So what are the secrets of the cellar once the harvest has been sorted and put into the vats? It depends on the type of wine being produced. At our partner winemakers, they produce mainly white and red wines.

White or red wine?

As we saw in the article describing the harvest, many of the harvested bunches of grapes for making red wine are sorted and de-stemmed to separate the grapes from the stalks. Sometimes the winemakers will then decide to lightly crush the berries. In the olden days this was done by foot or by hand, but these techniques are now much rarer because the machines that de-stem the grapes can also be used for this purpose. The aim of this step is to break the grape skins and to help diffuse the tannins and colour during the maceration period to follow. For the white wines, the grape bunches are generally put in whole, directly into the press.

The next steps differ depending on whether red or white wine is being made. For red wine, we put the must, containing all of the matter that makes up a grape (the skin, flesh, juice and pips), into a vat or cask to start fermenting. The contact between the juice and other components of the berry during the maceration period will help to develop the colour and taste of the wine. To make white wine, the grapes are pressed as soon as they have been harvested so as to extract the juice from the elements which could colour or make the wine tannic.

Pressing is a very important but delicate step for making white wine, as the winemaker needs to find the right balance between pressing the grapes sufficiently hard to extract as much juice as possible, and not over pressing them which can give grassy and acidic tastes. Once the juice has run off, the must is left alone so that the tiny solid particles that have been carried into the vat settle at the bottom. This is known as clarification or débourbage.

The alcoholic fermentation

Whether it's the juice to make red wine that is macerating in the vat, or the juice to make white wine that has been pressed, the moment will come when the sugar that it contains will start to turn into alcohol. This is known as the first or alcoholic fermentation. It usually starts all by itself thanks to the yeast found naturally in the must. It can also be set in motion by adding selected yeast or some must from another vat that has already started to ferment.

The temperature during the fermentation period is crucial and differs between white and red wine. In both cases, the yeast stops working below 10°C and the cells die above 35°C. The winemakers can control the temperature of the vats by pumping hot or cold water into an immersion heater or around the jacket of the vat. For red wines, fermentation generally takes place between 25 and 30°C to keep the maximum aromatic properties whilst extracting the tannins and colour. For white wines, the temperatures can be kept lower, between 15 and 20°C because no extraction is needed, allowing more aromas to be kept. The alcoholic fermentation usually lasts anywhere between a couple of days and a month.

There is another peculiarity for the red wines. As the fermentation takes place, carbon dioxide is released, which pushes the pips, skin and any other solid matter to the top of the vat, causing a cap to form. The colour and tannins necessary for the wine are contained within this solid matter, but the juice stays below the cap. It?s therefore necessary to keep the juice in contact with it by punching the cap down into the juice (pigeage), or by drawing off the juice from the bottom of the vat, pumping it to the top and letting it filter down through the cap (remontage). Depending on the style of wine that the winemaker is hoping to achieve, this will be done for each vat anywhere between a couple of times a day to once every few days.

The malo-lactic fermentation

Once the juice has been transformed into wine, more patience and work is needed whilst it ages. Generally, once the first fermentation has finished, the winemaker will rack the wines to separate them from the larger lee particles and put the wine into a clean vat or into barrels.

For red wines, when the wine from the fermentation tank is drawn off, we get what is called free-run wine (vin de goutte). The remaining marc of solid² matter is then pressed to extract the rest of the wine, which is known as press wine. These two wines are then either blended together during the ageing period or are aged separately, leaving the winemaker the choice to blend them or not at a later stage.

Shortly after alcoholic fermentation, a second fermentation starts, the malo-lactic fermentation, which transforms the malic acid into lactic acid. This decreases the acidity and softens the wines, so is also an important step in making good quality wine.

Then comes the magic of the winemaker in ageing the wine. Each has their own methods and preferences concerning the container used (concrete or stainless steel vat, wooden cask, old or new barrels etc), the length of time needed for ageing, the blend, and so on. As our partner winemakers often remind us, it's as much about personal taste as anything else, and so they task themselves with the onerous job of regularly tasting all of their wines throughout the ageing process!

To learn more about the vinfication, ageing and blending of wine, why not join us for a Gourmet Odyssey Vinification Experience Day!

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The 2015 harvest gets under way for our partner wineries

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In your search for the ideal Christmas present this year you're looking for an idea that is original, personalised, useful, practical to take with you, and wouldn't it be great if the gift was also organic and high-tech... Either Father Christmas is going to have fun trying to meet all of those criteria in the hunt for your Christmas present, or just maybe you are already on the Gourmet Odyssey blog, and you're almost there!

Our Wine Experiences make very original Christmas gift ideas. You can adopt some organic vines and give a personalised gift box containing the adoption certificate and access to the Client Portal to follow the progress of the making of your wine from the vine to the bottle.

Choose one of our organic partner winemakers from one of the seven major wine growing areas in France, decide how many vines you would like to adopt in your gift box, and set in motion a unique experience to discover the world of winemaking. Your recipient will follow the work of the winemaker in the vineyard and the cellar through the newsletters, photos and blog articles related to his wine and life at the selected winery. In no time at all, your recipient will be transformed into an environmentally friendly web wine-maker!

You can also make the Christmas gift more interactive by adding one or more of the three Wine Experience days at the winery during the wine-making year. It could be in the vineyard during the Discovery Experience Day to get involved in pruning, de-budding or training the vines, or picking the grapes during the Harvest Experience Day. Or else during the Vinification Experience Day, your recipient will learn about the work in the cellar and taste the wines during the ageing process to understand the choices the winemaker must take after the harvest period is over.

All of the visits to the winery last at least 6 hours, the time necessary to go into enough detail to start to understand what it's really like to be a winemaker. The Wine Experience Days are participative, so we'll ask you to roll up your sleeves and get stuck in. Each day includes wine tasting and lunch, and puts you in direct contact with the passionate winemakers.

At the end of the experience, the winery will bottle your recipient's organic wine, complete with personalised wine labels. Something to savour for a long time to come, and remember your original Christmas gift by sharing a glass of wine among friends or family.

