Wine Tasting, Vineyards, in France

Leclerc Briant (Champagne)

Pascal Leclerc-Briant holding Chardonnay

Verneuil, Champagne.
These are the very last days of harvest on Leclerc Briant's vineyards. Leclerc Briant's vineyards make up 30 hectares, spread over 6 villages between Verneuil and Montagne de Reims (near Epernay), along the Marne Valley. This 0,6 hectare Chardonnay plot [pic on top] is being harvested by a team of 12 pickers and the boxes are hauled all along the day in vans to the winery in Epernay, 26 km away. The Verneuil plots are planted with 70% Pinot Noir, 15% Pinot Meunier and 15% Chardonnay. The pickers, like often in Champagne, are gypsies who come in the region in large numbers for the harvest, and whose trailer settlements can be seen here and there near the villages. They work efficiently and their nomadic lodging culture adapts well with the lack of housing for harvesters. The harvest must be 100% manual in Champagne, and that makes a lot of people to accommodate for 2 or 3 weeks (100 000 according to Pascal Leclerc Briant).

Typical weather for the harvest in Champagne : The mornings are very foggy and pickers often don't see beyond 10 meters, then, in the early afternoon, the sun shines through (picture). See the Marne river in the valley. Picker with a chardonnay cluster

Pascal Leclerc Briant [pic on top] heads one of the very few Champagne estates which follow the organic and biodynamic rules: 15 estates or so have a certified organic viticulture in Champagne, and less than a half of that number follow biodynamics among a total of about 15 000 growers... The climate in Champagne is not the easiest for that type of farming, and the high demand for Champagne wines makes also vignerons less prone to try and take risks for healthier farming practices. But more of them have second thoughts because of the results and the increased quality of the wines and have applied for reconversion. The fact is, some practices in the past in Champagne were far from "organic". For years, for example, some growers bought grinded trash from the Paris area to be used as compost in their vineyards (see this article by the Organic Wine Journal) and even though this is forbidden since 1998, you still can see in some vineyards across the region tiny pieces of blue plastic bags on the ground.

A very important rule in Champagne : the weight of the grapes must be noted before going to the vats (like here for this Pinot Noir) or to the press (whites). The data will be given to the French Customs, which oddly is the authorithy in France in charge of collecting the taxes levied on all the wine production (exported or not-exported). In the other wine regions, it is the final volume of wine which is taken into account for this tax. The 12 boxes here carry 629 kg of grapes Workers emptying Pinot Noir

Leclerc Briant progressively converted its vineyards to organic viticulture and biodynamics from 1989 to 2000, but even before this conversion, Pascal's father (who had tried the organic way as early as 1962) favored deep plowing for example. It could be the reason for the smooth transition. Pascal L.B. says that they observed during the trial years that their organicly-farmed vineyards had 5% less grapes (lighter grapes), but fortunately, the increase of quality easily allowed a price compensation. The price range at Leclerc Briant is still very affordable, though.

Bois Lucas Harvest (Loire)

Podcast : Microson #3Clear Sauvignon-Blanc juice dropping from under the press

September 20th, Les Bois Lucas, Touraine (Loire Valley). The estate is located near Pouillé, a village along the Cher river between Chenonceaux and Saint Aignan.
I wanted to see a harvest at the Domaine des Bois Lucas, part because I love their wines and part because looking at a group of japanese picking the grapes in a french vineyard is still a curiosity for me. Alas, there were no japanese pickers this year to satisky my liking for exotism, except for Junko Arai herself (the owner), but the experience was still worth it.  I began this visit on harvest day by dropping at the chai for lunch time. The pickers were gathered around a table outside to eat and drink. 3 of them were playing  pétanque under the shadow of the trees and a (tired) girl was napping in her car.
Junko Arai and chai master Noella Morantin were busy doing urgent tasks in the chai in between short pauses to eat a sandwich. Junko Arai and Noella Morantin make natural, unfiltered wine from organicly-farmed vineyards on the southern slope along the Cher river. The varieties grown in the Domaine are Sauvignon Blanc, Gamay and Cabernet Franc, plus Cot (also known as Malbec) which has been planted recently and which will need some time to be productive.
Junko checks the sugar level of the Gamay in the different tronconic wooden vats [picture on left]. The one she checks is now at 1076 and 19°C. It was harvested 5 days ago (sep 15). She writes the data every day on each wooden vat to follow the vinification. She seems very busy, the next thing she does is cleaning the empty boxes with a hose [picture on right]. At one point, Junko brings me a glass of Gamay juice which is still a deliciously sugary grape juice, but  already on its way to fermentation. I would not label this one "bernache" yet though, I think it needs a couple of days maybe to reach this magic stage. Bernache, also named "vin nouveau" is as easy to drink as grape juice, and makes you high smoothly but surely, with its undetectable sugar-coated alcohol... I love it !  Whatever, watch as Noella is drinking MYYY glass while I shoot pictures [pic on the left] ! In the background you can see the press on the left and the cute Bodin piston-pump on the ground. This is a very old one indeed : 1955... A piston-pump is much softer on the juice than a rotor-pump would be, Noella says : no vibrations at all. As I watch it, it is true that it seems so smooth and silent... Noella says that vignerons around here use most of the time Bodin pumps and the factory is located further down the Cher river, in Bléré.
  Junko and Noella worked till past 1am the previous night, to check the press and clean everything. Junko adds that she woke up at 5am this morning to communicate by telephone with her employees in Tokyo (she runs a wine-import business there too) when it's noon, local time.