Champagne Harvest 2015 – Mineral in the making at Pascal Agrapart 

 

 This morning I visited the Côtes des Blancs for the first time this harvest. 
There has been a lot of talk of oidium problems however the grapes looked gorgeous at Pascdl Agrapart. “I am really happy, we are receiving ripe, healthy grows with lots of flavours”, says Pascal

When we arrived Chardonnay from Les Biones in Cramant were in the press. les Bio de saignée s one of the vineyards which is used for Mineral, my favorite wine of Pascal. The juice was sweet and almost dky with a lovely mineralogy and freshness to it. Pascal told me the grapes had come in at 11,5% potential alcohol.

 

 Pascal picks with 4 teams of 7 people all paid by the kilo. Nathalie, his wife is happy they changed the system as it makes the cooking a lot easier. “We used to have 50 to 55 people here every meal,now it’s s lot easier; we are 15 at lunch time and 25 at night”, says Nathalie. Agrapart a employees check the cases once picked to make sure the quality is up to standard. It’s important this year with oidium issues even if Pascal is not effected.he continued to treat with small doses of sulfur all summer long so the disease never developed in his vineyard. 

Pascal has two tradional Coquard 4000 kg presses, that way he can press the grapes as soon as they come in.