White Fermenting in Tank and Barrel
October 8th 2008, by GQ
While we prepare for harvesting the majority of the red, we’re busy in the chai with vinifying the white wine. Now that all the grapes have been pressed and the juice has settled, we’ve kicked off the fermentation. The old semillon from Les Trois Hectares has gone into French oak barrels, whereas most of the sauvignon blanc is fermenting in a chilled stainless steel tank. We’ve also got some sauvignon blanc in barrels too.
Making White: Don’t Try This at Home
October 1st 2008, by GQ
I’m glad the Inspecteur du Travail wasn’t here yesterday morning. I’m not sure he would have appreciated the children being around so much dangerous kit.
We have now finished harvesting the white. How we make it is pretty straightforward but there’s lots to be done. Most of the work has taken place in the vineyard, including cutting out, by hand, any bunches that are tainted by rot, but attention to detail is needed now at every stage.
White: Grateful for Small Merci’s
September 30th 2008, by GQ
It’s the latest harvest for the sauvignon blanc that I can recall, although we did start with that parcel of early-maturing young vines - the plot we now call Dagueneau - on 17th September. The fruit is in lovely condition, and we’re able to machine pick it early in the morning as we have ditched any rot damaged bunches by hand. The fine weather over the last last fortnight has given us the chance to pass by every single white vine to check for rot. Not one of our neighbours is anywhere near as anal.
Seven Days in a Week
September 27th 2008, by GQ
Saturday morning, 4.30am. While France sleeps, the competition are working.
I used to make the mistake of thinking that we had five days in a week in which we could harvest, from monday to friday. I then worked out that nature doesn’t take the weekend off, so Daniel, Nelly and I now focus on simply getting the timing right. Having not picked since wednesday 17th, the old semillon vines in Les Trois Hectares are ready to go. The grapes taste great, the analysis looks good, and the weather forecast is a worry for the middle of next week - and we’ve got a lot of white grapes out there. Over 13 hectares, in fact, or 33 acres. We could harvest the whole lot in a day but we’d lose the morning freshness.