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.