The gift package you choose is flexible in terms of the vintage, number of vines, the selected winery, and whether you want to include one or more of the Wine Experience Days. The welcome gift pack can be delivered within a couple of days, and easily fits in a suitcase, or else can be delivered directly to your recipient, or even to an alternative address. The Christmas gift box includes a brochure explaining how to activate the Wine Experience online, a sommelier's apron and a DropStop so that your recipient has something to open straight away.

So how's that for the perfect Christmas gift idea? And if you are the one offering the present, maybe you'll get to enjoy some of the organic wine or get away on a weekend break to a French vineyard next year too!

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Under a sunny sky on Saturday, and some mist on Sunday, the participants for the Harvest Experience Days were welcomed by Marc, the owner and winemaker. Time for a quick coffee to gain our strength for the work to come!

The day started with a quick visit of our adopted vines in the Clos de la Bonnelière vineyard and the chance to take a few pictures, before we headed off along the bumpy vineyard tracks (motorways according to Marc!) to the Roche Saint-Paul vineyard, which was the plot set aside for us to harvest.

The Cabernet Franc vines were starting to be tinted with the first of the autumnal colours, but most importantly, they were loaded with lovely ripe grapes.

We were accompanied by Noémie and Stéphane, who both work with Marc, who helped guide us in choosing the right bunches to pick. Once the buckets and secateurs had been distributed, we spread out in pairs amongst the rows, and started to pick the fruit of this year's work!

Marc's new secateurs caused a couple of minor cuts, but nothing to lessen the enthusiasm and concentration of our harvesters! Once we had reached our objective, 70 ares on Saturday and 10 (long) rows on the Sunday, we returned to the winery for a well earned lunch and a tasting of some of the wines produced by Château de la Bonnelière.

In the afternoon, we still had some work to do. We headed to the chai to put our harvested grapes into the vat. The first stage was to unload the crates of grapes from the van and to empty them into the hopper, which then carried the grapes up the conveyor belt and into the de-stemming machine that separates the grapes from the stalks.

Once the awaiting trolleys were full of grapes, Marc showed us his unique way of transporting them to the vats using a fork-lift truck. As no pumps are used, his method ensures that the grapes are handled in the gentlest manner possible.

To check that we had done a good job, we had a few tests to do. We used a mustimetre to measure the sugar density in the juice, and we recorded the level of acidity to check that the grapes were ripe enough.

The results were very good, so we'll now have to wait very patiently before the bottles will eventually be ready at Château de la Bonnelière! We'll be back early next year for the first tasting of the wine during the Vinificiation Expeirence Days!

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The penultimate weekend of Harvest Experience Days saw us travel to Domaine Stentz-Buecher in Alsace. With the very hot summer that the region endured, the harvest has been uncharacteristically early this year, and is almost over. The winery had kept back a plot of pinot noir vines for us to pick that will be used to make the winery's "Ambre" white wine, something that they only do every couple of years when the quality of the grapes allows them to do so.

The day started with us heading out into the vineyard. We followed the tractor and the materiel we needed for the harvest until we reached the plot of pinot noir vines that we were to pick. Céline and Jean-Jacques gave us our instructions and equipped us with a bucket and a pair of secateurs each. We then set about harvesting the grapes, being careful to only pick the ripe bunches!

We emptied the buckets into the trailer, and some of us also had a go at being porter, collecting the harvested grapes in a big basket worn on the back.

Once the basket was full, the porter then had to climb a ladder and tip the grapes over the shoulder into the trailer.

After we had finished harvesting the plot, we proceeded to the Rosenberg vineyard, where our adopted vines are located. We took a few minutes to visit our vines and to take some pictures for the "My Vine" photo competition.

We then followed the grapes back to the winery and met up with Stéphane, who had been busy working in the cellar during the morning. We emptied the grapes into the press by tipping the trailer up, and helping the grapes slide down using a fork.

 

Down below in the cellar, Stéphane explained how the press works to extract the juice from the grapes, and how it is then transferred to the vats.

Céline then gave us a wine tasting session of a range of the organic wines produced by the winery. We started with an unusual wine for Alsace, a 2012 blend of Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Riesling, called "Who Am I?". We the tasted a Riesling Ortel 2012, before tasting three different Grand Cru wines; a Riesling Steingrubler 2008 Grand Cru, a Pinot Gris Hengst 2006 Grand Cru, and a Gewurztraminer Hengst 2008 Grand Cru.

We then continued the tasting over lunch with a Pinot Blanc 2014, a Pinot Noir 2011, and Sylvaner Vielles Vignes 2011.

After lunch, we headed back down into the cellar, where Stéphane explained how the work at harvest time isn't finished once the grapes are picked. We had a go at "pigeage", a job that involves punching down the cap of grape skins and pips into the juice, using a big plunger. This helps extract the tannins and colour from the grape skins during the maceration period.

In the fermentation hall, we learnt all about the process to turn the grape juice into wine as we listened to the gurgling of the vats that had already started to ferment.

We finished the day with a final tasting of a couple of grape musts, at different stages of fermentation. We'll pick up from here next year during the Vinification Experience Days where we'll learn about the decisions that the winemaker takes during the rest of the fermentation and ageing periods.

A final stop in the room where the older wines are stored, and then it was time to say our farewells. Many thanks to all of the family at Domaine Stentz-Buecher for welcoming us, and letting us in behind the scenes during harvest time!

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The two days started under the Bordeaux sun, and after a short introduction from Gourmet Odyssey and an overview of the day's agenda, Christine presented her team and the winery. All booted up, we then headed out into the vineyard. First stop, a quick meeting with our adopted vines to take some pictures for the "My Vine" photo competition.

A few minutes later, armed with a pair of secateurs, we got down to the serious business of harvesting. The group on Saturday picked the grapes in one of the Merlot plots, whilst Sunday's group picked the young Malbec vines that were planted 3 years ago. Guided by David and Christine, we cut, carried, cut, carried... tasted and re-tasted the grapes!

Once we had finished harvesting, we headed back to the winery. With the sun being at its strongest, we de-stemmed the grapes and put them directly into the vat before they got too hot. We all got involved with the task at hand. We formed a human chain to transport the grapes to the vat, where the merlot grapes will be used to make red wine. On Sunday, we crushed the grapes by foot in an old traditional wine press. As the Malbec grapes that we had harvested were very young, they will be used to make rosé wine.

