HARVEST 2012- A Rough Start with a Happy Ending
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OUR EIGHTEENTH HARVEST!And the seventh in our own tanks since we built the winery, as for many years we brought the bulk of the grapes to the cooperative and just made some experimental wine in tiny tanks. For Jean Louis and Benedicte, my wonderful brother- in-law and sister-in-law who run the winery and the vineyard respectively, this is their 12th harvest with us, and one to be remembered for its intensity, brevity and lucky ending. Because the wine itself is new, it's easy to underestimate how much time we’ve spent getting to know our land and fixing up the vineyard before we came to market. Even we forget sometimes!BLITZING BLIZARD IN THE VINEYARD BAND OF PICKERSAfter an uneasy year of maturity advances and retreats due to overzealous weather (too hot too soon in the early spring then stormy and windy at the crucial setting period), we were preparing to embark on the harvest toward the end of September as usual. But then early Intelligence started coming back with reports that the degrees were climbing fast on the Grenache, always an area of strategic weakness that has to be monitored carefully in our area. Vineyard Commander-in-Chief Benedicte let out a call to arms to begin early, and rounded up our motley but motivated squadron of Proud Pickers. SURPRISE ASSAULT BY STEALTH STORM Our amiable armada rallied for the attack, and marched off to the vineyard in the true spirit of La Marseillaise… only to be ambushed by a vicious enemy storm. It had somehow managed to fly under the radar and our high-tech agricultural weather services hadn’t detected its severity and resolve. It managed to conceal itself behind the St. Amand and pounced on our ranks with a vengeance, scattering our little army, who retreated to the safety of our cellar, which served as an impromptu bunker, to face terrible but temporary defeat.TORRENTS OF DOOM AND TEMPEST TERROR IN THE TERROIRThe hostile storm sprayed bursts of raindrops like bullets from a semiautomatic. Battered by these battalions of doom, fearing their clusters bombed, and abandoned by their protectors, the grapes put up an honest fight but some preferred to throw themselves to their death rather than face a fate of senseless bloating. The storm, possibly on orders from Higher Up, must have benefitted from classified information and took out the local power substation and other strategic targets like our internet relays and telecoms. VIVE LA RESISTANCECut off from the world and unable to act, days seemed like weeks. Morale in the ranks was low, dreading the loss of a Few Good Grapes and even some whole clusters. The power outage lasted 2 days and with the winery brought to a standstill, we feared the worst. There was a lull in the assault that gave us false hope but it was followed by more precipitous precipitation. Finally our calls and prayers were answered: the sun, our powerful ally, came to the rescue and chased off the abject outburst. We were reunited with our beloved grapes and assessed the damage: stunned by the Resistance of our small but feisty friends, we marvelled that their thick skins had shielded them from the worst of the damage: Not only had they survived intact but the were ready to roll… right into our tanks! V-DAY IN THE VINEYARDOur baffled brigade seized the day nonetheless and, invigorated and unified by this experience, they stoically set forth to make up for lost time. Clear ‘Bleu’ skies and nice cool temperatures ushered the team to a rapid victory, and the harvest was finished in a record 2 ½ weeks. Jean Louis’ second-in-command was a wonderful winemaker Laurent over from New Zealand and together they welcomed the ticker-grape parade into the tanks and loaded the barrels. HARVEST RECAP 2012 - SHORT AND FATA BUMPER YEAR FINISHED IN RECORD TIMERegrouping away from the front lines: So against all odds, 2012 seems to have shaped up into an excellent vintage. Miraculously we’ve not seen any sign of rot or mildewl. Little or no uneven ripening—in fact little need for the ‘single berry sorting table’! And with so many local and national reports of bad yields this year, we had managed down our expectations. Yet this year our yields are generally up on previous ones, 29hl/ha on average, a welcome breakthrough fromn the 25hl/ha that has been the norm. The Grenache was in the lead this year, trailed by our Syrah and finally our whites: our teenage Grenache Blanc is catching up, but the young Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne are still producing low yields. Patience!POURQUOI SUCH YIELDS, YOU ASK?We’re putting it down to several factors. Hopefully Benedicte’s decade of back-breaking efforts and our work with Claude and Lydia Bourguignon are starting to pay off, as we’ve struggled for over a decade to bring the yields up without jeopardizing the quality. Also, we didn't suffer as much from winter freeze as many others last winter (our vines, being so high up at 550-630 meters, are at an altitude where they are used to the cold and remain pretty hardy thanks to their deep roots); we were also lucky at flowering time, because it was relatively warm with no wind, so we suffered less ‘coulure’* than many less fortunate neighbors, too. Weatherrisk often works against us due to the late harvest because of the altitude, but not in this case.* when the flowers don't fertilise so the berries don't form. THE MUSTS OF MUSTMeanwhile, back at the winery… the musts from our white grapes are rich this year, with good levels of acidity. They already have complex intense aromas; pears and lychee (for the Marsanne and Roussanne), and apricot and sweet almond (for the Viognier). We’re fermenting the whites in small barrels to allow us to experiment with different yeasts, and this already seems to be yielding exciting results in terms of body and complexity. Those from the reds are deeply coloured with silky tannins and good fresh acidity. We’re already finding lovely notes of cassis and blackberry, together with lusciously ripe strawberries and black cherries. We won’t know how long we will age in barrel until we’re finished with this year’s vinification, but so far so good!