At long last, we've made it - Sept review
Posted by Gavin Quinney on 30th Sep 2016
No, we haven't hit the big time but, at the 18th attempt, we've finally notched up the maximum annual quota of white that we’re allowed to produce under the strict Appellation Controlee rules. To be fair, we haven't actually made the wine as yet since we've only just finished harvesting our Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon this week; the fermenting, freshly pressed juice is lovely however and we’ll do our best with it, naturally.
There’s much to be done but at least the accountant and bank manager will be pleased. We should perhaps have hit the limit before now, as we've replanted over half the vineyard with double the number of vines per hectare and the same quota applies. Many of the vines were young, though, and we've had one or two setbacks along the way.
Talking of which, our good fortune this year is in stark contrast to many growers elsewhere in France, whose vines have suffered from late spring frosts, hail storms and summer drought. It must be our turn in the lucky dip.
Meanwhile, the Merlot harvest has kicked off across Bordeaux under clear blue skies and it’s all looking extremely promising.
Forgive the long newsletter but much has been happening this month.
All the best
Gavin & Angela
Rose at dawn
We've been harvesting every morning for six days on the trot, starting at a ridiculously early time before the sun comes up. The days have been dry and sunny since a heavy downpour in the middle of the month. Sandwiched in between the Sauvignon and the Semillon since then, we harvested some Merlot for our rosé at sparrow’s fart last Sunday. We choose to harvest the bunches from this high yielding block earlier than we would do for red, as the acidity needs to be racier and we want less sugar - and therefore lower alcohol. (Gavin’s blog post includes an exciting video clip.)
View the 'Rosé at dawn' photo album
Les Trois Hectares 2015
We started harvesting the bunches from the old vines in Les Trois Hectares on Wednesday, as modelled by Georgie and Sophie in the header pic above, and decided to launch last year’s wine from the same parcel that day in the UK. We had a tremendous response to the introductory offer of £9.95 in cases of 6 with free delivery for 12 bottles in England and Wales. It'll be £11 after 4 October with free delivery for 24, so do take up the offer without delay. It's our favourite LTH dry white yet. Do use your personal voucher code Surname+Initial E.G. SmithC for a further 10% off (£8.96 a bottle now).
Harvesting in the dark, with pics
After the previous week’s hand picking, we had ’harvesting in the dark’ week. There are a few reasons for picking Sauvignon Blanc by machine before dawn. Firstly, the grapes and the juice come in nice and chilly, with less risk of oxidation. Secondly, the other chateaux who hire our man Guy and his machines rarely start before 8am, so we can usually make up our minds about what to harvest at the last minute. (Guy, you see, is that rare sort of Frenchman who wants to bill for as many hours as possible.)
View the 'Harvesting in the dark' photo album
Bordeaux 2016 – refreshment at last
My Bordeaux 2016 vintage update 10 days ago was published on Jancis Robinson’s website and on Livex, the leading fine wine exchange. Here’s an extract: “The ’glorious summer’ continued, in fact, for four more weeks until the night of 13 September. It had proved to be exceptionally dry. For the 12 weeks from 23 June (that infamous date seems a long time ago now), many areas of Bordeaux saw only a tenth of the 30-year average rainfall: St-Emilion, Sauternes, Margaux and parts of the Entre Deux Mers had around just 14mm compared to the average of 140mm.”
The start of the harvest, with pics
Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon: that’s the normal sequence for harvesting our grapes to make still wines in Bordeaux because that’s the order in which they ripen, all other things being equal. However, we picked a parcel of Semillon for our sparkling white wine before anything else, as the juice shouldn’t be too rich in sugar and needs to have bracing acidity.