Around 1pm, we stopped for a well earned rest. Guillaume uncorked a few bottles and started the wine tasting! We continued to taste different wines from the winery during the course of lunch.

After lunch, Christine led us back into the fermentation hall and the barrel room. She explained how the grapes that we had harvested will slowly transform into wine. Sandrine, the cellar manager, told us how the tannins and colour are extracted from the must as the wine is pumped over and filters through the cap of marc that rises to the top of the vat. We then had a quick tour of the barrel room to see where the wine will be moved to next. The rest of the process will be covered in more detail during the Vinification Experience Days!

Many thanks to Christine and her team for their warm welcome as always! And many thanks to those who picked, listened, and tasted!

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As soon as we had finished the introductions, we walked through the vineyard to the plot of Carignan vines that are located on the other side of the road. Eric & Marie-Pierre handed out the material we needed to pick the grapes and gave us our instructions.

Armed with our secateurs and buckets, we spread out among the vines and started picking. The Carignan vines are pruned using the goblet method, and so grow as free-standing plants. With no training wires to worry about, you can rotate around the plant to more easily access the bunches of grapes.

As we worked our way down the rows, Eric advanced the tractor little by little, so that we had less distance to empty our buckets. With the large bunches of delicious grapes that we were picking, the buckets quickly filled up, and so too did the trailer!

The weather was perfect for harvesting, with bright blue skies and a slight breeze to keep us from getting too hot. It's a magical place to spend a morning, with just the sound of birds, and the snip of the secateurs to accompany us.

Once we had finished cutting the rows that Eric & Marie-Pierre had left us, we made our way back up to the winery and followed the route that the harvested grapes take.

We made our way behind the winery building to see where the grapes are received. First they are emptied into a de-stemming machine to separate the berries from the stalks. The harvest was of a very good quality, and so there was no need for a sorting table.

The grape berries are then transported up a conveyor belt and then fall directly into the vat below where they will start the process of being turned into wine.

After all the morning's effort, we were ready for the aperitif! We tasted a couple of the winery's white wines and the Côte du Rhône Colline red wine, before sitting down to lunch where we continued the wine tasting.

In the afternoon, we first of all took a few minutes to visit our adopted vines and take a few pictures.

We then headed back to the chai, where Eric talked about how the grape juice ferments, and the important work done to extract the tannins and colour during the maceration process. Eric also talked about the differences in making white wines.

We tasted a couple of grape musts that are already in the process of fermentation to see how the sugar level decreases as the alcoholic content increases.

Eric then answered lots of questions about wine-making, notably about the use of sulphites to preserve the wine, before the day drew to a close. We will get the opportunity to discuss the many choices of the winemaker during the vinification, blending and ageing phases in much more detail during the Vinification Experience Days.

Once again, many thanks to Eric & Marie-Pierre for welcoming us and for letting us get a taste of what it takes to be a winemaker.

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The harvest banns or "ban des vendanges"

Traditionally, this was the document that gave permission to start the harvest, and also to get the harvest celebrations under way. Today, some regions in France still fix the earliest possible date to start the harvest. From the set date, the winemakers can begin to harvest the grapes, but they are also free to start harvesting later if they feel that their grapes would benefit from maturing more before being picked. In other regions, the winemakers themselves have complete autonomy over when to harvest their grapes.

Harvest period

So it's no longer just the official decree that marks the start of the harvest, but it's also the choice of the winemaker. For each grape varietal and vineyard plot, the right equilibrium has to be found between the grapes being sufficiently mature and waiting too long if there are any climatic risks such as rain, storms, or drought. The winemaker has to be able to deal with the stress of uncertainty!

The state of the grapes

The winemakers decisions are therefore based on the state of the grapes in each individual vine plot. As the grapes mature, the sugar level rises and the acidity decreases. If the winemaker waits too long, the sugar level will be too high and the grapes will be overripe. The water in the berries will start to evaporate and the grapes will start to dry out. For some types of wine, such as vendanges tardives, this is the stage that the winemaker will wait for before picking the grapes.

Late harvest or "vendanges tardives"

Outside of the usual harvest period, some grape varietals and wine appellations have been granted specific authorisation to enable a late harvest. In these cases, we're looking for a high concentration of sugar and so choose to harvest later. The mention of  "vendanges tardives" on a label is regulated, and in France it is allowed in Alsace, and in the Gaillac and Jurançon appellations, each having their own specific charters.

Green harvest

So you can harvest later, but you can also pick your grapes earlier with a green harvest. But note that a green harvest is never intended to pick grapes for making wine. It's simply to remove excess grapes from the vines during the ripening or véraison" period. By decreasing the yield, the winemaker can increase the quality of the remaining grapes.

Harvesting machine

Once the grapes have ripened, it's time to pick them. To do so the winemaker can use a harvesting machine or lots of pairs of secateurs! The harvesting machine has the advantage of being quick and of being able to be used more flexibly in terms of time. The proponents of manual harvesting argue that the quality of the harvest is better by hand, as a first sort can be done of the grapes before they are transported to the chai.

Sorting table

Talking of sorting the grapes, this can be done at two stages, at the moment the grapes are picked, or on a sorting table at the chai, where the unwanted grapes and foliage are removed, and often the stems are removed at the same time for red wine grapes. The winemaker chooses one or the other method, or sometimes both for the very best quality harvest. For some appellations, you have to sort when picking the grapes, or to harvest in phases by making multiple passes, as is the case for some of the sweet wines.

Destemming

Once the grapes have been sorted, the winemaker might decide to separate the berries from the stems, particularly for red wines, before the grapes are pressed or left to macerate in the fermentation tanks. Removing the stalk avoids too much contact with the grape must that can give a bitter vegetal taste. If the stalk is mature enough, the winemaker might decide to leave some of the stalk to add some tannin to the wine, and make a wine that will keep longer.

Wine press

To make white wine or some rosé wines, the grapes are pressed. Pressing can be done in a number of different types of wine press; vertically, horizontally, pneumatic or hydraulic. Each has their own advantages, but the pneumatic presses are most often used nowadays because you can regulate the pressure applied to the grapes to obtain a better quality juice. For the red wines, there is no pressing done before the fermentation, but afterwards to separate the solid marc of stems, skin and pips from the wine.

