Nous retrouvons nos sourires de l'an dernier et toute notre équipe fidèle de vendangeurs de Lormont pour nos vendanges 2011 qui ont débuté lundi 12 septembre par les merlots et se poursuivent cette semaine par nos cabernets sauvignon, sur la croupe devant le château dès aujourd'hui . Fort heureusement par un temps relativement clément après un weekend quelque peu pluvieux! Cette année, le maître mot est TRI!!! Il faut trier à tout prix pour assurer la qualité...Notre belle machine à tri optique s'avère être d'une utilité indispensable pour enlever les baies encore vertes ou qui commencent à s'abimer...

Une saison difficile a en effet provoqué une très grande hétérogéneité au sein du vignoble en général! Au chai, toute l'équipe est sur le pont pour contrôler la situation

 

Lire la suite

Our loyal team of harvesters from Lormont is back for the 2011 harvest, which started on Monday, September 12^th with the Merlots and is continuing this week with the Cabernet Sauvignons, on the plateau in front of the château, starting today: Fortunately, the weather is relatively mild after a somewhat rainy weekend! This year, the keyword is SORTING!!! Sorting is absolutely essential for ensuring quality. Our impressive optical sorting machine is proving to be a precious tool for removing berries that are still green or are starting to go bad...

Indeed, a difficult season resulted in widespread heterogeneity across the vineyards in general. In the cellar, the whole team is on the sidelines monitoring the situation.

Here is a short summary by Jean Marc Quarin from his Chronique No. 11:

“Difficult”: this is the word that has most often been spoken by wine-growers over the past 2 weeks. And for a good reason! The weather for this vintage has been extremely chaotic:

- It started very early with a real summer instead of spring.
- Grape shatter (coulure) significantly reduced the number of berries per bunch, especially for the Merlots.
- In May, hail struck numerous vineyards.
- At the beginning of June, a heat wave scalded the grapes.
- At the beginning of July, one month ahead of 2010, leaf drop occurred due to excessive drought. “If it hadn’t rained in July, many vines would have died”, affirms Denis Dubourdieu, referring to young vines in particular.

At the same time, “everything moved back in July”. The vineyards were only 15 days instead of one month ahead of their normal cycle. Rainfall was higher than the thirty-year average. It ranged from 45 mm to 60 mm depending on the region.

Heat was lacking in August. There was higher-than-average rainfall (62 mm in St. Julien vs. 53 mm on average, 60 mm in St. Emilion vs. 55 mm on average). The vines started to grow back, with their leaves benefiting rather than the maturity and concentration of their fruits. In the last week of August, the weather in Bordeaux was tropical – hot and very humid. Doors of homes wouldn't close properly, and floors shone with humidity. This weather evoked that of 1976, 1983 and unfortunately, the risks of 1997.

- On Thursday, September 1^st, hail severely struck the vineyards of St. Estephe, those of the Bordeaux appellation between Branne and Grézillac, and to a somewhat lesser extent, those of Saint-Emilion.

There was a high level of heterogeneity. From the beginning of September onward, the region experienced 35 to 40 mm of rain, more than half of which fell during the storm on the 1^st. The weather was nice between the 9^th and 18^th, when it rained another 15 mm.
There are still uncertainties for the Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet Francs. Another week of nice weather would be most welcome. The health of the harvest will act as a compass for our work. We know that Cabernet Sauvignon is more resistant than Merlot to grey mould, but also that it deteriorates instantly. Several people have estimated that this grape’s alcohol level is between 11.5° and 12.5°, which is good. The Merlots were around 13°.
For the moment the keyword is: sorting, and sorting again, to obtain a homogenous result we can work with in the vats.

如同去年，我们和我们忠诚的收割团队的全体成员满怀笑容地迎来2011年的葡萄采摘。我们的葡萄采摘于九月十二日，礼拜一开始。首先，采摘的是美乐，然后这周从今天开始，在酒庄前面的小山丘上，将开始我们的赤霞珠的采摘。经过上周末的雨天，相对放晴的天气让人心情愉悦！今年，关键词是“分拣”！我们要不惜一切代价挑选葡萄保证品质......我们的光学分拣机在完成去掉还未成熟和已经开始腐烂的葡萄的工作时，证明了他的不可或缺性......

在最麻烦的季节，杂品葡萄一度在庄园里大面积泛滥 !酒窖的全队人马积极应对以控制局面。

下面就是Jean Marc Quarin在他的11号专栏中的一小段简述：

“艰难”是这两周以来从种植者口中最常听到的词。究其原因！因为今年的年产经受了起起伏伏的天气状况：

-起初，受如同夏天般暖春的影响，葡萄过早成熟。 今年落果现象严重，直接导致了每串的葡萄粒数量的减少，特别是美乐。 - 五月份，冰雹影响到了很多葡萄园。 -六月初，酷暑使得葡萄受损。 - 七月初，由于过于干旱，落叶要比2010年早一个月。Denis Dubourdieu说：“假如7月没有下雨，那很多葡萄将难逃厄运，尤其是那些树龄较小的葡萄树”

但同样在七月，所有情况都倒退了。葡萄失去了在它通常周期里面的那提前的一个月，仅仅可以保存15天。降雨量要明显高于过去30年同期的降雨量的，根据地区的不同，大约在45到60毫米。

八月比较凉爽。加上比往年都充足的降雨量（在St Julien地区是62mm，相比较53mm的平均降雨量，圣艾米侬地区的降雨量也达到了60mm高于平均的55mm）。葡萄树重新开始生长，相对于它的成熟度和果实的浓度，对它的枝叶更有利。8月份的最后一个礼拜，波尔多地区出现了热带天气，异常的炎热和潮湿。家里面，门都不能正常的关闭，土壤因为潮湿而闪烁。让人想起1976年，和1983年，以及非常不幸的是，1997年的灾难。

9月1日，礼拜四，冰雹严重的影响了St Estèphe产区的，波尔多产区位于Branne（注意，Branne有两个n，在江的右岸，而不是Brane 康特纳）和Grézillac中间，以及圣艾米侬的一部分的葡萄园。

降水的不均匀性也非常严重。从9月1日开始，大约降下了35到40mm的雨量，大约一半是1号的时候的暴雨造成的。从9号到18号，以晴好天气为主，但也降下了15mm的雨量。

同样的问题在赤霞珠和品丽珠中也存在。再多一星期的晴好天气非常必要。卫生状况就像是工作中的指南针。我们清楚，赤霞珠要比梅洛更难腐烂，但是它也会一下子变坏。所以，很多建议赤霞珠的酒精度控制在11.5到12.5之间。而梅洛则是在13度。

现在，关键词是：挑选再挑选，从而使得进入酒槽的原料的品质相差不大。