2011 vintage round-up
Harvest is a time of back-breaking work for our winemakers. It is also a time of great expectation and anticipation - by vignerons and drinkers alike!
For a successful vendange, the timing is crucial to ensure proper maturity of the grapes. Once that is decided, the team of pickers and machinery have to work like clockwork, often stopping and starting as nature allows. As you can imagine, planning such detail in advance is extremely difficult.
In 2011 our vignerons experienced a spring that promised so much. The warm weather prompted growth and early flowering - resulting in vines three weeks ahead of their normal development. However, the cool, sunless mid-summer slowed the ripening process down a little, though most areas began their harvest earlier than normal. In some regions, it was one of the earliest harvests on record! Thanks to a fine, sunny September, ideal harvest conditions were encountered in most areas, with ripe, healthy grapes picked and little sorting required. You can almost feel that collective sigh of relief!
Beaujolais vineyards
Christiane Lacondemine in Brouilly, Maryse Desprès in Fleurie and Christine Collonge in Morgon all reported a spectacular harvest in Beaujolais. As Maryse put it, ‘une vendange très saine et bien mûre’ (a very healthy and ripe harvest). Hand-picking took place under blue skies on the 4th September - 20 days earlier than normal - and little or no sorting of the Gamay grapes was required. This is the third good to excellent harvest in a row for the region.
Burgundy vineyards
Christine Jacob, from Domaine Jacob, reported that most of the harvest had been gathered in the Côte de Beaune and Côte de Nuits by the second week of September. She said that many parts had suffered from rot as a result of hail damage. However, their vineyards in Savigny, Pernand and Gevrey were looking really good to excellent. Towards the end of September, they started picking in the higher vineyards of the Hautes Côtes. Christine told us at the time; ‘The Larrets blanc looks fabulous and we'll be shutting the gate to keep the boar out very soon - they are better than any laboratory analysis for telling us that the grapes are ripe! Sugar levels are good, acidity is good.’
Genevieve Désertaux of Domaine Désertaux-Ferrand in the Côte de Nuits commented that things were going well, though careful selection was required in some parts with extraction of rotten bunches.
Bordeaux vineyards
Our winemakers at Château Rousselle commented that in Bordeaux, September began with grey skies and a little (much needed) rain. They started their vendange at the beginning of October earlier than usual. Karin Bernaleau at Château Mongravey said that yields are particularly low this year but they expect 2011 to be a classical Margaux vintage with alcohol levels at 13 degrees.
Rhône Valley vineyards
Christine Saurel at Montirius was very positive and somewhat poetic about the prospects for 2011; ‘We finished our harvest at the end of September thanks to a beautiful team of 25 pickers. The quantity of grapes was good (for the first time in ten years) and the quality good too. We started to harvest on the 1st September - as the first Cicadas song on the Le Clos plot predicted … Ah la nature! As grape maturity varies, we harvested in small sections at a time, sometimes repeating the same plot. We tasted the grapes three times more than usual. It was this year of minute precision. Just like when you create jewels.’
Champagne vineyards
This year’s Champagne harvest came to an end in mid-September. Picking started as early as the 19th August - making this the second earliest harvest in the history of Champagne after 1822. The grape-pickers experienced stifling heat, very cool mornings, thunderstorms and sometimes even hail. This unpredictable weather lead to a slowdown in the ripening process, particularly for the Chardonnay grapes and some Champagne producers had to temporarily suspend picking. However, after rigorous selection in both the vineyard and winery, both Maison Lenique and Champagne Fresne Ducret report that it will be a vintage year.
Alsace vineyards
Harvest started on the 12th September and after a cool summer, the ‘autumn sparkled’ claimed André Gruss at Domaine Gruss. The warmer weather in late august allowed the grapes to mature. André claimed that the Gewürztraminer’s yields were back to normal after a 30 percent drop last year. The Alsatian wine growers are calling 2011 a 'Riesling year’ as this grape variety excels in cooler summers. Harvest will continue into November for vendange tardive (late-harvest) wines.
