The weather was on our side. After the rain of the preceding days, the sky was getting ready for the Mistral wind, which was welcome to help dry the ground between the vine rows and make it easier to harvest.

We began the day by heading to the Grenache vineyard where our adopted vines are located. These vines are used in the making of the winery's Garance red wine, which is the biodynamic wine selected by Gourmet Odyssey.

Eric and his son, Etienne, handed out the buckets and secateurs, and everyone got stuck in, having learnt how to pick the bunches of grapes, and more importantly how to avoid cutting any fingers!

It's hard, but fun and rewarding work. With a glass of rosé at the break to help keep the smiles on the faces, we managed to harvest 7 rows, filling 4 containers.

We then followed the tractor, laden with our harvest, back to the chai, and gathered around the de-stemming machine to better understand how the grapes are handled before being put into the vats.

Whilst we were waiting for the machines to be put in place, Jacqueline, the oenologist, showed us some of the tools and materials used in making the biodynamic preparations, and explained how they are used to bring the soil more alive.

Marie-Pierre, then announced that lunch was ready, and we sat down under the shade of the trees to some fresh salads, terrine, vegetable quiche, local cheeses and cherry clafoutis, all of which had been home-made.

To accompany our delicious lunch, we tasted the range of red and rosé Côtes du Rhône wines produced on the estate. We started with the "Colline" red and rosé before tasting the Massif d'Uchaux Côtes du Rhône Village appellation wines that are more structured and keep for longer. We also tasted the new "Clairette" white wine, an amazing wine which is made in Italian clay amphorae.

After our late lunch, we ended the day next to the vats to taste the first juice from the harvest, and to understand how it will be nurtured to make the next wines from Domaine la Cabotte.

A few bottles were ordered to take home to enjoy later, and the little girl left with a lovely vine branch that had already taken on the hues of autumn. She was taking it back to her school as a souvenir of the harvest!

Many thanks to Marie-Pierre, Eric and Etienne for welcoming us, and we look forward to returning soon to learn more about the vinification and blending!

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We were blessed with a beautifully sunny day to harvest this plot of vines that was planted in 1984. After explaining which grapes to pick and how to do so, the first snip of the secateurs got underway at about 10:00.

The bunches of grapes were carefully picked and then transported in their crates to the shade of the vinification hall. The outside temperature rose quickly, and so it was important to keep the grapes as fresh as possible to help the start of the vinification process.

Our harvesters were very enthusiastic, and by 11h30, the plot had been picked. It was a relatively small harvest, with a hundred or so crates picked. The dryness of the preceding weeks has meant that the grape berries that were formed were fairly small.

We then headed to another plot in the vineyard to discover where our adopted Syrah vines were to be found. The Tribu d'A red wine that we produce for the Gourmet Odyssey clients is made up of two grape varietals, syrah and mourvèdre.

We then enjoyed a well-earned lunch in front of the winery, with home-made dishes from Delphine, accompanied by wines from the winery.

After lunch, we retreated to the cool of the cellar to put our harvest into the vat and learn about the first stages of fermentation that will start in a few days time.

We'll then pick up the next stages of the wine's evolution during the Vinification Experience Days. Many thanks to all of our apprentice harvesters!

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The winery came highly recommended from two different sources, and as soon as we arrived at the winery to take a look for ourselves, we could see why. It's a delightful château set in the middle of the vineyards, and just a stone's throw from the centre of Saint-Emilion. Its neighbours include some of the most famous Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé wineries.

We were met by Adrien, who heads up the commercial side of things. A delightful young man, whose passion for his winery and the surrounding area are infectious. The winery has been in his family for over 400 years, and is steeped in history. As we tour the château and vineyards, Adrien explained the importance of the biodiversity and the preservation of the estate environmentally to the family. No chemical product has ever been used, and as a result, wild and even some exceptionally rare flowers also prosper. Part of the vineyard is worked by horse, but the family also has an eye to the future, and are experimenting with the use of robots to help with the work in the vineyards. The winery has been organically certified since 2012.

Our tour finished back in the wine boutique for a vertical tasting of the Château Coutet Saint-Emilion Grand Cru covering the past few vintages. Another tick in the box. The wines are very enjoyable, and through the different years reveal deep ruby red, aromatic and elegant wines. The younger wines still need time to age and for the tannins to soften. The exceptional years of 2009 and 2010 reveal the potential that the wine has for laying down, and the 2008 is a delight, having opened up nicely and being ready for enjoying from now on.

Château Coutet is just perfect for the Gourmet Odyssey Wine Experience, and we're really excited about working together to provide you with a great wine-making experience. The people, place, and wine all come together to offer a fantastic location to learn more about the art of wine-making. We can't wait for the first Experience Days in 2017!

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Last minute preparations

The wineries have been ramping up the work again over the last couple of weeks. The teams of harvesters are being put in place, and are now eagerly awaiting the starting orders. The harvest will generally last between 10 and 20 days according to the size of the winery, the weather, and how the grapes are harvested. Harvesting by hand takes considerably longer than by machine.

The cellars and fermentation halls, or chais, have been cleaned and tidied to be ready for the new harvest. Many of the wineries have also been busy bottling previous vintages to free up space in the vats for the first fermentation of the new wine to come.

Our partner winemakers are now prowling the vineyards each day, observing and tasting the grapes to see how ripe they are. They also scrutinise the weather reports and combine these with their estimations of when the grapes will reach optimum maturity to try and predict a date to start the harvest.

The harvest dates differ from region to region

This year we are in a more usual cycle, and the first of our partner wineries to pick their grapes are Domaine Allegria and Domaine la Cabotte in the Languedoc and Côtes du Rhône wine regions, where the high summer temperatures and long hours of sunshine allow the grapes to mature faster.

The wineries a little further north will then follow with our two Burgundy partners, Domaine Chapelle in Santenay, and Domaine Jean-Marc Brocard in Chablis, hosting Harvest Experience Days the last weekend of September and the first weekend of October. Château Beau Rivage in Bordeaux, Domaine Stentz-Buecher in Alsace and Château de la Bonnelière in the Loire Valley will then finish the round of Harvest Experience Days during the following two weekends.

Generally speaking, spring was cool and wet, but the beginning of summer was very warm, so the ripeness of the grapes is neither late nor early. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed for good weather right until the very last grapes have been picked! It's been a difficult year for some with hail storms, flooding, and some very hot spells in some regions, so it would be nice to avoid any further climatic challenges. And a little sun is always appreciated to welcome our adoptive vine parents to the Harvest Experience Days!

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