Well, we’ve had rain. Quite a lot yesterday. Not so much of a shower, more of a deluge.
Today, the sun is shining again and growers are speeding up the gathering of grapes to beat the onset of botrytis.
When we’ve not had guests (and we’ve had 20 over the past two days), Nigel is helping out top Vouvray grower Vincent Careme.
As many of you know, Nigel has a farming background so when Vincent learnt that Nigel could drive a tractor he was in! His job is to drive the tractor and trailer to each of the parcels as they pick and when there’s a press load, to deliver them back to the winery and load the grapes into the two pneumatic presses.
He reports that a lot of fruit has come in today. The fruit on some of the younger vines was not picked because the recent rains had not unblocked the stagnent phase some vines were in. Of course, it was the younger, less established vines that struggled more with the heat and drought over these past months.
Vincent has made a first pass through Le Clos, one of his top plots perched just above the winery.
Bunches are varied in their ripeness with some super ripe and golden and others more green but the juice from the tanks is tasting great.
More news tomorrow.
