Real cold at 7AM; 9 degrees in Orches 7 in Beaune. Dry with a breeze; perfect.

Jonathan our gendarme apprentice started today and will be on the bottling line. I will go out in the fields with the Three Musketeers to do the prelevements from Chassagne to Fixin; 25 in all.

Alex with the troops in the Cote de Beaune

It is clear that the rain over the last couple of days has slowed down/brought down the relative sugars from last week; i.e. in tasting the grapes there has not been much of an increase in sugar. That said the grapes taste even better than last week. How can this be? Well, and as many of you know do not get me started, sugars mean a great deal less in making wine than one would believe by listening to all the experts. The point is is the fruit ripe through and through? What does this mean? Please allow me to digress.

The definition of a ripe fruit is when the seed wants/is ready to re germinate. This means it is ready to make babies; in our case baby vines. The practical side of this is when one buys a tree ripened peach in August and the center pit splits open revealing the seed it is ripe. The problem is that this now rarely happens for the obvious reasons of early picking for transport, clones that allow for ripening all at once etc. I am not saying this is evil or inherently bad but just stating a fact.

From my little corner of the world the goal is to have tree ripened Georgia peaches every year but as you all have also heard me say here at the +47th parallel it is bloody difficult to get the grapes to do this. It takes a rapid flowering, sunshine and some breeze, warm but not blistering sun all summer (if you have read mt past harvest notes you know this is rare), some rain throughout the summer (so photosynthesis continues) and a beautiful September. Volia; we do not ask for much, and by the way this all must occur in about +-105 days from flowering.

Remember being at the +47d means we get a great deal of sun for a short period of time in the summer. Thus relatively speaking the sun rises in the sky very quickly up to June 21 and then falls in the sky equally quickly after June 21 during the most critical period of the growing season. What this means is that we have X number of hours each season to get the grapes ripe and if we do not have sun, or if the flowering is late the number of hours of sunshine is diminished thus reducing the hours of photosynthesis. Or putting it another way in Claifornia they count the number of degree hours during a growing season; we on the other hand count the hours of luminosity; this is a fundemantal difference. Remember Dijon rests at 47.35 d north, this is farther north than the northern tip of Maine.

Finally, please do not confuse the degrees of latitude with cold and hot; England is farterh north and rarely has a hard freeze. Western Europe is part of a contnetial climate that is tempered by the gulf stream that reachs England and gicve us the terperate and often grey winter (and summer) weather that leads to good food and wine on the table.

What will the year be like? I am asked this all the time and the analsyis by the laboratories in Burgundy change from day to day. Suffice it to say as of today the grapes are healthy, not too many on the vines, we have not reached the end of the vegative cycle (photosynthesis) and the taste wonderful. The reds especiall today were amazing; not sweet but flavorful and, I hate to say it, but grapey. I know it is dumb, and this relates to the above, you can have a graoe that is sweet but not complex. At the moment the grapes are sweet but complex and perfumed with tannins that are present but supple. The last piece are the seeds and a couple of the vienyards we visited today the seeds were crunchy  and not astringent; a rare occurence in my world.

All day we trecked through the vines in perfect weather in the low 70s with a light north breeze. the weather is supposed to be like this trough most of the month. I cannot repeat enough how wonderful the weather has been since the spring, truly memorable.

After the prelevemnts Jonathan worked on the suagr analysis, Gavin (aka Mr. Acid), measured the total acidities, and the rest of us continued to clean and get ready for the first grapes which will probalby arrive on Wednesday.

Today is Geraldine’s birthday so we toasted it with a 2000 Meursault 1er Cru Les  Genevrieres in magnum that I made form the Hospices. We were all starving and we were invited for a group alfresco dinner Chez Denis Toner. The ham off the rotisserie from the market was delicious as was Stacia’s peach cake made with olive oil.

It was quite cool as we left and were at home at 11pm.  It was already down to 10 degrees. Great sleeping weather and especially great because we are all sleeping in; no work on Sunday. We need it before next week.

