two ago. As good as some reds will doubtless be, the whites could really eclipse the reds this year. Chardonnay is much more robust than Pinot when it comes to hail, it was only the removal of the rot, hence reducing yields, that stopped a really big harvest in whites.
I really enjoyed my harvest action and have the black fingers to show for 6 tonnes of pinot noir triaged! It's only when you see the grapes come in that see how much chardonnay and pinot gris are still in the vineyard - of course officially none of that goes into the wine ;-)
Bill
The majority of the grapes are now in, Domaine d'Ardhuy still have their Corton-Charlemagne to harvest, but their reds were done a day or two ago. As good as some reds will doubtless be, the whites could really eclipse the reds this year. Chardonnay is much more robust than Pinot when it comes to hail, it was only the removal of the rot, hence reducing yields, that stopped a really big harvest in whites.
I really enjoyed my harvest action and have the black fingers to show for 6 tonnes of pinot noir triaged! It's only when you see the grapes come in that see how much chardonnay and pinot gris are still in the vineyard - of course officially none of that goes into the wine ;-)
Bill