Harvest 2013 - Day 1 and 2

The 2013 harvest have begun Thursday, October 3 with a beautiful sunshine. Here are the first pictures :

Pretty sky heralding a beautiful day

First cases of the morning 

Pinot Meunier at "Chemin de Reims"

To see more photos, visit our facebook page.

More pictures tomorrow... under the grey and damp weather unfortunately...

Harvest - D-6

The harvest is finally about to start soon. The crates were distributed earlier this week. The grapes slowly continue their maturation. The first bunches will be heard Thursday, October 3 in our vineyard.

For several days, the fog is present every morning to remind us that we are now in autumn ...

Remember to come and visit regularly the blog and our Facebook's page for the progress in the preparation and gathering.

Harvest 2013 - Dates

The dates have been published by the CIVC saturday afternoon. The most hasty sectors started yesterday Sept. 24th (communes of Aube Region). In our case, we can start on October 3rd for the Pinot Meunier, October 5th for Chardonnay and October 7th for Pinot Noirs grapes.

It is then up to us to choose the optimal date.

The berries have burst because of last week rain

The vineyard in one click

Google began its Google Tour of vineyards by the Bordeaux vineyards.

After several wineries of Cape Town (South Africa), the mapping service has walked the vineyards, cellars and Bordeaux domaines to allow "users to discover the surroundings of the château, vineyards and cellars in a few clicks" (says Anne-Gabrielle Dauba-Pantanacce, spokesman for Google France).

A dozen chateaux signed a partnership and will be visited virtually within 4 months after a long process of assembly. Other areas are concerned: in France, two in Alsace, Italy, South Africa and Spain.

The shots were made by car, truck, tricycle and by foot. (with a trekker, with 15 cameras , see photo, for shooting 360°).

Photo trekker in the vineyards of Saint-Emilion: Google France - Vitisphère

The goal, according to Google, is to promote the French heritage by inviting users worldwide to discover the region, its chateaux and vineyards. In time, Google hopes to present a wine route online.

French vineyards in one click on Google Street View, a good thing? Visit a vineyard without moving, without touching, feeling, and talking with the winemaker is it still visit? Unless it attracts the curiosity of some and develops the desire to discover the vineyards "for real".

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.

Pretty clusters under the sun

Some pictures of grapes on a Sunday walk with the sun...

Pinot Meunier at "Chemins de Reims"

Pinot Meunier at "Jardin"

Chardonnay at "Jardin"

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...