A true winegrower’s year

Yesterday, we kicked off the harvest under glorious sunshine, one week later than last year and nearly two weeks behind 2022. For the past 10 days, the rain has been falling non-stop: 75 mm including last night. This rain has done the vines good, as they were beginning to suffer from drought, which is never ideal for grape ripening. The vine needs water to complete the ripening of its fruit. If it lacks water, it will focus primarily on its own survival rather than nourishing the grapes, its offspring. Now, 75 mm is a lot. The first few millimetres helped rehydrate the soil, while the subsequent rainfall nourished the plant. The excess swells the berries and begins to split the fully ripe grapes. So, for the past week, we have been walking the plots close to harvest every day to try to make the right call: wait a bit longer for further ripeness and risk a decline in grape health, or harvest now at the risk of phenolic ripeness not being fully achieved. We made the decision to harvest the two plots of Peyron (sauvignon) and Bouché (co-planted with sauvignon and sémillon). These two plots reach maturity before the others every year. The other parcels will wait. We are holding out for greater ripeness for the wines we produce. And if the weather causes conditions to deteriorate, we will head into the vineyard to drop any bunches affected by botrytis. Quality comes at this price. Today, Friday: heavy rain (already 10 mm overnight) Tomorrow, Saturday: showers Sunday: showers Monday: showers Tuesday: a lull Wednesday: heavy rain We will have a window on Tuesday. We’ll see on Monday which plot is ready. There are vintages where weather conditions dictate our decisions. That is certainly the case this year for the whites. The two batches brought in yesterday are promising: just over 12.5% potential alcohol, lovely balance, freshness, and organoleptic ripeness achieved. We shall see whether the vintage allows us to push a batch to over-ripeness to achieve greater complexity in the blends.