Crushing the grapes

For many wines, the grapes aren't crushed before being pressed or macerated. They are either left to break down naturally, or can be crushed mechanically or by foot. The days of crushing grapes by foot are very rare now as it takes a lot of time and energy! So these are some of the principal steps that will keep the winemaker busy up to and during the harvest. But it doesn't stop there! Once the grapes and juice are safely in the vats, the vinification process starts. We then hear talk of fermentation, racking, chaptilisation, yeast, sulphites... but we'll talk more about that after the harvest!

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After some fresh croissant and a coffee, Stéphanne, Eric and Marie-Pierre announced the plan for the day. Today we were to follow the journey of the grapes from the moment they are picked, right through to when they are put into the vat.

Without any further ado, we set off out into the vineyard, where we would spend most of the morning. Eric taught us how to pick the grapes using the secateurs. The grapes are big and magnificent, and the ones that are ripe for picking are to be found on the lower part of the vines. We each had a bucket to put the grapes in, and two to a row, we started to pick the vines treasure.

Many of us were amazed by the large size of the grapes, and their density. We also tasted the grapes, and Eric told us how to tell if the grape has reached optimal maturity.

The time flew by and it was already 12:30! The team of Gourmet Odyssey harvesters had done some good work. The buckets didn't cease to be filled, and a regular rhythm was maintained throughout the morning.

It was then time to follow the grapes to the de-stemming machine, where the grapes are separated from the stems, and the berries are slightly crushed to help liberate their juice. This stage is done mechanically, and we watched with interest as Eric, Marie-Pierre and their son, Etienne, operated the machinery.

We had earned our wine tasting! Eric and Marie-Pierre served us their two white wines, the Colline and the Sauvageonne, both from the 2014 vintage. They are very fresh and were accompanied by some aperitif biscuits. Before sitting down to lunch, we watched the grapes being emptied into the vat by gravity.

As usual, Marie-Pierre had prepared us a great meal, simple, but so delicious! We continued the tasting with some of the winery's red wines, the Colline and Garance 2014, and the Châteauneuf du Pape 2013; which is produced from a plot of old vines which are more than 70 years old. After lunch, we headed back out into the vineyard to discover our adopted vines. This more relaxing moment tested the photographic skills of those who were interested in the My Vine photo competition.

We finished the afternoon in the chai to learn more about the differences between working the grapes used for white and red wine. Eric explained the first stages of fermentation, whilst Etienne put the lid on the vat with aplomb, using a forklift truck.

And by then it was already just gone 4pm. Marie-Pierre had prepared the cases of wine to be collected, and we said our goodbyes. See you again soon for a new Experience Day. The next type of day will be the Vinification Experience Day, where we will learn more about the vinification and blending processes.

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As soon as we had finished the introductions we headed outside to receive our equipment for the day, a pair of secateurs and a bucket each, and a couple of baskets for the porters. We met up with Emilie, from the vine management team at Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard, in the Sainte Claire vineyard, and listened intently as she gave us our instructions on how to harvest, and which grapes to pick and which to leave behind.

We paired off, two to a row, and set about harvesting. First we removed the leaves from the vines from around the fruit. This helped us to more easily access the grape bunches, and also made it safer in warding off any unwanted finger cuts!

The grapes are of a very good quality this year, and we could taste the plentiful natural sugar present, thanks to the dry and sunny summer. Unfortunately for us, some rain had decided to join us too for the morning, but that didn't dampen our spirits any, and the buckets soon filled up!

A few brave volunteers took it in turns to act as porter. Their role was to walk up and down the rows, collecting the grapes from the pickers and putting them in the basket that they wore on their backs.

Once the baskets were filled, the porters then carried their load to the waiting trailer, climbed a ladder, and emptied the load over their shoulder, trying not to fall in with it!

At the end of the morning we headed over to the Boissonneuse vineyard to have a look at our adopted vines, giving us the opportunity to take a few more photos!

On the way back to the winery, we stopped to have a look at where the grapes are then emptied into the presses, before cleaning the buckets, and cleaning ourselves up.

Anne-Laure, from the Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard team had prepared some wines for us to taste, which were most welcome after our mornings effort! We started with a Petit Chablis "Les Plantes" 2012 and a Chablis "Sainte Claire" 2014. We then tasted the 2012 vintage of the Chablis wine chosen for our Wine Experience, La Boisssonneuse, and then finished with a Chablis "Côte de Lechet" Premier Cru 2012, before heading upstairs for lunch, where we also tasted an Irancy red wine produced by the winery.

In the afternoon, we caught up with Julien Brocard, who has taken over the running of the winery from his father. Julien showed us how the grapes are pressed, and told us about how the wine will evolve during the fermentation process and how it will be worked. It was also the opportunity to talk a little about his reasoning for working much of the winery biodynamically.

We then visited the large fermentation hall, where the winery's top wines are worked and aged in oak casks and some in concrete eggs.

The day ended with a final tasting session. We first tasted the grape juice that had been freshly pressed from our harvest. We then compared it to some juice that had already started the fermentation process and fizzed a little. This juice is now known as bourru.

Many thanks to all of our apprentice harvesters for their hard work, and to the team at Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard for welcoming us. We look forward to seeing how the 2015 vintage has evolved during the Vinification Experience Days next year.

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On the 12th September there was a weather warning for the Hérault region, where our partner winery, Domaine Allegria, is situated. The participants of the Harvest Experience Day arrived under a dark sky, and Ghislain and Delphine, the winemakers, were wondering of it would be possible to harvest.

After a warm coffee and an introduction to the day, we decided to head quickly out into the vineyard to start harvesting as soon as possible, and try to avoid the rain as best we could. The forecast was for the weather to deteriorate towards the end of the morning.

We set about picking the grapes in the small plot of Syrah vines, situated just above the ancient volcano. The grapes were in excellent condition, and the Syrah are truly magnificent this year! In an hour and a half we picked about 350kg of grapes, and put them into small crates, each weighing about 12-13 kg.

Before lunch, we went to the part of the vineyard where the Carignan grapes grow. We spent some time removing the leaves which cover the grapes, in order to increase the air flow around the grapes, and decrease the chance of rot setting in after the forecast rain arrived.

The lunch that Delphine had prepared was most welcome, warm lentil salad, hot quiche, and local cheese from Mas Rolland to help replenish our energy. 

