After all the hard work of the first week and a half with the main picks completed successfully there remained lots of the more interesting grapes to bring in. The main picks remaining were the Carignan of Rec D’Oulette and Mourvèdre of Segrairals. Of more interest were the multitude of different cépages / varieties which make Jeff Coutelou’s vineyards and wines so fascinating.
Jeff, his niece Flora and Linus (see previous posts) shared lots of pictures of these picks on their social media and I share some of these here.
Jeff sent me the analyses of the wines and he was very positive, more so than usual, about the harvest overall. The wines are fermenting at a good pace and consistently, the alcohol levels at 13-14% are spot on for balanced wines. Everything is looking promising for the ’24 vintage which maybe Jeff and the rest of us were not expecting just a month ago.
The parcel which excited me most when I toured the vineyards in August was the Xarel-lo at the top of Peilhan. Despite being only 4 years old the bunches were full and ripening well and this is a variety which is making some of the best white wines in Spain and Catalunya in particular. I was, therefore, delighted to see the grapes being sorted and looking so well, I can’t wait to taste the resulting wine.
Reaching the finishing line in such style was a real boost, it was so good to hear Jeff so happy and positive. Therefore, it was doubly disappointing and infuriating to hear from Jeff that vandalism had returned on Sunday September 15th. Peilhan is the usual target as it is isolated and well away from the village of Puimisson. Once again someone had set fire to the hedge at the side of the main vineyard with its planting of trees and shrubs. I get so frustrated and angry about this and it must hurt Jeff but he was quick to respond with a message headed ‘RESILIENCE’ and a promise to replant even more trees and shrubs. Why someone hates Jeff’s desire to introduce biodiversity into a vast expanse of vineyards I cannot understand.
A sour note on which to finish what had been such a successful period of vendanges. We can only lend our support to Jeff. His resilience is one of many factors which make him such a talented vigneron.
amarchinthevines 