WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES ! Burgundy Harvest Update – Sunday, 21 September, 2014

It is another glorious day in Burgundy’s Cote d’Or!  Yesterday’s clouds and foggy morning gave way to clearing blue skies by 2pm, which continue today with low humidity and lovely temperatures (midday: 17°C, 63°F).  A line of clouds should be rolling in from the northwest later today, but the forecast is for continued splendid weather through most of next week.  This continued Indian summer is making everyone smile.  (Yes, the French use the phrase too, eté indien)   Just for the sake of contrast, here is what the same view from above looked like yesterday morning, and indeed for much of rainy July and early August:

Meursault shrouded in fog Saturday morning, September 20th, 2014

Almost all of the white wine grapes are now in the producers’ cellars.  There are some parcels of Puligny and Meursault 1ers Crus whose ripening has been delayed by the hailstorm of June 28th, but plans are to pick those early next week.  The white grapes were nearly uniformly clean, ripe, and, except for some hail damage where shriveled berries quickly dried and fell off the vine, showing no signs of significant rot or botrytis.  For most growers the white grapes went straight to the pressoirs, there was little need for any triage.

Potential alcohol levels varied between 12.3° and 13.5°, and the fruit and juice that I have tasted has a wonderful sweetness, complemented by brilliant, tightly wound acidity.  These will be  classic white Burgundy wines, with chaptalisation rarely necessary, and if practiced, only to bring the wines up in alcohol a half to at most one degree.  Fermentations are proceeding very rapidly in the cellars, as a healthy crop also brought in healthy and copious yeast populations on the fruit.  The INAO has set the maximum yields for regional and villages white Burgundies at 60 hectoliters per hectare this year, and except for the hail-ravaged 1ers Crus in Meursault and Puligny, and some other plots of very old vines, this should be a fine vintage for quality wines with enough quantity to replenish stocks in the marketplace.

One of my neighbors in Puligny, Francois Carillon, reported that his alcoholic fermentations began almost immediately after debourbage (the settling of the juice’s gross lees), and took only a week to complete after the must was transferred to barrel.  His Bourgogne Blanc and Puligny villages yields were in the range of 50 hectoliters per hectare.  At Domaine Michel Niellon, Michel Coutoux was very happy with the quality and quantities of his Chassagnes from villages as well as 1ers and Grands Crus levels.  Potential alcohol at harvest was between 12.5° and 13.2°, and the vats were bubbling away when I visited Saturday morning the 20th September.

Fermentation getting underway in this vat of Chassagne villages.

Fermentation in full-tilt boogie in this vat of 1er Cru Vergers.

Most growers transfer their juice from vat into barrels when the fermentation begins, and that process is now underway in most white wine producing cellars throughout the Cote de Beaune.

This vat of Chassagne villages bubbling away happily.

Niellon Chevalier Montrachet continuing its fermentation in barrel.

Laurent Pillot finished his harvest  on Friday afternoon, bringing in the Aligote adjacent to his cuverie at the bottom of the village near the RN6/74 interchange.  He and his son were just finishing cleaning tanks after debourbage, and transferring the must to barrels for fermentation.

A very happy Laurent Pillot in his Chassagne winery.

Laurent’s son Adrien prepares the barrels to receive the must.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, the latest parcels to be picked seem to be those most impacted by the hailstorm at the end of June, as well as the higher slopes of Puligny, Blagny, and Meursault where cooler temperatures usually mean a later harvest.  More on these wines in a later post.

The Pinot Noir harvest is in full swing as I write this post, with most of the Cote de Beaune reds in the cellars, and in the Cote de Nuits, most grapes are being brought in under superb conditions.  Many of the producers of the Cote de Nuits’ illustrious Grands Crus will wait to bring in their fruit next week, under what is forecast as continued near-perfect weather.  As of yesterday, I saw some fruit remaining in Corton, the upper slopes of Aloxe-Corton and Ladoix Grands Crus parcels, and quite a few parcels waiting to be picked in Vosne, Morey, and Gevrey Grands Crus.  For the most part, the harvest of reds in Volnay, Pommard, and Beaune has finished, with spectacular fruit brought in, just not much of it.  The 1ers Crus and much of the villages parcels in these communes were severely impacted by the hailstorms, and yields will be down significantly.  Some growers report parcels that produced only 5 hl/h.  The quality is beautiful, but the quantities will be miserly.

Triage at Domaine Marquis d’Angerville sorting Volnay 1er Cru Champans

A lovely bin of Volnay 1er Cru Champans at d’Angerville. Yields are down >50%.

Guillaume d’Angerville estimates that in the last 5 years (2010 to 2014 vintages) he has produced the equivalent of only two average crops.  The quality of 2014 is superb, with little rot and very little damage from vinegar flies in the Cote de Beaune.  But there will be little wine to sell from the 2014 vintage.