At the end of lunch, the downpour started. We took refuge in the cellar and put our harvest into a vat for a special type of fermentation, which consists of putting the whole grapes into the vat without crushing them at all for the whole of the fermentation process. The fermentation will take place inside each individual berry, giving the wine a greater aromatic richness.

The rain continued to pour down, so we were unfortunately not able to visit our adopted vines... Once we had finished putting the grapes into the vats, we said our goodbyes, hoping that the roads wouldn't be blocked by the rain.

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The 2015 Harvest Experience Days got off to a great start last weekend, not in the south of France as is usually the case, but in Burgundy at Domaine Chapelle. The harvest is early this year in all of France's wine growing regions, but it is particularly true in Burgundy after an uncharacteristically hot summer where the temperatures climbed as high as 40°C in July.

Fortunately, the temperatures have decreased again, and we had the perfect conditions for harvesting the grapes. Dry, not too hot, with maximum temperatures around the 20°C mark, some wind, and sunny for the most part.

After the introductions in the garden of Domaine Chapelle, we headed off to the Clos des Cornières vineyard, the plot where the Gourmet Odyssey adopted vines are located. Before getting down to the serious business of harvesting, we took a few minutes to say hello to our vines and thank them for producing such a good harvest this year! As we were to find out, the quality is potentially excellent for the 2015 vintage, even if the dry summer has meant that there is a little less quantity than Jean-François, the winemaker and owner, was hoping for!

Jean-François then told us how to harvest, which grapes to pick, and which to leave behind. In pairs, we were then allocated a row of vines, and armed with pair of secateurs each, we started to pick the grapes!

The crates soon started to fill, and we brought them back to the beginning of the row to exchange them for an empty one.

Harvesting is a relatively therapeutic activity, as you are just concentrated on the task in hand, and so it is a great way to clear the mind for a couple of hours. It is however fairly tough on the back, and we all had a thought for the team of regular harvesters at the winery who are harvesting all day, every day, for 10 days!

Our morning's work well accomplished, and having cleaned up a little, we returned to the garden for a well deserved aperitif! Whilst we enjoyed a nice fresh Santenay 2014 white wine and ate some gougères, a local savoury specialty, we took the opportunity to question Jean-François some more , and to listen to him explain a variety of topics ranging from the local geology to his reasons for converting the winery to being organic.

The wine tasting continued over lunch with some of the wineries red wines, a Clos des Cornières 2011, an Aloxe-Corton 2012, finishing with a Santenay Premier Cru "Les Commes" 2007.

In the afternoon, we followed the journey that the grapes take once they have been picked in the vineyard. The first stop was the reception hall, where the harvest is emptied onto the sorting table to remove any leaves or unripe grapes.

We learnt how red and white grapes are treated differently, the Chardonnay being put into the press in whole bunches, whilst the Pinot Noir have the grape berries separated from the stalks in the de-stemming machine.

Downstairs, we continued the journey into the fermentation hall. Here Yannick, the Technical Director, and Jean-François explained how the Chardonnay grapes are pressed and then how they are worked during the fermentation process.

We also learnt how the Pinot Noir grapes are put directly into the vats, and the work necessary to extract the colour and tannins present in the grape skins during the maceration period. The work during harvest time is far from over once the grapes have been picked!

The day finished with a final tasting of some grape juice as we discovered just how sweet it is. Over the coming couple of weeks, the sugar will be broken down and transformed into alcohol as the wine begins to take form.

We'll then have to wait patiently as the wine continues its fermentation and ageing process over the next year or so, more of which will be covered in the Vinification Experience Days and newsletters next year.

Many thanks to Jean-François and his team at Domaine Chapelle for letting us participate in the harvest, and for sharing their time with us during this busy and stressful period! And of course, a huge thanks also to all of our apprentice harvesters for your hard work and good cheer!

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The 2015 harvest gets under way for our partner wineries

The 2015 harvest. What happens next in the cellar?

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2015 is a year of early harvests

As usual, the harvest season got underway at the Allegria and Domaine la Cabotte wineries, as they are situated in the south of France, in the Languedoc and Côtes du Rhône regions respectively, where the high temperatures and long hours of sunlight have enabled the grapes to reach a good level of maturity, as explained in our review of the work in the vineyard post. Domaine Allegria started the harvest on the 20th August, 2 days earlier than 2014 and 20 days earlier than 2013!

The early start to the harvest is the case for all our partner winemakers in France, such as at Domaine Chapelle where the staff returned from the summer holidays on the 24th August to be ready in time. The winemakers are quietly confident that the quality will be very good this year, but there are a few worries that the quantity will be less due to the lack of water in some regions that limited the growth of the grapes.

In Chablis, the date of the harvest has been brought forward at the last minute. On the 31st August, a hail storm damaged some of the vineyards in Chablis, and so the grapes have to be picked as quickly as possible, as the risk of the grapes being affected by mould dramatically increases. The harvest has started one week earlier than initially planned.

Lots of work in the cellar to welcome the 2015 harvest

In the cellar, the 2014 and some of the 2013 vintages are still being pampered. However, space needs to made for the arrival of the new vintage. In some wineries, such as Château de la Bonnelière, some of the wines have therefore been bottled to free up some of the vats and barrels. The winery has also had to adapt the organisation of the chai to be able to receive the harvest of the 10 additional hectares that they have acquired this year.

At Château Beau Rivage, the 2015 harvest will be worked in a newly renovated chai, and everywhere, such as at Domaine Allegria, all of the equipment has been cleaned and organised to best receive the grapes. At Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard, all of the materiel is tested, the conveyor belts, presses, sorting table etc, before being called into action for real.

And the other big task is to get ready to welcome the teams of harvesters who will arrive at the wineries to pick the grapes from anywhere between 10 days and a month depending on the winery. So the pressure is mounting as the harvests get under way, but our winemakers are keeping their smiles as they think of the great wines that will hopefully result!

Like to know more or to participate in the harvest? It's not too late to join us for one of the Gourmet Odyssey Harvest Days. Don't hesitate to get in touch to know more.

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A review of the work in the vineyard for the 2015 vintage

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All of our partner winemakers are agreed. Mother nature has been kind to the vines this year, or at least so far... Of course nothing is ever certain, and we must hope that the good weather continues, until the grapes are safely in the fermentation tanks, but for the moment, 2015 looks set for being a good year.

