9/13/12

Ding a ling a ding dong! 6 am! Time to pick, and this is what I wake up to…

It was a fairly cool morning, but the excitement of getting the first parcel of fruit off the vine kept me warm. After a light breakfast and a stroll to the farm shop, I was brought up to speed on what French “vendage” or vintage is all about. What a crowd, I wish I had got a picture. There were easily about 30 of us, aging from 16 yrs old to about 70 or so. Basically a party. We were informed by the big boss Yves that we would be picking Cornas Syrah, meaning about an hour car ride south, to a slightly warmer climate. We loaded up super quick and took off. The drive would have been better if I had remembered to bring my headphones but the scenery and landscaping was enough to keep my attention. We finally got to Cornas, drove up this long long road to the top of a mountain it seemed like, and parked the cars. What a view…

Over to the right of the photo, where the sweeping down hill is, there is a small point that you might be able to see. It is in fact a massive castle like structure, and that that whole area is what seemed to have been a little settlement in the medieval times. Super duper cool. Anyways, we got to the top of this hill, got out of the cars, and were immediately hit by a howling wind chill that brought the air temp down to probably 40 something °F. Luckily I brought a beenie and my windbreaker. Since everyone knew what lay ahead, we busted out the snacks and drinks to get energy before the picking. Bread, pate (pork), cheese, chocolate, coffee, and of course, wine!

We ate and drank for about 20 mins and then got prepared to pick. We grabbed buckets and sheers and headed to the parcel. Everything is hand harvested, especially for the vines of the Northern Rhone which are in the tower (les eschalet) style with steep, terrace landscaping. The grapes are cut from the vine, tossed into buckets, which are then collected by “porters,” thrown into larger bins/buckets (still able to be lifted by hand), and brought to the truck for loading. If the parcel is super steep then the buckets are brought directly to the truck, which was the case for Cornas. We harvested, and harvested, and harvested some more. Backbreaking work. The reason I say backbreaking is because the fruit here is so low to the ground that it literally feels like my back is going to break after a day of picking; no wonder the French drink so much wine. Right as we got done with the area I got this little guy hanging out at the top of the parcel…mountain cat!

We finished up there, and drove it back to the winery for processing. We got there, and they brought out this crusher/destemmer that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in ages. In reality it probably had been cleaned a couple weeks before, but in that time a significant amount of dust etc. had built up all over. No matter though, the wine will take care of itself it seems is the mentality. We destemmed and lightly crushed the fruit, and it was pushed by agar directly through barred window into the cave (pronounced “cahve” meaning cellar) and into a large fermenting barrique. After all this was taken care of we cleaned up and sat down to a catered lunch, complete with huge amounts of beer and wine. We ate, drank, and were merry! After lunch we cruised back to the farm shop to load up again for more picking. This time, Condrieu, meaning viogner. We got to the vineyard, grabbed buckets (which are called “Seau’s”)(when you need a new bucket you yell out SEAU! (pronounced sou)) and cruised out to the vines. The viogner looked great. It did have just a little botrytis, but to the French that means complexity in the wines. What a learning experience. We picked quite a bit…here is a picture of me picking next to the big boss..Yves Cuilleron: