Mid-afternoon break for Noëlla Morantin's pickers – anti-frost device in background

Then back to work for the final row of the afternoon (above and below)

Dappled light in Clos Roche Blanche press house

Catherine Roussel: "We started picking the Gamay on Thursday and through yesterday, which was very hot – over 30˚C. We did have a thunderstorm on Thursday but fortunately we didn't have much rain although what we did have was very heavy. We finished picking the Gamay this morning. This year we expect it to be quite light as it is around 12% potential with 5.5 acidity. We plan to pick the Pineau d'Aunis on Tuesday." Hopefully Catherine and Didier will be making their delicious L'Arpent Rouge again this year.

2011 Gamay

Bertrand Celce has a fine piece here on the 2011 harvest at the Clos Roche Blanche on his Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France. We must have been following each around!

Across onto the north side of Cher in the village of Monthou we had a quick look at Jérôme and Dominique Sauvété's Sauvignon Blanc.

Plenty of life in these vineyards

Dominique told us that they weren't quite ready to start as the acidity levels were still a bit high. She expected that their vintage would be starting this coming Monday.

Hail damage in Monthou, Cher Valley 2009

'Un violent orage de grêle détruit le Sauternes

Un violent orage de grêle a fortement touché le vignoble de Sauternes, qui produit des vins liquoreux d'excellence, touchant "au moins 40% de l'appellation", a-t-on appris mercredi auprès des responsables de châteaux classés grands crus qui évoquent des "ravages".'

Read the rest here. 

A violent hailstorm hit Sauternes early evening on Monday. The communes of Bommes and Sauternes were particularly affected. Hail can be very destructive. Parts of the Cher Valley, Sancerre and Menetou-Salon were very badly affected by hail in 2009. Fortunately hail is usually quite localised but those affected can lose virtually their whole crop.


See video of damage here on Bill Blatch's Bordeaux Gold.

Now at the end of April the threat of frost is lessening in the Loire, while the danger of hail increases especially as the vines are so in advance of normal this year. We had a little bit of hail last Sunday in Epeigné but as far as I know not enough to do any real damage.

 Sauvignon Blanc being processed@Jean-François Merieau

Happily the heavy rain of Thursday night/ early Friday morning does not appear to have done too much damage. Fortunately the ground was dry so that picking machines have been able to continue to work. Yesterday we dropped in to see Jean-François Merieau (Saint-Julien-de-Chedon), Thierry and Joël Delaunay (Pouillé), Jean-Christophe Mandard (Mareuil-sur-Cher), Jacky Preys (Meusnes) and Vincent Ricard.

All said they were happy with the way the vintage was going, although they certainly don't want any more rain. Anything up to 40mm fell Thursday/Friday. Fortunately the last couple of days have been quite cool with a north wind at times helping to dry out the grapes. This morning we have sunshine and clear blue skies. All of them started on various days over the last week and most are picking Sauvignon Blanc, although Jacky Preys and Vincent Ricard had also picked some Pinot Noir and the Delaunays some Gamay and Chardonnay. Vincent had also picked some Sauvignon Rose (also called Sauvignon Gris or Fie Gris) which was coming in at 14% potential. Overall the Sauvignon Blanc appears to be coming in between 12%-12.5% with considerable variations in acidity ranging from about 5 grams per litre up to 6.2. 

Of all of them it is Vincent Ricard who has his foot hardest down on the accelerator. "I started picking by hand on Monday through to Thursday. However, with the rain I've switched to machine. This morning we started at 4am and we have just finished the fourth pressoir. (I saw Vincent around 5pm). It's going to be 15 days flat out as the forecast for late next week isn't very good. For the moment  what rot we have is noble but that can change and I don't want to lose the Sauvignon aromas."

All the juice I tasted was clean and quite rich, so 2010 is still looking pretty promising but no more rain please!