A cold but dry winter

Most of the wine-growing regions benefited from a relatively cold winter from January onwards, but without excessive rainfall. Domaine Chapelle recorded half of the rain usually received in January. The cold is a good thing for the vines as long as the buds have yet to appear. It kills off many of the unwanted parasites without affecting the plant, and it makes it easier for the winemaker to drive the tractor between the rows without getting bogged down, thanks to the hard ground.

The cold winter, combined with a milder spring enabled the winemakers to limit the number of treatments applied to the vines. This is good news for our partners, all of whom are organically or biodynamically certified, as with Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard. Organic treatments are contact treatments which don't penetrate inside the plant, so after each rainfall, they have to be treated again as the rain washes away the protective matter. Too much rainfall however, makes it impossible to use the tractor to treat the vines as the earth becomes too cloggy, whilst the wet weather favours the development of disease.

An ideal Spring for flowering

The flowering season happened at our partners between the beginning and mid June, the 5th June at Domaine Stentz-Buecher, and a couple of weeks later at Château de la Bonnelière. Everyone agreed that the weather was optimal for the flowering. Mild temperatures between 20 and 25 °C for the most part, and without wind. Perfect conditions for the good fecundation of the flower and a good quantity of grapes.

As a rule of thumb, we normally count 100 days between the flowering and the harvest. This year, the weather will make a mockery of this saying, as the harvest will be early throughout France.

A lovely summer and early harvest

The months of June and July were very hot and dry, but the vine is a plant that needs little water, and withstands heat very well. At some of our partner wineries such as at the biodynamic Domaine la Cabotte, the winemakers were able to help the plant a little by spraying a tisane, made from stinging nettles and yarrow, in the morning, to refresh the vines and help them better withstand the heat.

Even in the most southerly regions, where we often hear about the lack of water, nature was relatively kind this year, Domaine Allegria reporting 100mm of rain between mid March and mid April, making the summer a little less stressful.

At all of our partner wineries, the heat helped the development of the vines, first with the leaves, then through the veraison when the grapes begin to change colour, and then whilst they ripen. The lack of water over the past few weeks has preoccupied the winemakers. Even though dry weather is always better for harvesting, the grapes find it difficult to grow, and even if they reach maturity, the quantity of juice, and therefore of wine, runs the risk of being less than initially forecast during the flowering period.

The harvest gets under way

The majority of our partner winemakers have now returned from their summer holidays, a little earlier than other years, and the harvest has already got under way at some vineyards, such as Domaine Allegria. Elsewhere, the preparations are under way to clean and get the cellars ready, as with Château Beau Rivage, where the 2015 harvest will be received in the newly renovated chai.

The Gourmet Odyssey Harvest Experience Days get under way next week, and run between the 5th September and the 4th October. We'll have to wait a little longer to get a first idea of what the vintage promises, once the grapes are in the vats and the fermentation process has begun. We'll then get the chance to taste the wines during the Vinification Experience Days next winter!

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Wine is a living matter, even once it has been bottled. As with all living things, it evolves, and unfortunately, not always for the better. It's best to remain indulgent and open when tasting wines, but even so there are some defects that are difficult to put to one side because they make the wine unpleasant to drink. Here are a few of the principal faults that you can come across.

Before we get started, we will only be addressing some of the faults that adversely impact tasting wines, and we will not be talking about difference in appreciations of aroma and taste, that remain a very personal affair. The faults we will be examining are the ones that someone without any particular wine knowledge will be able to identify, simply by looking at the glass, smelling, or tasting the wine.

Identifying faults by sight

Some defects don't even need you to smell or taste the wine to spot.

A cloudy wine for example might be a sign of a problem during ageing, or of mould being present in the grapes at harvest time. However, it should also be noted that all cloudy wines are not necessarily bad. Lack of clarity could be due to tartaric crystals or from small particles left in a wine that has been voluntarily left unfiltered.

The fluidity of a wine is also important because a wine that is too heavy when you swill it in a glass could be the sign of a lack of sulphites to protect the wine. But it's difficult to generalise too much because a sweet white wine will cling to the glass much more than a dry white because of the different sugar levels.

A wine can also have some greenish tinges, hinting at a lack of maturity in the grapes at harvest time, or the presence of vegetal matter such as leaves or stems. The green tinge in a white wine is more visible in young wines, and becomes less evident as the wine becomes more yellow with age. However the chances are that the grassy taste will remain!

In still wines, a fault that is easy to spot is the presence of bubbles which don't disappear after the wine has been swilled around the glass or left to air for a few minutes. It could mean that the wine has started an unwanted second fermentation after being bottled, and most often occurs if we reduce the level of sulphur dioxide when bottling.

Identifying faults by smell

So apart from the bubbles example, before giving a definitive judgement on the state of the wine, you need to go further. The next step is to smell the wine to confirm your initial observation or to check for other discrepancies.

The easiest smell to identify is that of a corked wine. It?s normally due to a poor quality of cork that contaminates the whole bottle of wine. You can normally tell just by smelling the part of the cork that was in contact with the wine in the bottle. Instead of smelling of the wine, it has a strong smell of cork. This smell can also result from an error in handling the wine during the bottling process, when the bottles are laid down too soon after the cork has been inserted. But the odour alone is enough to spoil the pleasure in tasting the wine.

For the more accomplished wine tasters, the smell of an oxidised wine can cause problems, but make note that it is completely normal for some wines such as port or Jura wines. The wine presents a maderised odour of very ripe fruit or even chard. If it is just slightly oxidised then sometimes after opening it will regain some of its freshness, but if some of the wine has also evaporated, then there's nothing to be done. A wine that has maderised has either passed its optimum age, or has been stored in poor conditions, causing the wine to come into contact with the air, and resulting in an irreversible bitterness.

The opposite fault occurs when you can detect that a wine has reduced. You'll notice an odour of rotten eggs, mould, mushrooms, sweat, or even leather. Generally, these smells dissipate once the wine has been opened for a while. They often come from the sulphur in the bottle or form if the wine is exposed to too much sun light.

