GG Harvest!

Drove down into Maury to supervise the first afternoon’s picking of the Grenache Gris (GG). Brilliant quality! The grapes are sorted and lightly pressed. I have chilled the juice to 2 degrees overnight to stop any wild yeasts fermenting and to settle out the biggest sediment (gros lies). I will finish the rest of the vineyards tomorrow.

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Early stop at Domaine Degrotte to see my friend, the winemaker Antonio.

Antonio is from Portugal but has settled here in the Languedoc to become one of the top white wine producers.

This morning I tasted through all of the Bezier Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Viognier vats with him. It’s an early stage but the southern whites are already very aromatic. The Carcassonne vineyards I make the CY and VC from are about 5-7 days away so Antonio said he would check them on the weekend and give me an update.

A quick stop in Limoux next to have a look at the Chardonnay for the La Voute. Need a bit more wine this year so I had a quick tour round the vineyards to choose one to add. Old vigneron M. Garrigue gave us an entertaining shirt-open tour of his fantastic Chardonnay vineyard. Higher altitude in Limoux so will probably pick end of next week.

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The Welders

The vats which arrived last week are now in place and they now need to have ladder supports, taps and volume indicators welded onto them. Most importantly, the vats need to be linked up to the cooling system and the control panel.

I'm extremely surprised but very happy that everyone involved in setting up the vats has arrived on time this morning; the French holiday must finally be over!

I have just heard that some Chardonnay has been picked in Beziers, so I am straight off to the south this afternoon to see what the quality will be like.


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