Very cool this AM and more of the same all day with the bottlings. For once no mechanical incidents.

Geraldine and Diana attacked the bottlings and I prepped for the harvest; i.e. the devil is in the details. One of the toughest things we have to do every year is to figure out the logistics of bringing in over 30 separate lots grapes that make up our 18 or so wines. This is small change compared to the big boys or some domains but the former have casts of thousands at their beck and call and the latter have 100% control over their vines and hence control over when they wish to pick. We, on the other hand, have to plan not only for our own vines (11 parcels) but also for the other 20 or so moving targets.

This potential mess is organized with experience, massaging the suppliers and most importantly trying to know more about the ripeness of the parcels than the suppliers themselves. Thus the critical importance of prelevements (literally early pickings) in the period up to the moment we harvest.  This process is critical for several reasons of which two are analytical, determining the sugar and total acid content of the grapes, and two are intuitive how the grapes taste (the balance of fruit, tannin, seed ripeness, acid) and the rate at which the grapes are ripening. Since many of the wines we make come from vineyards that we have been working with for twelve years all with of the above one begins to get a feel for when to pick.

For example our Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Clos St. Jean (white) always is ready when I hear bees swarming around the flowering ivy on the wall that borders the vineyard. It is like clockwork; the white flowers begin to bloom, the bees swarm and when I can smell the acacia perfume of the blooms it is time to pick.

The other detail is calling all the suppliers and asking when they are going to start. This is an interesting dance because everyone on the one hand wants to act confident like they know what they are doing but inside they are as interested in what I am thinking as I am in an answer from them. Thus the play of the harvest goes around as each of the players acts with aplomb all the while agonizing over the right moment to harvest. This incertitude is all the more pronounced as we know that we have the potential for great to spectacular grapes this year.

Chassagne-Montrachet Grapes

Chambolle-Musigny Grapes

As the afternoon progressed the ladies slogged away on the bottling line, the weather cleared and I “fait les courses” (did the shopping) and went to the dump. The dump (decheterie) is just as the one in your area; as much social as practical. It is rare that I do not see someone I know or meet someone who is interested in my trash. It is an interesting social/anthropological fact (and cliche) and that that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and this was the case today. As I unloaded our truck full of plastic that wrapped the pallets of bottles and as I dumped the cardboard sheets that serrated the levels of bottles the “dump chief” began to fish out of the paper dump the separators for another client. Quickly a conversation insued and I discovered he is a painter who can always use the sheets to cover floors. I told him come by for a visit and I would be happy to supply him; heck he even offered to buy them off me; go figure.

As I returned with the days shop; S02, a mini press for the prelevements, and metal cages/boxes that hold 600 bottles the regular bottlings ended and the nightmare of bottling the Blanc de Noirs began…..

Now this should be simple to explain and I will try but promise nothing so here it goes. During the 2006 harvest there was a down time between grapes of 3-4 days and we were all bored out of our minds. As the saying goes idle minds beget who knows what thus was born our Blanc de Noirs or white Pinto Noir. We made one barrel in 2006, four in 2007 and two in 2008. We take grapes from one of our pinot vineyards, immediately press the grapes (as in Champagne) but because the ripeness is so much higher than in Champagne there is much more color. Thus we add ground up charcoal to bleach out the juice and then fine off the charcoal with Betonite (also done in Champagne). Thus after 3-4 days the “junk” falls to the bottom of the cuve and volia you have clear white pinot juice. We then vivify the juice in 1-2-3 year old barrels and you have our Blanc de Noirs: White Pinot Noir.

The bottom line is that the bloody stuff is delicious, and is technically a Vin de Table because it does not exist in Burgundy under the AOC rules.  And for even more fun, we bottled it in a clear Bordeaux bottle; and this is where the above nightmare comes into play. It is a “bordel” to get the bottles to work with the machine. Everything from the height, circumference, the time it takes to fill the bottles because of the heights (I bet you did not think of that), and laying them down on plastic trays is different. Suffice it to say after much cursing, tinkering and general exasperation the 600 bottles are done, look great (our Yquem),

and I hope you drink them early and often.