Guillaume d’Angerville with a handful of beautiful Volnay. Excellent quality, just not much of it.

There has been widespread talk, and a bit of quiet fear, of a new pest that has arrived in the Pinot Noir vineyards of Burgundy.  I have heard a lot of discussion about drosophila suzukii, the invasive species of fruit fly that has been found in several vineyards.  The flies thrive in heat and humidity, particularly in places where the air is stagnant, without much wind.  The flies puncture the ripening fruit, introducing a vinegar yeast to the bunch, and can decimate surrounding vines quite rapidly, turning wine grapes to vinegar juice.

For many growers, 2014 marks the first year of this new pest, and I heard varying comments on its presence, effects, and vectors.  Everyone agrees that the issue is localized in small parcels this year, mainly in the Cote de Nuits, but reported to be quite problematic in the Cote Chalonaise as well.  Many maintain that heat, insufficient ventilation, and humidity are causes, and point to parcels where leaves were not pulled from the fruit before harvest, especially in the lower, frequently wetter areas.  Others claim to have no problems whatsoever, due to the sanitary conditions of their organic and sometimes biodynamic plots.  The highest estimates of the effects of the vinegar fly that I have heard are that 3 to 5% of the fruit was affected in the Cote de Nuits.  Pickers and sorters have been extremely vigilant this year, sniffing boxes and bunches for the telltale vinegar aromas, and even where the fruit arrives in beautiful condition, extra care and time are being taken on the tables de triage.

A bunch of Pinot Noir affected by drosophila suzukii vinegar fly.  This bunch smelled of cheap red wine vinegar

Richebourg getting special attention on the table de triage at Domaine Parent-Gros, Francois Parent was very cautious.

Extra personnel were added to the sorting table at Domaine Bertagna

Victoria Damoy (front left) supervises her triage table at Domaine Pierre Damoy

Most growers with whom I spoke did agree to one thing: that drosophila suzukii has indeed arrived in Burgundy, and that it will become another significant issue that will require vigilant attention in the vines for the coming years.

The next several days will complete the harvest in the Cote d’Or vineyards for 2014.  Growers will continue their work as the wines begin to take shape and reveal their personalities.  But confidence is high that a quality vintage is being produced in 2014.

Wine and Music Rejoice the Heart

“Wine and music rejoice the heart, but the love of wisdom is above them both.”  (Book of the All-Virtuous Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira, also known as Ecclesiasticus, Chapter 40, verse 20)

Written some two hundred years before the birth of Christ by the Hebrew scholar and scribe Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira, and included in the Christian canon, is the Book of Ecclesiasticus, a profound prescription for how to live one’s life, work with honor and dignity, and recognize the importance of friendship, wisdom, and humility as we move through life’s trials.   Ecclesiasticus discourses on poverty, justice, evil, good works, everyday existence, and inspires a personal devotion to integrity and honor without hubris.

It was originally written in Hebrew poetic verse,  translated into Greek and Latin, and in the early centuries of the formation of the Christian church was adopted as a significant text of ethical teachings by James, Origen, Jerome, and Augustine.  Today it remains a cogent reminder of how Jewish life and philosophy informed Christian practices, beliefs, and ethics.

Interesting chapters are devoted to the pursuit of goodness and wisdom, family life, and everyday practices from marriage to child rearing to agriculture, animal husbandry, and yes, entertainment and wine.  We find some excellent observations:

“Justify alike the small and the great”  5:18

“Be in peace with many, but let one of a thousand be thy counsellor” 6:6

“Happy is he that hath had no sadness of his mind, and who is not fallen from his hope” 14:2

“Before judgment prepare thee justice, and learn before thou speak” 18:19

“Keep fidelity with a friend in his poverty, that in his prosperity also thou mayst rejoice” 22:28

“Be not hasty in a feast” 31:17

“Wine was created from the beginning to make men joyful, and not to make them drunk.  Wine drunken with moderation is the joy of the soul and the heart” 31:35-36

“Wine drunken with excess is bitterness of the soul” 31:39

“A concert of music in a banquet, wine is as a carbuncle set in gold.  As a signet of an emerald in a work of gold: so is the melody of music with pleasant and moderate wine” 32:7-8

This last week in Burgundy I attended a series of concerts and tastings that truly gave gladness to my soul, and allowed me to rejoice my heart with several evenings of splendid aural and oral pleasure.  Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot is a festival of wine tastings and musical performances bringing together some of Burgundy’s most talented wine artists with a group of the world’s great musical virtuosos.  Every year it creates a symmetry of harmony and flavor, virtuosity and ensemble excellence.  The festival benefits two worthy causes: it sponsors two young artists per year with scholarships for study, and it finances the artisan reproduction of period instruments for use by upcoming young talents, each instrument produced bearing the name of one of Burgundy’s Grands Crus.  The festival’s hosts are Aubert de Villaine of Domaine de Romanee Conti and Bernard Hervet of Domaine and Maison Joseph Faiveley.

