The winner of speed picking and effieciency is found at our supplier of Chassagne Montrachet vineyard Les Essarts. Every year we try to predict who might usurp thier speed and picking accuracy but once again they are the champions. Diana met them in the vineyard at 7:30 and she was back with 60 boxes / 5 barrels by 9:15.

Beautiful...and FAST...Chassagne grapes.

All day long we brought in the grapes for our Bourgogne Pinot Noir Cuvee Les Deux Papis. The first parcels comprised of approximately 9-10 barrels and are in the Pommard declination and are in Les Crennilles and Les Carelles. This area was classified as Pommard village wines beofre the AOC classifications in the 1930s. This area, and others that sit at the base of the villages up and down the cote, provide what I call “mini” Pommards, Volnays, Chambolles and the like. Geologically, many of these areas resemble delta river valleys and in a sense they were, because the glaciers that carved out the “combes” or small valleys that are behind, cut the Cote D’Or West to East. These ancient glacial rivers deposited rocks and gravel that provides for  lovely drainage and “aerian” or finer, lighter in-style wines. This is ironic because one expects a Pommard area wine to be more muscular and tannic, but interestingly, this parcel is more about finesse – whereas another of our nearby Bourgogne parcels that lies within Volnay has heavier soils and produces a more muscular tannic wine. The differences and similariteis one finds over the years between parcels is not just a coincidence, but is rooted in the wonder, yet basic geology of this unique place.

We finished the day with a bit of our Pinot from Les Petits Pres – our best Bourgogne vineyard. The bunches are tiny, concentrated and absolutley fantastic. The yield is still too low to be economically interesting, but so what else is new in this business?

With the weather as beautiful as it is, I look forward to getting up to the crystal clear sunrises; we have been spoiled this harvest.

Dinner was Henry’s famous slow cook duck with lentils and scaloped potatoes. What more could one want?