Our blanc de noirs...enfin!

Home again this time after nine but the worst of the bottlings are over. The only thing left is our Pinot Noir Cuvee Les Deux  Papis which should be a relative breeze tomorrow. The evening cooled off a great deal and the full moon was spectacular. The air was cool and dry and the stars were brilliant; the moon has changed at the right moment.

We started at 7AM and got rolling quite well until you guessed it the bottling machine acted up. I hope that we get all the bloody mechanical problems out of the way this week so the harvest is smooth sailing. Not to bore you with too much detail but in short the bottles were being launched into the air by the cylinder that positions the bottle for the cork.  When I ask the technician why there was a problem and will we have one again he said no, probably not for a long time. About every 8-10 years of a machine’s life it happens; figures it was today.

Weather in the low 20s (low 70s and with a bit of a breeze.) A couple of drops of rain here but evidently is was raining in Dijon around noon. Weather is supposed to clear on Friday and be great all weekend and throughout the month. We will see.

John, Henry and Stacia arrived about noon from the states with great smiles on their faces. It is great to have “the family” back on the property. Good vibes are coming from everyone. It is fascinating the psychology of making wine (or any endeavour for that matter) how much weather and the shared sense of contributing to a goal does for people. I have been very fortunate over the years to have had an amazing and unique group of people come through here and help me during now my 13th harvest. I hope my words over the next few weeks convey the passion we all share.

Assistant Chef and Chief Baker Stacia

Henri, our Chef de Cuisine

It rained a bit at the end of the day rather                   hard. Everyone is in a good spirit because this bit of rain will not make a lot of difference. The vintage is about made and now it is a question of when you start.

Matt McClune aka MacGyver came by and finished stetting up the harvest kitchen. Seven week old Jack was his assistant but supervised by taking a nap on the dining table.

The day progressed rather uneventfully after the morning’s bottle launches. We made progress on the bottles and Geraldine left at 5:00 to go to the pre-harvest meeting in Nuits St. Georges. Diana and I continued bottling the Puligny and stopped at 6:30 with over half of cuvee bottled.

By the time we cleaned up the machine, cuves and the cuverie it was 8:00pm.  We returned home to Orches to a beautiful night sky over the Cote.

The season is changing it felt like the first day off fall this AM. That smell and cool was in the air.

Bottling today. We anticipate a very long day.

Was a long day and a bit retro of yesterday. The bottling machine took a while to get organized and en route. Also, the forklift was acting up.  You name it and the piece of equipment  needed attention. Same as when you are getting ready to sell your house and the hot water heater dies.

Mid morning I checked out the Clos Vougeot parcel I wrote about yesterday. It is quite nice and frankly better than I’d expected. The vines are quite old and the berries are medium in size to small. The parcel starts at the lower portion of the middle parcel and rises for 200 meters to the upper slope. It is a good mix of dirt and we should be able to make something very interestong.

Once cranked up, Diana and Geraldine were troopers and got a good rhythm going. Bottled until 8:30 PM. Will restart at 7:00 on Thursday morning.

Afternoon I bottled 160 magnums. Actually quite soothing bottling and corking the bottles by hand with cranked up rock and roll from the iPod. It was a Southern Rock day with Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers leading the charge. After about 80 magnums my arm was beat from the corking machine and the 3 Musketeers arrived and I introduced them to the romance of winemaking; learning how to cork by hand (takes a bit of coordination, more than you would think), and cleaning tanks and hoses and of course the art of the squeegee. The squeegee, aka le raclette in French is a winemaker’s best friend. Remember there is water everywhere during the harvest and the raclette is indispensable. In addition our cuverie,  even though new the floor is original and uneven thus the breaks flow (of course) away from the drains toward the walls and under the tanks. Thus the art of racletting is one that must be mastered early.

Ah, the fine art of the raclette and cleaning!

Magnums bottled and corked by hand.

