Harvest 2014 - H-Few Hours

A final cut was given all week to aerate and facilitate cutting. The vines are "squared".

A toad in a path down the vine

Pinots Noirs are waiting for only one thing, being cut and reached the press to be transformed in a few months into Champagne!

Just as Pinot Meunier (below)

Preparing for the Harvest - Second Part

The 2014 harvest is now starting in a few hours with our team which is made ​​up of many new ones his year. 

Raincoats and wadders are ready (in case of morning dew or rain...), spruce are in the starting blocks...

... tables and chairs have been installed pending for the team...

...baskest were bored and are waiting for the arrivals of the pickers...

...See you a little every day for photos of harvest, the result of a year's work!

Harvest 2014 - Countdown

The harvest is approaching. Grapes continue their maturation. Here are the latest pictures taken last Sunday.

Pinot Noir at "Chapitres plot"

Some vines are heavy...

While others, well, are rather "light" ...

Chardonnay from "Jardin plot"

Some of them are entangled to form a super cluster

But some grapes are slightly rotten. Fortunately nothing alarming for harvest. These few grains won't go to the press.

Preparing the 2014 Harvest

The countdown begins. The 2014 harvest are at D-6. The boxes arrived, the tractor, the trailer and the chase are ready. Spruce are waiting for the pickers. A little housekeeping to adjust and we will be ready to start Monday, September 15th with the sun (hopefully!)

Ripening

The maturation network began Monday, Sept. 2 (late compared to previous years).

The weather has changed dramatically in a few days. On a scorching atmosphere to cool and wet weather accompanied by a dramatic drop in temperatures (down 16°C between Thursday, September 5 and Monday, September 9). In short, autumn may alrealdy have happened.

Maturity continues. Degrees of potential alcohol are at last sample an average of 7% vol.

The mid-ripening stage is reached in Champagne. The "color" of the grapes is 58% (average Champagne). This stage is more advanced on black grapes (60%) than Chardonnay (51%).

But fully green clusters are still present.

Finally, it colors...

Finally, the grapes begin to color. Veraison began.

All clusters are not at the same stage

We tend to say that the harvest is 90 to 100 days after full blossom (which was on July 3rd, therefore a theoretical beginning of harvest between October 3rd and 11th) but it takes about 40 days after early ripening, which began a few days ago, so this would put the harvest date around October 1st...

The harvest preparatory meeting is only scheduled on September 20th...

But if we have nearly 15 days late, it is not the same for everyone. Indeed, the harvest began in California with more than 15 days in advance...

It's not ripen yet!

Let's enjoy the summer weather with a walk around while checking the vine and the grapes.

Disease pressure is still quite strong, but the vine is looking good. The grapes grow and have reached the stage of closure of the cluster and the cluster "hang".

Chardonnay at "Jardin"'s plot

Pinot Meunier

Some grape berries blush but do not indicate the date of the harvest unlike last year:

Pinot Meunier le 14 Août 2012

Some pictures of a Sunday walk in the sun of Champagne Region

Maturation (September, 12)

After some rain yesterday (September, 11), which is good for the grapes and vines, the autumn came back hardly. We did a tour in the vineyard to see the progress of the maturation.

One thing remains, no matter whatever plots and varieties, there is still heterogeneity between the vine stocks.

Below the Pinot Noir at Courcelles-Sapicourt

Unfortunately, the vineyard's tour also reveals surprises like vine stocks without grapes or with small bunches...

...or bunches which have suffered from heat stroke in late August when the thermometer rose to nearly 42 ° C in the shade...

Ripening

Back after a few days away, the grapes continue their maturity but it is far from homogeneous (the same way the flower was held in June...), as shown in the pictures taken yesterday from the plot "Chemin de Reims".

Veraison almost complete

On their way...

And the late ones...

With these differences in maturity, we fear a harvest several times ... Thing we have never done!

Chardonnay at "Jardin"

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 4th, the pre-harvest meeting between the different actors of the Champagne will take place. It aims to determine the appellation for the 2012 harvest. So we will know more Wednesday morning.