First day we have had an overcast AM. Cold and wind from the west. One would have thought rain but it cleared up around 11:00am and we have another lovely day with the occasional light cloud cover.

Vans packed and ready to head out.

Our Lady of the Green Van...

Our crew at the sorting table.

Geraldine and Gavin awaiting the arrival of the grapes.

Our cantankerous press...

Vasili Alexeyev the Russian weightlifting champion would have approved of his style and especially the timing of his grunt and subsequent crack as the drum boomed. After treating both sides of the drum to equal treatment, the bloody thing was fixed. You know I am not a good fiction writer but life is a wonderful thing when you sit back and, as Walker Percy wrote, look at the sparrows eating seeds.

Remnants of the Poulet Smackdown 2009. Sante.

Picking, picking and more picking...

We slept at John’s last night because we were simply too beat up from the first day and could not bear driving home and getting up 6 hours later for the turn around. As it was, coffee was the only thing that fortified us and got us jump started. This is also one of the few times when Diana and I would love to have our apartment back in Beaune. The 20 minute drive to Orches is really not a big deal, but after several 15 hour days, the drive home is a form of punishment. (The other time is of couse is after dinner in town or at a friends house and one must deal with the Gendarmes’ and Mr. Sarkozy’s prohibitionist mandates.)

A beautiful morning in the vines in Chassagne-Montrachet.

The beautiful grapes of Chassagne-Montrachet

The beginning of the GRIME.

The GRIME arrives in the cuverie.

Getting the first grapes of the day...with the sunrise.

Judge's Sheets. VERY official

Poulet "A"

Poulet "B"

John Hayes prepping his "yard bird" as Stacia, our pastry chef, looks on.

Denis Toner looking for victory at the "Poulet Smackdown."

The awards were given with eyes closed and hands held out. I don't think Etta had this in mind!

THE WINNERS!

Another beautiful AM with a bit of haze in the air. 14 degrees in Orches, 12 in the valley and 14 in Beaune.

First Grapes:

Kevin and Alex in the vineyards to retrieve the first grapes of 2009.

There is something about the start that brings everything into focus. Not the dread of the first day of school but more the excitement of the beginning of a new sports season. The competition within one’s self and the organization one has or has not done, comes into focus. All the cliches apply because, unfortuanately, as our English teachers did not want to tell us; they are all true and readily applicable.

The Gambal boxes just before the picking begins.

We are off at 7:30. Too start picking our Bourgogne Chardonnay Les Grands Terres. This is a an odd shaped parcel because there are only 5-6 rows but they are 600 meters long. It is very difficult to work the vineyard because psychologically it never seems to end; a bit as in The Wizard of Oz when they are in the poppy field and the Emerald city is in the distance; just too far to comprehend.

Our "classic" vineyard-mobile. It even passed inspection!

Our picking team is a great group of about 10 that we have used for the past several years from the wine school. It is a non-profit sheltered company – in the sense of sheltered workshops for the handicapped. I have been fortunate to have been involved with the comapmy since its inception helping with its financing, etc. It does the heart good to see folks super productive.

A few of our pickers.

I went to pick up our Maltroie from my buddy/supplier in Chassagne-Montrachet. This is our 11th vintage working together and it is as if I am working with family. Our Maltroie vineyard is a Texas leaguer from his and I am often asked if we will do a Gambal Domaine bottling seperately. I say I hope that in the next few years our grapes are as good as the ones we buy from “FiFi.”

In the aftenoon, we bring in about 1/3 of our Puligny-Montrachet; the grapes are superb. This is going to be a terrific wine. Also, Chassagne Blanchots. Here is where most prople go crazy trying to understand Burgundy’s vineyard designations. In the space of 75 yards, there are 3 Grand Crus, a 1er Cru and a Village wine: Montrachet, Batard Montrachet, Criots Batard, 1er Cru Blanchots Dessus (above) and village Blanchots Dessous (below). As I pointed out the different parcels and designations and the relative bottle prices of each he exclaimed “in California this is all the same vineyard.” I replied, “this is Burgundy and welcome to my world.”

The road in Puligny-Montrachet from our vineyard.

At the height of harvest, we rent a second press of 3-5 days so we can get out of here at some point in the evening. When the press is delivered, it is always a show as the beast is lifted off of a flat bed and gently/gingerly placed through our outside opening. It is always a bloody circus because the two guys who deliver and operate the crane remind me of a French Joe Pesci with Laurel of Laurel and Hardy as his sidekick. We literally get people lined up on the sidewalk across the street watching the “spectacle.” All I can do is chuckle at how the bloody press makes it into our cuverie in one piece.
Bloody press circus.

Cara has taken on the role of evening out the grapes in the press as they are dropped in. Check out her polka dot boots!

Cara's boots. Don't you want a pair??

Henry came up with a new creation this evening: roast rabbit in a bolognese sauce, wow! I ate the sauce alone for dessert.

Another late evening as we cleaned and got things set for tomorrow morning. The juice that is coming out of the white grapes is not copius. The rain of last week has really done nothing and the grapes – they still possess great perfume and intense flavors. There is no rot and the acidities in the whites are very well balanced vis a vis the sugars….. on verra, we will see.

Another beautiful morning. I know you are bored with my mantra but it really has been amazing weather. Nights have been great sleeping weather – in the low 60s – with the day’s high in the low 80s with bluebird skys. Honestly, it goes beyond an Indian Summer.

