Harvest News

Evening all.

I spent today visiting our wine makers in the region to get a “hands on” of the harvest to date. First up was Pierre Lavau from St Emilion, a quick visit to Francis Meynard and Regis Moro in Cote de Castillon, then onto Michel Coudroy Pomerol and Lalande de Pomerol and finally Jean Claude Paret in Montagne St Emillion.

Work is still continuing in most vineyards and a combination of factors is tipping the 2010 vintage towards being splendid wines.

The general feedback has been the great quality of the Merlot picked so far, with the grapes giving moderate yields with a lot of concentration.

Also the natural alcohol content is about 13% in all areas, with excellent acidity levels which should result in well balanced wines.

The grape skins are thick and aromatic with ripe pips and there is no evidence of vegetal characteristic which can give the wines a green pepper aroma, overall expect well balanced smooth tasting wines.

And finally all the wine makers commented on the great colour of the must which has powerful strong aromas of black and red fruit.

The vintage is now nearing its close and we shall soon be able to judge how good these wines will be.

Dinner is about ready and I'm opening a Vieux Champs de Mars 1998 which Regis kindly gave to me earlier today.

He was delighted that everyone in Ireland enjoyed the Pelan Bellvue 2001 offer.

O yes the best part of wine making, the tasting.

Cheers, Paddy

Morning Harvest

Morning All.

We had some amazing weather in the last few days; it hit 26 on Friday and 27 degrees on Saturday with glorious sunshine. Mike and Daragh were over and we had a wee Port tasting on Thursday night with the compulsory black teeth on Friday morning. The weather today is back to normal for this time of year a little overcast and much cooler, which I expect is welcomed by the pickers (vendangeurs) now streaming through the vineyards.

Jean Claude in La Fauconnerie started the grape harvest last Thursday, and early every morning there is a hive of activity on the roads as machinery and pickers are marshalled into place. Everywhere you look you see cars and vans parked up next to vineyards and the bobbing heads of pickers working through the lines of vines.

The vineyards in front of the house are still awaiting picking, last year over half were done by hand and the remainder by machine.

I was speaking to a number of growers last night and they expect the yields to be well down (almost 25%) on the last couple of years and the quality is excellent.

All the best

Paddy.

Ban Des Vendages - St Emilion

The Ban Des Vendages de la Jurade de Saint Emilion was held on Sunday 19th September. This event is held every year and signals the beginning of grape picking season in all the major chateaux in the region.

The Jurade are a secular body established by King John of England and France in 1199. The members of the Jurade continue to wear the distinctive red robes. From the top of the King's tower in St Emilion, the jury officially announces the start of the season and then a procession winds its way through the narrow cobblestone streets of St Emilion.

This year the event was watched by over 30,000 onlookers and I attended the official wine tasting with Regis Moro, the general consensus this year is the vintage will be small but good, an enjoyable afternoon was had by all.