Geraldine and our beautiful if temperamental bottling machine.

The bottling ended about 8:15pm.

In bottle today:

Bourgogne Chardonnay Cuvee Prestige: 8 barrels/pieces
Chassagne-Montrachet: 9 pieces
Fixin Blanc: 8 pieces

Total: 25 pieces ~ 7,500 bottles, ok but we lost a good amount of time this morning.

Dinner chez Denis Toner. We arrived late as you would expect but he had the first soiree of the fall in honor of Jacques Lameloise of 3 star Lamelois in Burgundy. Jacques and his wife could not be more down to earth people and it was a warm and at the end hilarious evenng – as it ended with Jacques learning to use Denis’ dart blow gun for target practice (in the house). As you will hear me say many times; you can not make this stuff up.

Dinner at Denis Toner's with the guests of Honor Jacques and Nicole Lameloise and Michel and Martine Anglada of Colin-Deleger

It was one of those days.

First thing at 8 AM Geraldine comes into my office with her face ashen; “the cuverie floor is covered with red liquid.” Well it was not wine but was the cooling liquid from a tiny $1.00 valve that had rusted off. Well, pas grave but it was an inauspicous start to the day as we were hoping to start early and get the wines ready for the bottling starting tomorrow. Winemaking is so romantic.

The morning was beautiful and warmer than the lst couple of days; about 18 c. We hit 25-26 about 2:00 and then at 4pm we got some heavy rain up and down the Cote.  No panic and in some cases it might be positive to refresh the vines and grapes.

Good deal of the day: I made a deal for three barrles of Clos Vougeot in grapes. I will look at the vineyard tomorrow but I know the position and have tasted the finished wine several times and it has great portenial. I know you are going to ask who is it from; no telling. One of the rules is that we rarely if ever speak of our suppliers in order to keep their privacy because thay often are well know winemakers and secondly, of course, to keep this information or intellectual property in house. There is fierce competition for grapes and thus one keeps ones cards close to ones chest.

Our three muskeeteers/interns came by for the first time today. We will slowly get them into the rythm of the harvest. So far thier program at the school is very thorough; I can imagine many Amercians paying a great deal of money for the inside tours and tastings they are receiving.

Stagaires Jane, Marietta and Gavin.

Evening weather overcast and some drizzle.

Monday August 31, 2009

Geraldine’s first day chez Gambal. I am afraid we scared her a bit with our enthusiasm especially when she learned we were doing a blog; she was amazed and thrilled. Thus we had to put a photo up of her measuring the sugars and the acids in the grapes we pulled today.

Geraldine Godot on her first day with Maison Gambal.

Megan’s first day back in the office with little Jack and 2 year old Lila. As I have told you this is a family affair,. The day care begins later this week so Megan is making a slow but comfortable transition for everyone; especially herself.

Encore a perfect 10/10 day. It was quite chilly this morning 10-12 c but hit 30-33 this afternoon as we walked through the vineyards. This is perfect weather for getting the grapes ripe and preserving the acidities at night. It was a blue bird sky with a bit of a breeze and ZERO humidity. Absolutely perfect. Again I do not want to jinx us but it is looking great.

Tonight the moon is getting to be full and is brilliant in the late summer sky above Orches.

Tomorrow we take the wine off of their collages and get them ready for bottling. We have a lot to do before next week. We are looking at starting next Tuesday September 8 and after another 1-2 rounds of grape checking we can be sure. It is interesting to note that as last year our Puligny is more ripe than our 1er Cru Chassagne La Maltroie at this early stage. Thus I am beginning to see patterns and it will be interesting to see where the final picking dates sort out.

Sugars:

Chassagne 1er Cru La Maltroie (Gambal): 11.0

Puligny Montrachet (Gambal): 11.9

St. Aubin 1er Cru les Murgers des Dents de Chien: 11.2

Bourgogne Chardonnay Les Grands Terres (Gambal): 12.4

Bourgogne Pinot Noir Montpoulin (Gambal): 11.5

Volia for tonight.

Alex