You might also notice other unpleasant aromas such as vinegar, due to the wine being in contact with too much air, or a smell of the lees, if a wine was left in contact too long with the lees during fermentation. Other smells hint at a lack of maturity in the grapes at harvest time, such as cat?s wee for Sauvignon or green pepper for the Cabernets.

Identifying faults by tasting

The principal faults detected by the nose are often also found on the palate. But there are also others that can only be noticed once the wine has finally been tasted.

Bitterness is on example, which results from their being too much vegetal matter in the must during fermentation, or a rotten taste if the harvested grapes contained too much mould and weren't sorted with enough care.

Some bad tastes herald from the containers in which the wine was aged, for example if the wood in a barrel contained bacteria or was not cleaned properly.

However, just to end on a more re-assuring note, even if we have listed quite a few faults, fortunately we don't come across them very often, and the vast majority of wines tasted will be in perfect health. But it's always useful to be able to spot some of these faults to better understand whether there is something technically wrong with the wine, or if it's just one that we don't like.

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Marc Plouzeau, the winemaker at Château de la Bonnelière, welcomed us to his winery during this very warm weekend, introducing us to our adopted vines, the life of a winemaker, and the beginnings of the 2015 vintage.

 

Our Discovery Experience Day started with a coffee and Marc recounting the long history of the winery and the region.  Marc took over the reins from his father in 1999, and started working organically straight away.  Today the winery covers 35 hectares of vines situated on Chinon's left bank.

In the vineyard, we took a few minutes to meet our adopted vines.  Thanks to the great weather we have been having since June and the warm temperatures, the vines are further advanced than is usual.

The vine branches have grown quickly, and our task for the morning was to train them.  The vine is a creeper plant, and grows up from the ground producing big branches.  To cultivate it, you have to help support it, and that is why between each post in the vineyard, run three sets of training wires, with the middle one doubled up.

We had to raise the middle two wires and by doing so, trap the vegetation between them, and then attach the wires together using a clip.  This will help support the weight of the foliage and grapes, and will allow the tractor to more easily pass between the rows.

The temperature rose during the morning, and Saturday's group welcomed the shade of the hanger whilst Marc explained the work in the vineyard to come between now and the harvest.  It was a little cooler on Sunday, and the group were able to finish training the remaining vine rows, before listening to Marc.

The 2015 vintage is shaping up very nicely so far, and we could be in for a great year.  The harvest should happen around the beginning of October.

It was then time for the aperitif!  We started our wine tasting with the "Perle Sauvage" sparkling rosé, and we appreciated the fine bubbles.  We then sat down to eat lunch, lovingly prepared by Madame Plouzeau, and tasted five different wines during the different courses.

Despite the calls for a siesta, we continued our learning in the afternoon with a visit to the fermentation hall.  Luckily, this is the coolest place to be as it is air conditioned!  Marc quickly described how he vinifies his wine, something that we will go into much more detail about during the Vinification Experience Day.

The day then came to a close and it was time to thank our host and participants, many of who we'll have the pleasure of seeing again during one of the Harvest Experience Days.

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It should never be forgotten that winemaking begins in the vineyard, and indeed, without good grapes, it's not possible to make a quality wine. Our day therefore started with a quick visit to the vineyard, which also allowed us to see our adopted vines!

The Vinification Experience Day is the day where we taste the most wines. To help us find the words to describe our impressions when tasting wines, we participated in a workshop on the aromas found in wine. With the help of some small bottles of essence, we tried to identify the fruity and floral aromas that are typical of the white wines from Alsace. An exercise that isn't as simple as you might think!

With our noses now finely tuned, we went down into the cellar to see the oak casks and stainless steel vats that are used to hold the wine during the fermentation and ageing periods. Each plot of vines and grape varietal is vinified separately, and Stéphane explained how the wines change during the alcoholic and malo-lactic fermentations, and the work needed to prepare the wines before being bottled.

We tasted a couple of wines that are still in the process of ageing. The first was the Pinot Gris Rosenberg 2014, which has yet to finish its malo-lactic fermentation. We could see that the wine was still cloudy and fizzed a little, both of which are entirely at this stage.

The second wine was a Riesling Ortel which was still in its alcoholic fermentation phase, showing that we can't always control everything, and the profession of being a winemaker calls for lots of patience.

We then tasted some of the finished wines to appreciate the range and complexity of the wines made at Domaine Stentz-Buecher. We started with a very floral Pinot Blanc 2013, followed by the Pinot Gris Rosenberg 2013. We then tasted a Riesling Steingrübler Grand Cru 2008, a Gewurztraminer Pfersigberg Grand Cru 2008 and a Gewurztraminer Hengst Grand Cru 2008. We continued to taste other wines with one of the local specialties, choucroute.

After lunch, we returned to the cellar to see the machines used for bottling and labelling the wine bottles. We also had a long discussion on the choice of corks versus screw tops.

The winery also produces Crémant d'Alsace sparkling white wine. Stéphane showed us how the bottles are turned to collect the sediment in the neck of the bottle, and we learnt about the specific work needed to make sparkling wine.

Then a last little tour of the cellar to see the red wines that are resting in oak barrels, before finishing in the wine library, where a selection of the winery's wines dating back to 1995 are stored.

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After the worry of a little rain on Friday evening, all our doubts disappeared on Saturday morning as the wind swept the last of the clouds away from the Burgundy sky.  We were at Domaine Chapelle in Santenay for a Discovery Experience Day to learn all about the work carried out in the vineyard by the winemaker to obtain the best possible grapes come harvest time.

Following a brief presentation of the winery by Jean-François, the owner and winemaker, we headed out into the garden of the family manor, where Jean-François talked about the geography and geology of Burgundy.  He also explained why he had decided to embark on the organic approach to making wine.  For him, it is as much about taking pleasure from drinking a wine that is free from harmful products as it is about respecting the soil and protecting the health of the people who work at the winery.

Jean-François then showed us the "Clos des Cornières" vineyard, where our adopted vines are to be found.  He took the opportunity to explain the differences between the Burgundy regional, village, Premier Cru and Grand Cru appellations.  We then met our adopted vines for the first time.  A very emotional moment!