The concerts feature the principal artists and soloists of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, led by Burgundy amateur David Chan, who doubles as music director and principal solo violinist.  The opening night is a free concert in the covered marketplace in Beaune, with an orchestra of young talents from the Burgundy region.  Subsequent concerts are presented at the 13th century Chapter House of the Clos Vougeot and the Chateau de Meursault.  The music features world class solo performers, chamber ensembles, young debut artists, and an Orchestre ephemere des Climats de Bougogne, drawing from top principal players from orchestras around the world.

The concerts themselves are proceeded by tastings of wines presented by some of the most illustrious producers in the Burgundy region; a list too long to reproduce here, but making for gustatory opportunities normally reserved only for experienced professionals and the well-connected collector.  Each concert offers a chance to taste about 40 wines, mostly 1ers and Grands Crus.  Friday the 27th of June the tasting featured wines from Meursault as the evening was presented at the Chateau de Meursault.

Sunday’s Gala  on the 29th showcased Grands Crus of Gevrey-Chambertin from a dozen different producers.  The concert venue was moved from the courtyard of the Clos Vougeot to the Church of Saint Denis in Nuits St. Georges because of expected inclement weather.  The mood was somber, as the evening before, on Saturday, June 28th, devastating hailstorms swept northward through the Cote d’Or, eliminating as much as 90% of the 2014 crop in some vineyards in mere minutes.  For some, it was the third straight year of such natural deprivations.  For Burgundy as a whole, the last four years have barely produced the equivalent of two years of normal production.  The tasting of so many fabulous Chambertin Grands Crus, followed by an orchestral tour de force featuring Mozart and Mendelssohn, brought tears of joy and smiles of appreciation in spite of the previous evening’s destruction in the vines.

Musical highlights of the first Clos Vougeot concert Monday the 23rd of June included an intense piano rendering of the Bach Partita #2 offered by one of this year’s scholarship recipients, Sunwook Kim,  a delightful and sweepingly romantic reading of Schumann’s Trio #1 performed by the other sponsored scholarship recipients, the Trio Karenine, and a romp through the Bohemian woods with Dvorak’s Quartet for Piano and Strings, led by maestro David Chan.

Wednesday the 25th presented wonderful string ensemble works by Grieg, Borodin, and Tchaikovsky from a mixture of American and French artists, highlighted by rising star baritone Alexey Lavrov’s operatic offerings from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin and Don Juan.

But it was Friday’s concert that truly redefined the reference for excellence, virtuosity, balance, harmony and ensemble vision.  The presentation by the Met Opera Orchestra’s principal string soloists of Brahm’s G Major Quintet for Strings Op. 111 was breathtaking and spiritually moving.  Sweepingly romantic, yet disciplined and contained, it offered a vision of purity, a taste of the sweet and melancholy, fabulously textured structures, and an ensemble sound that this writer has seldom heard before.  The combination of each quintet member’s virtuoso playing, with such an ear for the whole ensemble’s complete integration, was an inspiration which I am sure the perfectionist in Brahms would have greatly admired.  I look forward to next year’s program with great anticipation.

So what is it about music and wine that gladden the heart and make our spirits rejoice?  David Chan, the festival’s musical director, offered a comparison between the concept of terroir and music that I find compelling, and worthy of elaboration.

Think of sound in music, finally “tempered” and clarified by the 17th century into the eight notes of the scale, as the basic raw materials, representing the varietals being used in wine.  Add texture and definition with chords and keys, ultimately melodic sequences, which brings a real life and identity to musical notes, just as the soils, subsoils, exposure, and climate give singularity and individuality, a climat to a wine of distinction.  Finally, it is the artistic unity of the composer’s vision in sound, the sonority of the instrument itself in the hands of a particular artist’s interpretation of the composer’s vision, that brings us the actual revelation of cru and vintage, the singularity of terroir.  How often do we have a musical tune “stuck in our heads”?  That is the musical definition of the individual wines we still can inwardly savor, whose tastes, balance, harmony, and complex integration bring joy to our hearts and wisdom to our minds, a deeper meaning to our lives.

Matt Kramer famously defined terroir as “a place where man, and plant, and planet meet.”  Here in France, where one speaks of the terroir in the tastes and appellations of cheese, chickens, lamb, cattle, fruits, and vegetables, the Festival of Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot has achieved Grands Crus status.  Bravo !