Harvest 2016: The Little Vineyard That Could
The 2016 harvest was certainly full of contrasts: rain... then drought... and then rain again. Somewhat miraculously, our little vineyard pushed on through... and, with the help of the mistral, overcame the worst of it.
A late bud break for a right-on-time véraison
We had a wet start to the year, delaying bud break by about 10 days and flowering by about the same. The rain also led to some coulure on the Grenache (bringing it down by about 7% on last year’s bumper crop), but then a very arid summer allowed the grapes to catch up with their usual cycle and veraison happened bang on schedule.
Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot
To redress the balance of the start of the year, a mini drought until mid-September meant a small delay on phenolic ripeness. Harvest started this year on Wednesday 28 September, only about 4 - 5 days later than our average.
A cool and sunny harvest with a rainy finish
The weather was sunny and cool for the first 2 weeks (just half a day of light rain). We harvested our rose and whites, then the Syrah for Héloïse during this period. We love this mix of sunshine and cool temperatures which gives deep skin colors that will hold better and finer tannins.
Two days of heavy rain in week three delayed the harvest of part of the Grenache for our red wines (the final grapes we bring in each year), but, thanks to the mini-drought, our grapes had become thicker-skinned and proved resilient. The winds that followed the storm quickly dried the vines and meant we didn’t suffer any rot (except in the depths of the hollows in our undulating grenache parcels, where we do sometimes find tiny patches of botrytis).
Sadly, a second storm stopped us in our tracks before we took in the very last grapes. This affected the concentration levels on a small parcelle of the Grenache (affecting about 20 hectoliters), that we had planned to save for Abélard. Because we vinify by parcelle we will be able to see how this wine is looking post elevage and decide whether and in which wine to use it.
The harvest has otherwise been healthy indeed, with little need for sorting.The rosé and whites promise great finesse.
Rocking and Rolle-ing at last
We have two new varieties in our field-blend white (Aliot) this year; our 3-year-old Clairette and Rolle (Vermentino) are included for the first time. These grapes are planted on our steepest, north-facing slopes (bordering Gigondas). We harvest them first, and the low young vines growing perpendicular to the slope do provide a particularly tough introduction to our vineyards for the harvest team.
We will also be using some Rolle in the rosé for the first time as well another new grape for us: our 4-year-old Mourvèdre.
The Viognier, which grows in an adjoining parcelle to the other white varieties, has proved particularly popular with the local wild boar population. We are in a UNESCO reserve and so hunting them is prohibited! However, yields this year are still up significantly on last year. Indeed, our yield on all the whites has increased by about 20% over last year, as the vines become fully established and are within an acceptable average yield (about 35 hl / ha).
For the reds, our Syrah yields are slightly higher than last year (6% - yielding c 30 hl / ha), with dense colors and pure juices, with flavors of ripe fruit.
Our Grenache experienced some coulure and then was hit hard by the rain, therefore (per above) production is a bit lower than last year, but what we do have is nicely is concentrated with dark red colors and beautiful aromas of black cherries and raspberries.
Because we have more Grenache than any other grape variety, overall quantities will be down on last year; last year our average was 32hl/ha or 2.14 tons per acre, and this year on 30 hl / ha or 2 tons per acre, but 2015 was a particularly large harvest for us; so we are extremely happy with the 2016 yields and, above all, the quality.
'Non Mihi, Non Tibi, Sed Nobis', our motto, 'Not yours, not mine, but ours'
Last, but by no means least: we would like to thank our amazing 2016 harvest team!
Team Bleu