We knew that sooner or later, it would be time for us to roll up our sleeves and do some work...  We're getting into the de-budding season.  After pruning, a very important stage in determining the future development of the vines and for reducing the quantity of grapes that each vine produces, de-budding is another key step.  You mustn't leave too many branches and leaves to feed, or you run the risk of not obtaining mature enough grapes.  We removed some of the buds on the vines to better appreciate the complexity and scale of this titanic job.

Back at the winery, we made the most of the lovely April sun, and enjoyed our aperitif outside.  We started the wine tasting with a Santenay 2013 white wine, accompanied by some gougères, and then continued the tasting over lunch of a Burgundy Pinot Noir 2011, a Santenay Clos de Cornières 2011 and a Chassagne Montrachet Premier Cru 2010 with cheese.

In the afternoon, we took a stroll to the Beaurepaire plot of Santenay Premier Cru vines.  The walk allowed us to appreciate the landscape of the southern côte de Beaune, and to learn a little more about the local geology.  The vineyard has just been replanted, and so we found out about a vine's life-cycle of a vine.  Yannick Jacrot, the winery's Technical Director, explained how the vines are planted and the vineyard prepared.

The day finished with a brief visit of the fermentation hall and cellar where the barrels of wine are ageing and the bottles of wine are stocked.

Many thanks to Jean-François and Yannick for their passionate explanations, and to all of the Gourmet Odyssey clients for your good cheer.

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The day started in the chai, where Christine Nadalié, the winemaker at Château Beau Rivage, explained how the grapes are received during harvest time and the work done during the fermentation period.

We then passed through into the barrel room. Christine comes from a family of coopers, and she spoke with passion about the role of the barrel in ageing wine.

Before starting the wine tasting workshops, we headed out into the vineyard to see the plot where our adopted vines are to be found. The first buds are starting to appear on the vines, and in no time at all, the first shoots will grow to mark the start of a new season.

The first workshop concentrated on our sense of smell, which is one of the key senses used when tasting wines. We had to identify some of the aromas that can be found in wine with the help of some small bottles. It's not such an easy exercise!

Then we blind tasted two wines to compare them. Both were from the same Cabernet Sauvignon grape varietal, from the same vine plot, and from the same year. The only difference being the barrel used to age the wine. The first was made from American oak and the second from French oak, resulting in two very different wines, aromatically and on the palate.

During lunch, we tasted a Clairet rosé wine, and five different Bordeaux Supérieur and Haut-Médoc red wines made by Christine.

The afternoon was dedicated to blending wines, starting with the tasting of the four major grape varietals cultivated at Château Beau Rivage; Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot. We noted the different characteristics of each.

Then in small groups, we worked on different blends to better understand what each grape varietal brings to the final blend. The Merlot brings the fruitiness and roundness, the Malbec lovely aromas and colour, the Cabernet Sauvignon length in the finish, and the Petit Verdot a balancing acidity. It's amazing how just a small change in the percentage used of each grape varietal can have on the final wine.

Many thanks to Christine and Guillaume from Château Beau Rivage, and to all of the participants for this great moment spent together.

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Last weekend we welcomed the parents of the adopted vines to Domaine Allegria for a Vinification Experience Day. And with them, a light drizzle for the first day of Spring, but that didn't dampen the good cheer and enthusiasm of our participants in any way!

Once everyone had arrived and had a cup of coffee, we booted up, and headed out into the vineyard to find our adopted vines.

On the way, Ghilsain, the winemaker at Allegria, explained the different work in progress in the vineyard. The pruning has now finished and the first tilling of the soil has started.

This allows the rain to better penetrate the earth. We then returned to the winery building, and we spent quite a while in the chai to better see and understand the different ways that the wines are worked during the vinification phase.

The questions abounded, covering topics as varied as sulphites, racking the wines and ageing them.

Before lunch, we participated in a workshop which the winemakers children had help to devise. We had to guess which aromas the 37 different cups contained!

These weren't synthetic aromas, but natural ones that were hidden from view with a tin foil cover over the cup with some holes in.

And so we set about identifying smells as diverse as burnt cork, rosemary, blackcurrant and truffle.

To spice things up a little, we organised a competition and the winner left with a bottle of Dolce Vita 2014 rosé wine!

We then sat down for the meal and wine tasting, which Delphine had lovingly prepared.

To start, a warm chickpea salad with slices of black pudding, which pairs delightfully with the Cinsaut Abuelo 2013.

We then enjoyed a home-made lasagne, and some local goats cheese from the Mas Roland.

After lunch we set about the serious business of blending wines. We blind tasted different grape varietals of Carignan, Mourvèdre and Syrah to learn what characteristics each brings to a blend, and then had a go at blending some wines to learn how they combine with each other!

Many thanks to all our participants and to the winemakers for a great Vinification Experience Day.

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We couldn't have asked for better weather for the latest Vinification Experience Day at Domaine Chapelle. The aim of the day was to learn more about the process of making and ageing wine, from harvest time until the wine is ready for bottling.

After a welcome coffee, the day started with a workshop in tasting wines, led by Yvette Chapelle. This session starts with an exercise to identify the different aromas that can be found in wine.

We put our sense of smell to the test, first with the primary aromas of fruit and flowers, and then we tried to name a series of tertiary aromas that can be found in wines that have been aged in oak.

The wine tasting session finished with a gustative test to identify the differences between sweet, saline, acidic and bitter solutions.

Jean-François Chapelle took us on a tour of the fermentation hall and the cellar. In the fermentation hall he explained how the wines ferment and worked in the period immediately following the harvest.

In the cellar, we then learnt how the wines change when aged in different types of oak barrel. We tasted some wines direct from the barrel to see firsthand the differences in some of the 2014 wines that are currently ageing. Then it was time for the aperitif. A Santenay 2013 village white wine, accompanied by some gougères before sitting down to enjoy lunch.

We headed out into the sunshine after lunch, and made our way to the Clos des Cornières vineyard, where our adopted vines are to be found. Jean-François taught us a few more things about the local geology and the vines in general.

We finished the day back at the winery with a final tasting of the 2014 Clos de Cornières wine which is currently ageing in oak barrels in the cellar. The vineyard is made up of three distinct zones with three different ages of vines which are referred to as the Park, Young and Old. We tasted each of these wines separately, as the final wine will be made up of a blend of the three. Many thanks to the team at Domaine Chapelle for their warm welcome, and to our clients for their good cheer.

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