The day started at 8 with more cleaning all day until 7PM. Barrels, more grape boxes and a dry run of all the machines. Everything worked well except for the most important piece of machinery – the press.  When Geraldine went to give it a try, 5 years worth of programs were not there. Somehow, they were erased. I know this does not sound very romantic, but the programs for the whites are set to run for almost three hours and allow for a gentle, even and pure press. It is tweaked depending on the cleanliness of the harvest so it is really more art than computer science. However, what it does allow us to do is many other things, as the press goes through its various cycles of pressurage. The technician came in at about 2 and spent the better part of the afternoon reprogramming the beast. Best it happend today and not tomorrow when our first grapes come in.

I ran around like a madman looking at vines; the Volany Chevret is terrific, to getting a haircut.  Yes, before the press of 3-4 weeks, I knew I needed to get the head lightened up a bit; simple things for simple folk.

Big “Midnight” Will arrived about 2:00 to cheers from all. After a bite to eat and some stong coffee, he was in form and we arranged all the barrels, but the bottling machine await and genrsllly got everything ready for the AM. We actually finished at a reasonable hour and sat down to our first dinner around 7PM.

As usual, Henry and Stacia pulled out the stops for our first meal:
Cauliflower soup with fried leeks.

Pork Roast (wow) with apples flambee.

Pan roasted poatotoes

Sauteed leeks with caraway seeds in organic olive oil

Henry and Stacia at work in the vendange kitchen.

Mmmmmmm....

Unbelievable leeks and caraway seeds.

Cheese

Stacia’s peach and blueberry tart (wow, and I am not a desert guy).

Wines:

Blanc de Noirs Gambal 2008

St. Aubin 1er Cru Les Murgers des Dents de Chien Gambal 2007

Chambolle-Musigny Amiot Servelle 2000 in magnum: offered by Cara Schwindt and served blind. Wow, another great 2000, a vintage that continues to surprise us and make us happy.

Cara and her handmade blind tasting bags. You can't even tell the shape! Makes it MUCH harder.

Volnay 1er Cru Robardelle 1996 Gambal in Magnum: still fresh and young. The ’96s are beginning to come around but need a good meat with fat.

Volnayt 1er Cru Les Santenots Potel – 2 bottles offered by John Hayes. Served blind and tough to guess. Less fat and rich than the Chambolle but also comaparing a magnum to a bottle.

Home realatively early once Diana gave me the hook to shut me up on one of my many stories.

Lovely evening; azure sky with a brilliant moon and air.  Cool but interestingly as warm in Orches as in Beaune.

A normal day albeit long.

Mostly cleaning and preparing for the first grapes. The first timers cleaned and arranged the caisses de vendange (grape cases) and all the other in sundry elements that make up the daily reception of the grapes.

Cleaning of the grape caisses - it never ends.

Barrels ready to be cleaned after the racking.

Geraldine racked the last of our 2008 whites into individual cuves/tanks where they will finish their elevage throughout the fall and into the winter. In December we will fine them and then bottle in late February early March. In general we bottle the Bourgognes and Village wines at 12 months and the Crus at 18 months; ~ 12 months in barrel and ~ 6 months in tank. This year because the Meursault Clos du Cromin was slow with its malolactic fermentation, it will go in bottle later.

We went over the picking schedule and we will start on Wednesday with our Bourgogne Chardonnay also with our purchases of Chassagne-Montrachet La Maltroie and Chassagne-Montrachet Blanchots Village. All are 12.5 degrees or more – so they are about perfect. We will follow with Savigny-les-Beaune and our Puligny-Montrachet on Thursday.

After much horse trading, I made a deal with a well known domain/negociant where I am trading grapes for their Volnay 1er Cru En Chevret. Chevret is one of the six points of Volnay’s crown; Cailleret, Champans, Chenes, Chevret, Santenots and Taillepieds. It is the smallest in surface of the six and sits in the middle of Santenots to its left, Caillerets above and Champans to its right. The vines are +50 years old and are on the upper half of the vineyard touching Cailleret. We are trading out some St. Aubin 1er Cru Les Murgers des Dents de Chien. I know what you are thinking;
“you idiot why are you trading SADC?”  Well, we have a very large parcel that gives us lots of barrels so we still have 12 left after we trade for the Volnay.

Cleaned barrels, harvest boxes and arranged the cellar and cuverie. More of the same tomorrow. Still did not get home until 9PM.

Midnight Will getting a lift from Alex.

Beautiful perfect weather all day long. 78 d, no clouds, cool north wind and dry. It was an amazing dawn, day and sunset; exquisite.

Another spectacular day; not a cloud in the sky, north breeze and about 70-75 farenheit.

A day to recharge the batteries.

Our pumpkins in Orches

I had not been in my garden for week and with he end of the season I need to bring my tomatoes that were ripe and also cut back the new growth and aerate them so that last of the crop will get ripe this month. The pumpkins look good and I can only give credit where credit is due – to our friends in Orches Blandine and Francois Rocault and their compost that is magic. The Rocaults have been in Orches since 1450 and Francois’ father founded the Caveau de Haute Cotes (CO-OP). Francois and Blandine are a hoot and Balkndine put us on the the best chickens in the world raised by someone that even Blandine says lives in the middle of nowhere. The problem is, and it is not a real problem, these are real free range chickens; i.e. they run around in the woman’s yard and depending on when she decides to “harvest’ them, their size can range from perfect to that of a small turkey. Such is life in ther country, but boy are they good.

Alex and his vegetable garden. Ah, Sunday!

The tomatoes...all 30 plants!

Bob the chat surveying the grounds...

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