Monday September 14th
Our itty bitty bunches of Bourgogne Pinot Noir.
Our other group of “sheltered workshop” pickers finished up our Pinot Noir vineyards by 12:45. What a group; effecient, serious, never a complaint and proud of what they do. I do not need to say anything more.
On a more practical note, our yields continue to confound me; yields too low. Yes I beleive in low yields but it continues to be a point of frustration for me to see that our yields are low by Grand Cru and 1er Cru standards. For Bourgogne Pinot Noir, the maximum per hectare is 61 hecto litres per hectare. This means 6100 liters per hectare (~2.4 acres) which equates to 8,100 bottles or ~ 677 cases. The following are the maximum numbers for the other appellations, but most importantly, please note that the price of Bourgogne Pinot Noir in bulk is ~1/2 to 2x that of village wines, 4-6 of 1er Cru and 10-15+ for Grand Crus. I believe you will see my point:
Village: 50 HL = 555 cases
1er Cru: 48 HL = 533 cases
Grand Cru: 35-42 HL = 388-466 cases
Our four parcels yielded the following per hectare (the total of the four parcels is 1.31 hectares):
Les Petits Pres: 38.50 HL = 427 cases
Long Bois: 59 HL = 655 cases
Condemaine: 46 HL = 511 cases
Monpoulin: 25.50 HL = 294 cases
Cara...just another day at the office.
The good news is that the wine will be a bomb (as usual) concentrated and our mini Volnay. The bad news is that the yields are not very economical. I am still a bit unsure as to why, but part of it is that the plant clones have a great deal to do with it. Quite simply, the bunches and berries are small and wonderful except for Long Bois where they are much bigger and yield heavier grapes and therefore more juice. The trick is going to try to coax the plants in the other three parcels to produce more bunches, well spaced, so that we can still have beautiful small bunches that are well ripened, but have a few more to make my averages a bit more palatable. In the meantime, it is not a problem because you get to drink a delicous bottle for short money.
Tu Tu - our grape "escalator"
Coming or Going? A True Beaune Story;
In the annals of “you cannot make this up” – at some point today, when Will was backing up the truck to the dock to unload grapes, he stopped and paused in thought; am I coming in or going out? He really was that tired and was lost in space and time. He solved the dilemma quite logically. He looked in the mirror and saw the truck was loaded with grapes. Ok I am coming and continued backing up. (It was a moment when one should not be operating heavy machinery or have your finger on the button.)
Coming or going? Definitely coming.
Big Will