Champagne Harvest 2015 – a morning with Michel Drappier

 

harvest at Drappier

The sunrise was glorious early this morning en route for Urville, where I arrived just about at the same time as the first grapes of the day. 

Harvest started with a handful of pickers over the weekend but really got into full swing yesterday. “Last week Monday I panicked, it was 34 degrees, the berries were shrinking  and I realized we had to bring the harvest forward. We thus decided on Friday as the start date. However, it rained the whole of Tuesday, and then the weather became significantly cooler. Thursday’s samples had slightly less potential alcohol that the ones we took earlier in the week, so we finally decided to start on Monday”, explains Michel. However a small team of about 10 pickers picked the young vine Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir this weekend, as the grapes were very ripe. The Pinot Gris came in at 13% potential alcohol, the highest alcohol potential that Michel or even his father André ever saw coming in. 

 

picking at le Cornellier

 This morning  the teams were picking Pinot Noir in Cornellier, and the grapes were sweet and healthy. Part of this plot also has the Petit Meslier and Arbanne grapes used in the cuvée Quatuor, but these will not be picked till next week. 

 

arbanne at le Cornellier

Drappier have 35 own employees in the vines as well as a team of Polish pickers which has been coming for the last 28 years. Everybody is paid by the hour. Michel elaborates: “I feel it is important to take the time to pick well. When we pay by the hour people tend to pay more attention which is better for the quality.”

Michel keeps a close eye on what is happening at the press, and decided on where the wines go once they have settled. Drappier have 4 8000 kg Coquard à met incliné presses, of which one is exclusively for their organic vineyard. This year Michel invested in small tanks for micro vinification per pressing. “It allows us to be a lot more precise”, says Michel.

All in all Michel is very happy this year, the grapes are ripe – even if there are some differences in degree – and very healthy. “If we can continue like this we really will have a wonderful harvest”, concludes Michel.

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Champagne harvest 2015 – the sweet Pinot Noir of the Clos des Goisses

 

pinot noir in the Clos descGoisses

This afternoon I spent a few hours with Charles Philipponnat in the Clos des Goisses; without a doubt one of the steepest and most beautiful vineyards of the Champagne region. 
The harvest started here today and is advancing a lot faster than expected. Charles explaines: “we harvested an extra plot, which was not planned. The guys are advancing faster as the yields are rather low.”

Today the average yield in the Clos des Goisses was around 7500kg/ha, only 3/4 of the appellation yields. “The cold weather right in the middle of flowering caused coulure resulting in hen and chicken. After this we had a very dry summer making it harder for the grapes to get the necessary nutrients, which slowed down the growth”, elaborates Charles. 

 

looking fown the Clos des Goisses

However the quality of the Pinot is impeccable and sorting was a rarity this first day of harvest.  The pickers are paid by the kilo but have received very strict instructions on what to pick and what not. They are paid 20% more to pick in the Clos des Goisses due to the steepness of the vnes and difficulty of the work. The same teams have been picking for more than 10 years and Charles is very happy with their work. 

 

pickers in the Clos drs Goisses

 The Pinot came in at 11.8% potential alcohol and tasted rich and sweet but with a good freshness. Charles explained that I should look at the colour of the foam – the whiter the foam the healthier the juice, and the foam I tasted was indeed snow white!!

The juice is pressed in a Bucher pneumatic press, then allowed to settle for about 18 hours before it is pumped into barrel. The barrels remain full of reserve wine till about an hour before they will be filled with the new must.

 

Charles Philipponnat checking the alcohol %

Once the must has been transferred to barrel the first fermentation is started using the IOC002 yeast. This strain was developed more than 100 years ago by Louis Bolland. Bolland was the chemist in Mareuil-sur-Aÿ as well as being the chef de caves for Philipponnat for more than 50 years. 
Even though harvest just started Charles is very happy about this years quality: ” it is a ripe and healthy year, and all great years from the past have been like that”  concludes Charles. 

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Champagne harvest 2015 – portrait of a harvester: Nicolas Pinodel

 

Nicolas Pinodel


Nicolas Pinodel, a recently graduated architect student, is experiencing his first harvest in Champagne at Olivier Horiot. When asked why he chose to come and work harvest he explains: “a friend of mine had a contact to work harvest here, another friend had worked here last year and really enjoyed the experience. It seemed like a fun thing to do, so I signed up to come to les Riceys”.
Nicolas arrived on Tuesday and had 4 days of picking under his belt when I spoke to him. He really liked the atmosphere and the exchange, among the group of pickers and with Olivier and Marie. “I have learned so much since I arrived. For example tonight Olivier showed us the cellar and explained the champagne making process. It really is an exchange of knowledge, we can feel the passion and love Olivier and Marie have for their profession”, elaborates Nicolas. “I knew nothing about organic and biodynamic farming, but I am getting more and more interested by the day”, he adds.

Originally from Brittany, Nicolas is thinking that he may try and take several seasonal agriculture jobs for a year or two to save up and relocate to Columbia. “I have family in Columbia and visited earlier this year. I would love to go and live there and start up a small business, I felt the country has a lot of opportunity. I am not exactly sure about what I would like to do, but working in nature is inspiring me and if I continue to do this for a while I am sure I will come up with  something”, concludes Nicolas. 

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Champagne Harvest 2015 – taking about the flowers and the bees with Dominique Moreau and Roland Piollot

 

Pinot Blanc waiting to be pressed at Rokand Piollot

The catch with live blogging is iPhone battery as I am finding out.. And when you run out, not only is there no live post, but also very few pictures…

I visited Dominique Moreau and Roland Piollot, another awesome couple of wine makers in the Aube on the way back home. They started their harvest campaign on Friday with a small team of 10 people. The rest of the 40 pickers were slowly but surely arriving to properly start the harvest tomorrow. 

Whilst I was there, a family friend came to report on the well being of the bees. Rolland and Dominique had installed a beehive in one of their vineyards this year but moved the hive for the harvest. “Bees are very important for nature so we wanted to do our bit to help them survive and propagate”, explains Roland. The bee carer explained than in summer bees only live 50 days, they look for food up till 3 km away from the hive. This is why it is important to have the hive in areas with some diversity of flowers and vines are often not the best place. However since Dominique and Roland chose a vineyard next to a forest and a fruit orchard the bees have been happy all summer. They will now remain in the hive, and will be fed throughout the winter, which means they will live longer (probably 6 months). The hive returns to the vineyard early spring. 

Besides talking about bees I also tasted the Eloquence juice. A small press load (1850 kg) had been loaded just before I got there. The Chardonnay was very ripe and lush and had a potential alcohol degree of 11.15%.

Up till now both Dominique and Roland are very happy. “Everything is looking very good! ” exclaimed Roland.

 

old vine clone massale pinot noir

 The pickers picked some old vine Pinot noir and Pinot Blanc today, all the vines are clone massale plants grafted by Roland’s father in the seventies. Pinot Blanc can be quite tricky as it needs to be picked at the right time. When it is picked too early the wines are thin and acidic, when it is too ripe the wines are have and flabby. “The best window to pick is between 10,5 and 10,7 % potential alcohol”, explains Roland. 

I will return to see Dominique and Roland on Tuesday and will take a few more pictures. I may add more info to this post at that time as well. 

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Champagne Harvest 2015 – an evening at Olivier Horiot.

  

apero at Olivier and Marie Horiot

Last night I arrived at Les Riceys just as Olivier disgorged 2005 Sèves Rosé. Apero time whilst we waited for the press to finish and before loading another one.

In the winery Marie is very happy with the quality of the fruit coming in and with her pied de cuve of this year. I smelled the fermenting wine – which will be used to help the natural ferments start –  and indeed it is looking very promising. 

The Horiots started picking on Wednesday, but mainly grapes they sell to champagne houses or grapes for the cooperative. Yesterday afternoon they did pick Echaraires, the parcel used for Métise and the Pinot noir was ripe, elegant and delicious. 

  

pinot noir Echaraires breing pressed

 I watched them load these grapes in the press then waited for the press to start to taste the delicious juice with a 10,8% alcohol potential. There is nothing like tasting the juice as it runs out the press; I fall for the magic time after time :-)

As it was pretty late and dark by the time the new press load was running and I had the port unity yo taste the juice, I took the offer of joining the team for a meal and staying over at the Horiots. We were about 30; most people are lodged, watered (or more accurately beered and wined :-)) and fed during the 12-14 day harvest period. 

Harvest meals are very precious to me, they allow you to share in a different connection. Yesterday night I laughed so hard with Marie’s dry humor :-) 

 

echaraires pinot noir

 It also gave me the opportunity to ask more questions about the harvest this year. Both Olivier and Mariee are very happy with the year. Olivier explains:“This year is once again completely unusual, the hot summer allowed the grapes to ripen evenly and the cooler weather during harvest is making every marc look more beautiful. We had no problems with diseases and up till now we have not had to sort. I feel we will sort very little even to make the rose and red wines.”

The Rosé de Ricey and red wine are still made in the traditional way by stoping the grapes by foot in a cement tank. The name of the ‘stompers’ are written on the tank. This year the stomping will probably take place toward the end of next week. 

This morning half of the pickers picked for “La Vigne du Partage” project. An old lady left a plot of vines on Neuville to a charity and most people in Neuville and Les Ricey provide time or workers in order to work the vine all year long. The cooperative of Neuville presses the grapes and makes the wine. All sales revues go to different charities., some providing water wells in Africa, others closer to home. It’s telling that Marie and Olivier are sending 10 pickers on a Sunday. It is one of the many reasons why I like them so much!’  

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Champagne Harvest 2015 – The Clos St Sophie in Montgueux by Emmanuel Lassaigne

old vine chardonnay at tbe Clos St Sophie

The Clos St Sophie is the only Clos in Montgueux and one of only 3 Clos in the Aube. Since 1913 it belongs to the Valton family. Etienne Valton, founder of the Petit Bateau brand, bought it after Marcrl Dupont passed away; Dupont, a professor in Agriculture,  had founded the property as a plant nursery in 1860 and had planted 1,8 hectares of vines. 

 

La Coline Inspirée from Magnum next to Emmanuel’s press

 Emmanuel was contacted by Etienne Valton, grandson of the founder in 2009, after he tasted  La Coline Inspirée of Emmanuels in Paris. Eventhough there was a long family history between the Lassaignes and the Valtons, Emmanuel had never visited the Clos.  When he finally did he was in awe with the beauty and energy of the place so he suggested to buy some grapes to make a specific cuvée. Etienne took a few months to get used to the idea but agreed to sell 0,40 hectares of the oldest vines (about 45 years old) to Emmanuel from 2010 onward. A single vineyard cuvée is currently sleeping in the cellar :-) 

 

Régis Camus, Cyril Brun, François et Bertand Valton and Emmanuel Laissaigne at the Clos

The rest of the Clos St Sophie is sold to Charles Heidsieck and whilst visiting I ran into Régis Camus ( for the first time!!!) and Cyril Brun who came to see their grapes at the same time. The Clos is still 1,8 hectares of which 0,5 hectares is Pinot Noir.

Emmanuel looks after his part of the Clos,all year round and his part was harvested by his team. When the grapes came in they were are at 20, 7 % alcohol, which is ideal according to Emmanuel.

 

Emmanuel doing the first retrousse

 Emanuel started harvest on Thursday and expects to continue to Wednesfay or Thursday next week. He is very happy about the harvest quality up till now. “It’s a wonderful year, everything is beautiful, we have the sugar, acidity and flavours to make great wines” concludes Emmanuel. 

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Champagne harvest 2015 – portrait of a harvester: Myriame Chaperon

 

Myriam Chaperon

Every harvest Champagne attracts more than 20,000 harvesters from all walks of life. It is one of the few regions were the majority of pickers are still watered, fed and put up during harvest. This means that some people return year in year out, whilst others come only once to enjoy the experience. As part of my harvest overview I thought it would be fun to tell the story of a harvester every day. 

I first saw Myriame Chaperon when she served me a beer this lunch time at Vincent Laval’s place. She is a cheerful happy girl with an excellent Champagne knowledge working her first Champagne harvest this year. 

When asked why she chose to pick grapes at Vincent Laval, she answered: ” I have long been passionate about Champagne and wanted to experience the harvest. Over the past few years I had met Vincent several times so he seemed a natural choice. Especially since I really like his wines!”

Originally from Lyon, Myriame worked at Bubble Dogs, a London Champagne and hot dog bar up to December 2014. Upon returning  to France she took a job at Tetedoie, a Michelin starred restaurant, but quickly felt the pull of Champagne again. 

When she visited the region for Terres et Vins de Champagne in April she knew she would work with Champagne again. The seed to open a Champagne bar in Lyon was firmly planted. The idea is to educate people on Champagne and explain why the wines are often more expensive. “I want people to realize that Champagne can be drunk every day, it is not only for special occasions. There is a wide diversity of styles, something very few people realize”, says Myriame. She admits to have been very influenced by her time at Bubble Dogs which has a similar philosophy. However she also realized that she needed other experiences. “Working harvest in Champagne is an excellent opportunity for me to learn more about Champagne. I get to spent time in the vineyard as well as see the press and the wine making process – in short I get a great overview of how everything works”, elaborates Myriame. 

She is very happy to be able to experience it in a small family run domain. Myriame concludes:  “It is my first harvest ever, and I wanted to experience it in a tight knit and real environment. After being here for only 2 days I realize the human aspect is probably just as important as the technical aspect; it is the reason why people return year after year! ”  

 

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Champagne Harvest 2015 – Vincent Laval at Cumières

 

Georges Laval harvesting les Chênes

This afternoon I visited Vincent Laval, An iconic organic grower, who started his 2015 harvest campaign with the Chardonnay of Les Chênes. 

Vincent is very happy with the quality of the year. “The grapes are wonderful, the weather is perfect to further ripen and to give us a wonderful harvest” ,exclaims Vincent. 

Les Chênes is often the first parcel to be harvest by Laval. The Chardonnay vines have hen and chicken, and tend to ripen quicker than the red grapes. This year Vincent harvested about 2000 kg in Les Chênes, one press load as he still presses with a traditional Goliath press of 2000 kg. 

 

The traditional 2000kg Goliath press at Vincent Laval

Tomorow they wil harvest the chardonnay of the Clos de Cumières of Hervé Jestin. Vincent looks after the vines, harvests and presses the grapes and Hervé will vinify the juice at the Chateau d’Avize. 
Vincent also presses a few marc’s for Benoit Marguet and his harvesters also pick grapes for his uncle and a few friends. However these last grapes are not pressed at Laval.

 

Chardonnay grapes in the process of being pressed

 The harvest will go on till next weekend estimates Vincent. He is hoping to make a little red wine this year as well as champagne.  He estimates that the rosé de saignée, which is still crushed by feet, will be made Thursday or Friday next week. 

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Champagne harvest 2015 – Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy in Cumières

  

Beautiful Meunier

 Harvest has begun in Champagne and I thought that this year I could trial live blogging. Small articles on the vigneron I visit and their opinion on this years crop posted via the WordPress App for iPhone. I will also add regular portraits of harvesters to try and bring the harvest even closer to wherever you are.

As often is the case we begin in Cumières, and this year with Jean-Baptiste Geoffroy from Champagne René Geoffroy. Jean-Baptiste started harvest on Wednesday; he asked a derogation to pick some old vine Chardonnay with hen and chicken. The Chardonnay was ripe (11,2) and the acidity levels were starting to plunge.  The yield for the Chardonnay were very low, 7500kg per hectare. 

 

Team Geoffroy harvedting


Today he started with old Meunier from the 36 ares plot Les Tiersaudes. Jean-Baptiste had been worried about potential rot development in the parcel, but in the end the grapes came in very healthy and beautiful at about 10,8 degrees alcohol.

