Family pressing party (Joigny, Burgundy)

Preparing a press load of Pinot Gris Joigny region, Burgundy
This is a very important moment for a vigneron : here is what you've been waiting and worrying about for months : the harvest has been picked and sorted and it's all safely in the press. Gerard (picture onleft) gives a last check on the Pinot Gris grapes before the heavy lid is put on top. Let the winemaking begin !
The most surprising experience for me was for sure this family winemaking party, it took place in a side building along Gerard's country house and it was also very professionally done, like a miniature winery and a case study to imagine how people made their wines together in their farms the old times.
there's no chronolgical order in this post, this pressing of Pinot Gris having taken place after the one for the Chardonnay. Like in a real winery, Gérard would share his time between the vineyard and the chai, driving both ways with the boxes in the van. Sometimes we would call him on his cell phone and ask for empty boxes when we had a shortage of containers. We were eager to see the chai and the press side of this adventure, and I could experience it on both days.
Gérard bought this used press in the north of France and had it shipped here. It looks big but it's almost a bit small already as his vineyard surface was augmented by several rows of Pinot Gris which are now also picked and pressed. There's a small plaque on the press, it was made by the établissements E. Bartherotte in Golfech (Tarn & Garonne département). There must still be thousands of such presses rusting in barns all over France, and they're not too difficult to repair and renovate (you just change the wood staves), like I learned when visiting Claude Courtois who recovered many of them.
You can see here Philippe putting in place the heavy lock weighing on the grapes.

