2009 Vintage report

The 2009 Growing Season

Vineyards: 2009 Growing season and Harvest

Spring was damp and cool in the Herault, though this has been followed by a hot, very dry June, July and August. Our drip irrigation has been invaluable in these dry conditions as without it the grape varieties susceptible to water stress would shut down and the grapes would not achieve full maturity.

This year we will be harvesting four new grape varieties (Marsanne, Mourvedre, Viognier, Petit Verdot) from vines we planted in March 2007. Two of these varieties (Marsanne and Mourvedre) had to be green-harvested as they are notoriously vigorous in their development and were over-producing. Had we not done this, the young vines would have exhausted themselves and under-cropped next year. We have also had to add drip irrigation at the last minute to three of these young blocks of vines to ensure that they do not suffer from water stress, something that would also be detrimental to their ongoing development for the following years. We will be irrigating these vines even after the grapes have been harvested in order to build up their water reserves for the next growing season.

So, vintage has started hot and early. The only year we have started picking this early was the drought year of 2003. As usual it is an exciting period and even more so with new varieties to process. Watch out for new blends and possible new products resulting from these new additions.

The 2009 Vintage (THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED REGULARLY DURING THE VINTAGE)

The 2009 vintage commenced on 13th of August and finished on 30th of September.

1. The Chardonnay harvest began on 13th August, 2009 with a subsequent picking on 16th August.

2. The Sauvignon Blanc harvest began on 21st August, 2009 with a subsequent picking on 24th August.

3. The Viognier harvest began on 21st August, 2009.

4. The Muscat harvest began on 21st August, 2009.

5. The Merlot harvest began on 21st August, 2009 with a subsequent picking on 31st August.

6. The Marsanne harvest began on 24th August, 2009.

7. The Syrah harvest began on 31st August, 2009 with subsequent pickings on 10th and 15th of September

8. The Roussanne harvest began on 3rd September, 2009 with a subsequent picking on 10th September.

9. The Cabernet Sauvignon harvest began on 12th September, 2009.

10. The Grenache harvest began on 12th September, 2009.

11. The Petit Verdot harvest began on 12th September, 2009.

12. The Mourvedre harvest began on 30th September, 2009.

And we are finished!!!