Sauvignon Blanc being processed@Jean-François Merieau
Happily the heavy rain of Thursday night/ early Friday morning does not appear to have done too much damage. Fortunately the ground was dry so that picking machines have been able to continue to work. Yesterday we dropped in to see Jean-François Merieau (Saint-Julien-de-Chedon), Thierry and Joël Delaunay (Pouillé), Jean-Christophe Mandard (Mareuil-sur-Cher), Jacky Preys (Meusnes) and Vincent Ricard.
All said they were happy with the way the vintage was going, although they certainly don't want any more rain. Anything up to 40mm fell Thursday/Friday. Fortunately the last couple of days have been quite cool with a north wind at times helping to dry out the grapes. This morning we have sunshine and clear blue skies. All of them started on various days over the last week and most are picking Sauvignon Blanc, although Jacky Preys and Vincent Ricard had also picked some Pinot Noir and the Delaunays some Gamay and Chardonnay. Vincent had also picked some Sauvignon Rose (also called Sauvignon Gris or Fie Gris) which was coming in at 14% potential. Overall the Sauvignon Blanc appears to be coming in between 12%-12.5% with considerable variations in acidity ranging from about 5 grams per litre up to 6.2.
All said they were happy with the way the vintage was going, although they certainly don't want any more rain. Anything up to 40mm fell Thursday/Friday. Fortunately the last couple of days have been quite cool with a north wind at times helping to dry out the grapes. This morning we have sunshine and clear blue skies. All of them started on various days over the last week and most are picking Sauvignon Blanc, although Jacky Preys and Vincent Ricard had also picked some Pinot Noir and the Delaunays some Gamay and Chardonnay. Vincent had also picked some Sauvignon Rose (also called Sauvignon Gris or Fie Gris) which was coming in at 14% potential. Overall the Sauvignon Blanc appears to be coming in between 12%-12.5% with considerable variations in acidity ranging from about 5 grams per litre up to 6.2.
Of all of them it is Vincent Ricard who has his foot hardest down on the accelerator. "I started picking by hand on Monday through to Thursday. However, with the rain I've switched to machine. This morning we started at 4am and we have just finished the fourth pressoir. (I saw Vincent around 5pm). It's going to be 15 days flat out as the forecast for late next week isn't very good. For the moment what rot we have is noble but that can change and I don't want to lose the Sauvignon aromas."
All the juice I tasted was clean and quite rich, so 2010 is still looking pretty promising but no more rain please!
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