Harvest 2008 in the Minervois

This is Mr Zen checking the sugar levels and alcohol levels on his Syrah....helped by his co workers! Unfortunately it has been a tough year for growers in the Minervois. Yields are significantly lower due to many reasons. The over riding problem is the on going drought (3 years now). However the weather has also been a bit patchy....Spring was cold and dull, so bud burst and flowering were not perfect. Summer was also a bit up and down. Mildew seemed to be a major problem in the vineyards....so lots of relatively expensive and time consuming spray treatments were necessary(mostly Sulphur and Bordeaux mixture). The late Summer and early Autumn season was OK with good average temperatures.
However sporadic and isolated hail storms effected some vineyards in the higher parts of the Minervois. We visited and tasted the grapes in many different vineyards throughout the area during harvest time. The grapes physically seemed smaller and the skins were denser due to the drought. The juice will be highly concentrated and in general terms it is no bad thing for the Languedoc area to produce less wine. The harvest is gradually finishing now....whilst Bordeaux is just starting! I will be tasting post fermented juice over the coming weeks and also the first 'Primeur' wines to get a handle of the quality and style of this vintage...we shall see!

Fantastic wines at Mas Amiel

Zoomed down to Mas Amiel wine estate to collect a few orders and taste some of their recent wines. These guys are making some seriously good wines. The soils are very minerally and schist based. The wine estate lies in the picturesque higher parts of the Valley d'Agly just inland from Perpignan. The vineyards are within the Maury appellation, which is essentially the area where the recent Channel 4 TV program Chateau Monty was filmed.
This area has a fabulous reputation for the Vin Doux Naturel wines (VdN's). The Mas Amiel wine estate also have a unique system of ageing their dessert wines in glass demi johns outside in an area that is exposed to excessive heat and all the elements of the weather. This produces wines that have a rancio, madeira, tawny port type character.....but they are unique! They will make a real difference on the Christmas table this year. The Mas Amiel Vintage Red is also fantastic paired with chocolate....one of the few wines that stands up to cocoa.

I love visiting this area of the Roussillon. It is wild and windy with fantastic views of the Pyrenees and also it is easy to make a small detour to the great beaches.......I took the boys to have a run at La Franqui.

Weird Grapes

My neighbours have nearly 30 hectares of near perfect viticultural vines. They work 7 days a week 365 days a year in order to look after the land. They are delightful people, two brothers in their late 50's/early 60's who live in a ramshackle farm house at the top of the hill with their mother(who must be well in to her 90's)!

Their father passed away a few years ago. He was known locally as the 'helicopter man' as he drove around with an open top Citroen 2CV with a large electric fan cooling him down! Sounds like a bit of a character. The family arrived in this area(originally from Spain) with no possessions over 60 years ago. They have grafted all their life and built up their vineyards and never sold anything. They have absolutely no ostentatious trappings of prosperity. They are just very hardworking people who know a lot about the soil, the vines, the winds, the rain, the sun and how to make things grow! ...essentially the most important things in life.
They are old fashioned in their approach to viticulture but they weigh up decisions with 50 years experience rather than the latest fashion.
They pick all their grapes by hand. The picture on the left is the harvest team in full action. I lasted about 15 minutes before I was left behind! They were picking grapes on the vines about 200 metres from our house. I was intrigued to see a mixed block of white and red grapes. Apparently this was the norm 50 years ago when this vineyard was planted. The grapes in the picture on the right (which looked incredibly healthy) are a mix of Listan (white) also known as Palomini Fino and Aramon (red). Look up wikipedia for more info. But these grapes are an essential fabric of the amazing mix of life in the South of France.

Inside the monster

This is the inside and outside of a grape harvesting machine. In the pic on the right the side hoppers are normally lower down...it was just being cleaned at the end of the day and the kids thought it looked like a monster. The machine is loud and bulky. The grapes are essentially riddled as they pass through the white bars (that look like whalebones) on the left. The grapes and bunches drop down in to the plastic light brown pouches which then transfer the grapes in to the big side hoppers. When the hoppers are full they are emptied in to a trailer and the grapes are taken to the winery.
More and more machines are being used around the South of France and the traditional pickers are becoming scarce.
Some stats:
1.It takes 8 pickers and two porters/tractor drivers one day to pick one hectare of grapes by hand. The grapes arrive steadily at the winery over the course of the day. The grapes will be in good condition (bunches intact)with very little abrasion. Perfect for making wine. Presuming all 10 workers are earning the basic agricultural minimum wage then this is a costly exercise.
2. It takes one man driving a grape harvest machine and one man driving the tractor with trailer approximately 2-3 hours to pick the same area (one hectare). The grapes arrive much quicker at the winery, however they have been severely shaken/battered.

The advantages of hand picking are obviously the quality of the grapes. However the economic advantage of the grape harvest machine are also significant. The machines have certainly evolved enormously over the last few years and they are less hard on the grapes....but there is still a lot of free run juice arriving with the grapes at the winery, which is not ideal when the winemaker wants to control the fermentation more precisely. The other advantage of the machine is the pure speed. The vineyard owner can be far more precise for harvest and also pick all his grapes at absolute optimum ripeness...whereas a team of pickers take a long time to get around all the vines.
I love tradition but these monster machines seem to be taking over.....this machine cost €70,000. The cost/investment should be justified over a five year period.

Wine Traditions

The harvest has started slowly in the Minervois. After the white grapes were picked there has been a slight lull as the red grapes ripen a bit more. Wine growers just want the acids in the pips and the grapes to ripen a tiny bit more before the main part of the harvest is picked. The roads are all blocked with tractors, trailers and the monster harvest machines as some of the early (softer skin) reds are being picked.
This morning I got in to the office early to get some work done. At 7.30am some friends who work in the winery stopped for their 'breakfast' with their daughter. I was pleased to see that the menu consisted of a baguette, some coarse pate and a bottle of red! Some traditions are superb. It certainly beats a cup of coffee and a bit of toast. At least there were low 'food miles' involved.

Weather update on harvest 2008

Here are some lovely ripe Muscat grapes that were picked and processed on Friday. These grapes will be destined for a light fresh blend..probably with Vermentino, Grenache Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc.
We checked out some of the Syrah vineyards that had been hit hard by the hail storm on Thursday evening. The result has been that the grapes were picked yesterday (Saturday) and brought straight in to the winery. The decision being that they are not going to be in good condition if they are left on the vines, so it is best to pick a bit early now and a decent rose wine might be salvaged. It was strange to see the winery in full go at 6.45pm on Saturday evening when most of the French struggle to work a full 5 days most weeks. They had received 30 tonnes of grapes during the day. So this was evidently serious!
We had more rain last night (started at 5.45pm and lasted 90 minutes), but the wind has been a bit stronger and the vines are clearing. Lovely bright and very warm, sunny day on Sunday. The main part of the red grapes will be picked this coming fortnight.

Weather Disaster in the Minervois

Just had a frantic cellar rat charging in to my office!
Apparently last nights storms were far worse than expected. The storms had hail stones...the nightmare of grape growers.
The initial (slightly hysterical and very over dramatic French) reaction is that there has been major hail damage around the village of La Caunette and Minerve. The quote of 'wipe out' and '100% loss' was deciphered through the puffing Frenchman.
This could be serious as some of the top wines for www.lestroisblasons.com are from the hills around La Caunette and Minerve. I will zoom up there later today to find out what is going on....pics to follow.

A cloud! Harvest starts soon.

Max took this picture last night. I think this was the first cloud that we saw all day! Fantastic weather with a cleansing vent du nord.
Lots of clearing up work in the vineyards all weekend.
The harvest here in the Languedoc will start soon (some whites are gradually being picked). Lots of grape analysis and chin rubbing and general decision making will take place over the next month. Although the lack of water is an ongoing problem and there are rumblings that this will reduce the quantity significantly, the omens are looking good.