Imminent Chardonnay pressing Let's remind that this is not a professional winery, Gerard is making wine for himself and his friends out of a small surface of 25 are (0,25 hectare), but after some 6 years of learning on the job, he is getting quite experienced, and same for his family and friends who take part to the harvest every year...
The press puzzle is being put back in place. After the two heavy metal tops are positioned over the grapes, you need to put these big wooden beams so that the weight distribution is evenly spread when the screw is activated. Philippe (who drove me here from Vincennes with his wife Carole) seems to be quite an expert in the whole process, he could abandon his career in architecture and start a new life in the wine trade...
Now the pressing can proceed. Screw it tight Gerard's son Thomas (center) is taking his shift. As you see compared to the previous pictures, the screw is squeezing the load of Chardonnay tighter and tighter, with the grape juice flowing continuously into a large bucket. Thomas is leaving the following monday with his girlfriend for Mayotte in the Indian Ocean where they'll be working for a while, and this last-minute harvest experience will probably have a very exotic resonance for him when he'll be settled there for good. Drops of Chard This is a magic that many people (maybe most) around the globe have probably experienced from the Antiquity : the first drops of the future wine fall into the receiving container. Even if we're enjoying this stage with a secular joy, there may be hidden mystic motives in our fascination with the flowing grape juice, which can be rooted in our unconscious links with our Neolithic ancestors who were making booze for ceremonial occasions. Speaking of drops and mysticism, it's ironic by the way that what is maybe the best-seller book about wine is named The Drops of God and has been contributed to the world civilization by the Japanese... The Chardonnay juice The Chardonnay grapes that we picked with care are getting one notch closer to the Burgundy wine they're meant to become. The juice is somehow darker because of the lees and solid elements which will later be either taken away or setlle at the bottom. The thickest things that tried to make their way outside, like whole crushed grapes fall in a funnel which is cleared regularly. This press is very basic but virtually unbreakable, you don't need electricity and maintenance is very easy. It happens to be precisely the type of press used by many very-demanding artisan winemakers (just that this one is smaller). Filling the vats Every now and then, the white plastic container receiving the grape juice, be it from Chardonnay or from Pinot Gris, is carried by two of the men and poured at shoulder height into its related vat. Gerard #2 would often overlook the thing, he's in charge with his friend Gerard, but several other guys seemed to pretty well trained, after spending a few harvest weekends over the last few years. The micro winery, we could even say the garage winery as it's housed in what seems to be a garage, looks more and more professional along the years from what I leant : more vats are added, this and that tool (even a floating lid with a pump), and lately this second-hand pressed which Gerard purchased in the north of France. Well, this sounds like we're getting serious here, and with the collective experience, this should yield better wines every year. Gerard concedes that there has been several vinification accidents in the early years and that he had to dump (more precisely, to bring to the distillery) the content of several vats. But from what I remember of his Chardonnay 2010 (poured for lunch and dinner), he's been improving dramaticly.
The wine is going to ferment here in the vat (the juice pictured here is Pinot Gris if I remember) with an addition of lab yeats. Gerard also adds some SO2 at this stage, to prevent the bacteria from harming the juice. Stomping the Pinot Noir Now, this was fun, Philippe and this woman (I forgot her name) were stomping the Pinot Noir in this Chemo vat with many of us around teasing them (or were they teasing us ?). As you understand, the grapes going into the press were the Chardonnay and the Pinot Gris, while the boxes of Pinot Noir grapes were poured into this rectangular vat in order to be feet-crushed under the feet of two volunteers. The Pinot-Noir juice would then macerate with its skins and ferment subsequently. At one point they asked Gerard until when they had to pedal into this grape soup, to which Gerard answered : until there is not a single intact grape in the container.... The galette (the cake) I had heard about the galette, the compact block of pressed grapes which is going to be dumped somewhere (possibly to make compost), but this was the first time I saw one, naked and whole. Some winemakers use it for distillation, to make Marc (alcohol). As I looked from close, I noticed that there were still a few whole grapes in there, which proves that the pressing has been smooth and not over the limit. If you press too far, you risk extracting green, harsh elements that can be a problem. Some winemakers get around the problem by separating the main press juice from the end press juice, blending the latter with the former only if it turns out to be interesting, and keeping it for private consumption otherwise. Taking off the galette (cake) All the while, there has been successive pressings, particularly for the Chardonnay which was brought first in the chai. Each press load took two hours to press at least, plus the time to dismantle the press elements and unload the compressed skins with a fork. There's a young girl in town who will have a lead in the winery experience, and unloading a press is a humble but enriching experience, you're in the heart of the substance, at the crosroads between the vineyard and the wine. Women at the wheel The press has been cleaned and rapidly re-assembled for another load of grapes. Now the wives of our courageous workers want to make a point at their ability to handle the press : ignoring the jokes and derogatory comments, Claudine and Myriam throw all their energy on the handle. I'm sure that Myriam on the right was answering at some mocking remark coming from the back when I shot this picture. Yes, we must admit that whatever sneer the macho crowd can oppose to them, women are good at the press. Checking the sugar As bucket after bucket of press juice is poured into the vats, Gerard checks the sugar levels. They're quite stable in the three grape varieties, oscillating around 12,2/12,3. The summer having been very rainy and the grapes having increased their water weight, there was a risk of dilution calling for a light chaptalization, but the hydrometer gives reassuring data here. The SO2 addition This is a picture that few (if not none) regular wineries would let me take : even though most winemakers, even the ones following the natural-wine philosophy, admit adding SO2 at one time or another, they'll prefer not to have this adding immortalized by a picture, and in this regard, witnessing a non-commercial winemaking operation has some advantages.
Gérard adds SO2 at this stage, just after the pressing, to prevent a surge in bacteria activity. This is a routine procedure for most wineries, particularly when there has been lots of rain and incidences of bad rot before the harvest. In spite of a careful sorting by us pickers, there's a risk of bacterial infection and the SO2 will prevent that. Gerard uses relatively-low doses here : 4 grams per hectoliter. He diluted some SO2 in wine beforehand and pours the tube in the vat. This is how a manual press works

Unexpected recycling for the galette... We had just dismantled the press to take away the compacted pressed grapes (the galette) when something unexpected happens : Gerard and his wife Claudine want to celebrate their son Thomas' birthday (he was born a september 11) with this improvised huge cake. They bring 29 candles that they plant on the whole thing and ask him to blow them out at once. Not an easy job.
Thomas left continental France with his girlfriend the following day for a long stay in Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.

Comments

[Marise Sargis]

Super intéressant, photos superbes Bertrand, une belle séquence de vie et une séance de rattrapage pour les absents, merci et bravo à toute l'équipe de choc de vendangeurs et aux vignerons châtelains Marise ;-)

[Bertrand]

Merci Marise, on espère te voir l'an prochain, et tu te doutes que tu n'échapperas pas au foulage...

[anonymous]

Your blog is in two words, beautiful & authentic. The photos especially, as seen in this post, capture the wonderful energy of people and the celebratory nature of harvest. It is so wonderful, as always, to hear the story of the people and the soil. This is, I venture to suggest, - albeit being all too often overlooked - one of the most lovely things that can be learned from wine. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Voir ces images procure une émotion intense.