It is not meant to happen like this:  We are happy when a little gentle rain falls at the beginning of the harvest to temper the sugar and exuberance of the Merlots.  We then wait for a classic Bordeaux Indian summer to arrive with the last rays of warm sunshine to finish the ripening of the Cabernets, so important in the wines of the Médoc.   But this Covid year, everything is turned on its head:  Torrid, dry weather for the ripening of the Merlots and cold, constant downpours while we waited for the Cabernets.    It has rather rattled our nerves to say the least.

Talking to a local Saint Emilion grower, he told me that the reason for these skewed weather patterns was that we started picking well before the autumn equinox.  “The weather always changes around the equinox; that is when the rains come” he stated firmly, confident in his pronouncement after many decades of wine growing.  As a comparison, in 2019 the rains came as we started picking on September 23rd but this year, we started harvesting the Merlots on September 14th, at least a week before the September 22nd equinox.  So really it is not surprising that we had heat before the rain this year since we began so much earlier.  It is not all doom and gloom however; we notice is that the vine has begun to build up a resistance to these climatic conditions.  This is one of the reasons we love old vines so much; they have a sagacity and patience to withstand the weather’s caprices.   That being said, almost every vintage recently has been saved by a little rain during the harvest.  

While I will try and make some predicaments about the quality in my final blog, sadly one fact is for certain:  quantities are down as much as 30-50% compared to last year.  This is due to several factors:   thick skinned berries with very little juice; strict sorting to eliminate raisined or sun shriveled berries; replanting of old parcels; variation of grape maturity.  The thick skins did provide us with a couple of advantages:  they released amazing dark crimson colours and they protected the berries from rot.   But thick berries can also contain strong tannins and like many of our colleagues, we have been paying even greater attention to the winemaking this year with cooler fermentation temperatures, very short pumpings over to wet the cap of fermenting skins and little exposure to oxygen.  This is gentle winemaking, as minimalistic as we can make it without hindering the yeasts’ job of continuing fermentation until all the grapes’ sugars are eaten up. 

This last week has seen us finish picking the Merlots at all three of our estates: Le Pin in Pomerol, L’IF in Saint Emilion and L’Hêtre in Castillon.  This in itself is unusual in that there is usually a three-week delay between picking in the three châteaux.  A challenge which has meant us having to hire extra equipment this year rather than sharing tractors, sorting tables and trailers between us.  Talking about new equipment, the star of the harvest has been Cyrille Thienpont’s new “Viniclean” machine (pictured)  at L’IF which allows the ripe berries to sink to the bottom of a basin of sugared water and all the shriveled or unripe berries to float on the top to be scooped up and discarded.  It has been a great help this year with many of the bunches containing healthy berries on the shaded side and raisined or sunburnt berries on the side where the dead leaves dropped off the vines leaving the grapes exposed. 

We are also delighted that the much-respected Dr. Axel Marchal, professor at Bordeaux’s Scientific Institute of Vines and Wines (formerly the Institute of Enology) has enthusiastically agreed to help Maxime Thienpont in the search for more elegance and precision at L’Hêtre.

We all have the feeling this year that we are having to work harder and think harder as we vinify the 2020s.  This week the last of the Cabernet Franc grapes are being gathered in and our attention turns to the work in the cellars.  The fermentations are going well and the sugar levels (which will influence the alcohol levels) are lower than we at first feared. The colours and aromas are gorgeous, but more of that next week…..

 

Fiona Morrison MW, Pomerol