  Since starting the picking team is small – 12 people paid by the hour – and Jean-Baptiste does one 4000 kg press a day. However, he will start with a bigger team, working by the kilo – but with people sorting afterwards – from Monday onward.

At the moment he is very happy about the harvest quality, and is convinced that if the weather holds out as predicted, 2015 will be a great year. 

He has for now specified a few vines for red wine which will be picked at the end of next week. The rosé de saignée and the Blanc de Rose will probably be made the middle of next week. 

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Chosing to live in the light

© Spirit Science

On this blog I have been sharing my adventures in the wine world, and the last 3,5 years my discovery journey of the Champagne region. Organic and biodynamic wines and Champagne have come to feature more and more as time went on even if posts have been more and more sporadic.
Yes I could say it is because I am writing the Terroir Champagne Book, yet on this new moon in Cancer day I feel the time has come to out and be completely honest. I have written less because I have been on the sacred journey back to me. So if it is Champagne news you are looking for, you will not really find it in this post and may want to stop reading and come back next time.

Why today? Well the new moon is an excellent time to manifest a new beginning; maybe that is why I woke up with the desire to share my journey into the light. However the courage to write came after reading messages exuding love and light this morning. It made me realize there is nothing to fear and reminded me that the only person I really need to face is my higher self. So here we go:

I moved here just over 3,5 years ago, a little lost, not too sure why I really came, or what I would be doing here. But after a serious health scare in 2011, and seeing a few close friends battle cancer, I knew there had to be more to life than just running like crazy in the hamster wheel trying to win the rat race:-) I intrinsically was drawn to discover more about the terroir – not really a a popular notion in this region – and soaked up all the knowledge I could find. I was happy even if financially life was really hard.

© Spirit Science

Then about two years ago my life was thrown completely upside down when I fell in love. Originally I did not worry too much; after all I never stayed in love too long and had build up big walls up around my heart after I had broken up with my ex husband in 2006. Furthermore the love affair was completely surreal and definitely did not fit into the regular norms and expectations of society. But somehow none of this mattered when we were together. The relationship was at the same time very fusional yet it had all the freedom and autonomy I had always craved. We often said how similar we were and through all our differences it was as if we were a mirror image of each other – at least at soul level. But at that time I had no clue about soul relationships, even if I already very much lived in the present. We had quickly found out it was the only way things were going to work.

© Spirit Science

There were lots of ‘firsts’ in the 14 months we stayed together. First time I was insanely jealous – something I had never been before; first time I felt completely at ease with someone and loved just for me. First time I did not get bored just being together with him even if our day to day life was very mundane. First person I drank liters of coffees with and rebuild the world from the safety of our caffeine fueled (sometimes spiked with Champagne) bed. First time I really listened and took advice on topics where in theory I should have known a lot more. And lastly the first time I felt really needy and felt like the world would end if I was to lose him. In the end this worried me so much that I wanted things to end just to get back to normality. And then the mirrors finally shattered with a big crash – I guess the intensity of the love affair and the way it would never really fit in so called regular standardized life had gotten to us.

© Spirit Science

Originally I felt some sense of relief. However the ‘firsts’ continued to happen. For a start me who had thought since my divorce that no matter what would happen to me I would be OK and happy, came to realize that even though I was OK I was beyond heartbroken and everything but happy. Yet it made no sense – on paper, in my mind and in the mind of most of my friends I should be much better off without him. Another ‘first’ was the immediate void between us – no more contact at all – something which seemed even more surreal than the relationship had been. To make things worse he seemed to have moved on within 2 weeks with a girl who is my complete antipode. This made for another ‘first’- forgetting all my values and wanting to hurt the person I had so loved by going out with a friend of his.

© Spirit Science

However nothing really helped as the more I tried to forget and move on the stronger the feeling grew that this was not finished – and maybe never would be. I thus discovered another first – maybe the most important of all – what it meant to love unconditionally.

As things became darker and darker in my world, a few positives emerged. The first one was I finally defined my mission in Champagne and decided to take the plunge to try and auto-publish my Terroir Champagne Project.
The second came in the form of spiritual awakening – even if this meant going through the dark night of the soul to start of with. I had been pretty confident that writing my book and embarking on a spiritual journey would keep me busy enough to forget what I had lived and ‘move on’.

But try as I could nothing would erase this crazy love affair. In an effort to ban emotion with reason I started some online research, which took me down a road I really did not want to go on as I found out about Twin Flames. It is one thing to theorize about the concept of two parts of the same soul as Plato did in his Symposium, it is another one accepting this may be what one is living. So I rebelled… But the universe has ways to make you face the thing you most want to forget, and is in fact a lot more powerful than we are. After a few months of trying to ignore the fact and living in limbo, I decided to accept my destiny and try and find out a bit more – if I am completely honest to maybe still find a loophole out.

© Spirit Science

I ended up in a FB group, where I very quickly met my lighthouseDeane Thomas – a brother with almost the same life path as mine, living the same experience. However he had embraced the Twin Flame concept a little earlier than me, and shared his and others experiences with me. Together we grew at the speed of light; I benefited from other stories and people on a similar journey from all over the world with whom Deane was in contact. We discovered that what this was really about, was finding the road back to our higher self; to grow the unconditional love we felt for our beloved to eventually become love and light our self and help others.

© Spirit Science

Again Deane embraced this a more and actively set out to help others in the same situation. (more info on his website).
I on the other hand was more and more drawn to nature – I basically started to live outside, craving time in the woods as well as in my courtyard; I became even more obsessed with a sustainable way of living. Only this time it went a lot further than just growing grapes; this time it included everything to do with how we treat mother nature and each other. Why we ruthlessly walk all over nature’s beauty or feel the need to put other people down just to gain more wealth or feel more important; to satisfy our Ego’s never ending need for energy in whatever form it may come.

Then all at once the journey sped up so much it felt like I was going through the spin cycle in the washing machine. I realized that LOVE was the only way to solve energy issues and save Gaia. And this love started first and foremost with me. Cause only if we truly love our self can we really love others. So I started to solve all the unresolved issues in my life, clearing up karma and learning (sometimes painful) lesson after lesson. It was the only way to find my true self and for me to build a life full of love and light. I knew once I would get there, my beloved could follow in his own time for we are one and the same soul.

© Spirit Science

So I soldiered on and then all at once it happened – completely unexpectedly. A huge veil of peace, love and harmony fell over me. I never felt so safe and loved in my life – everything became a joy – even chores I really did not like. The never ending thought mill in my head completely stopped. In its place I now have amazement and awe at all the beauty this present moment has to offer. I have lost the notion of time – as the only time is this moment. And even when things don’t go exactly as I want or I get hurt, I find a way to release these negative emotions so I can let them go and focus on the next moment.

© Spirit Science

There are disadvantages – or what I used to see as such- that come with this new state of being. For to live in the light one has to let go of the darkness, one has to take complete responsibility of ones’s life. This means letting go of the little white lies, excuses or blaming of others. It also means one cannot but speak the truth, even if others may not want to hear it. In this last case it is best to wrap it up in love and light as speaking the truth does not mean willingly wanting to hurt someone. And lastly, and this is maybe the most difficult part, we have to say good bye to people who chose to remain in the velvety comforts of the darkness. This can hurt as some of these people have been in our lives for a long time. But by acknowledging all the goodness we have received from the relationship we can continue to send them love and light and hope that one day they too will go within to join us at a later time in the light.

© Spirit Science

To conclude I would like to add that light and dark are not synonyms for good and bad. Whatever path we chose will be good as it is we who have chosen it. But having lived in both worlds I can personally testify that the purity, joy and love of living in the light is the best thing I have ever experienced!! Once I got a taste of the light, through my beloved, I longed for more. Yes the road has been hard and sometimes treacherous but it has also been the most beautiful journey of my life!!! I am so glad that it is from this place of love and light that I will finish my Terroir Champagne Book!!
Namaste
Caro xox

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