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.

After a traditional Sunday of rest week two of harvest with Jeff Coutelou recommenced with a LOT of fruit. I had only two days left before I started the journey back to North East England but there are some busy days ahead, more later.

I wrote last time that by getting a strong base of wines in tank Jeff is in a handy position to finish this year’s harvest well with plenty of options. I did, however, mention that there would be challenges ahead and that was another reason to get those early Syrah and Grenache tanks full. There was a little bit of rain on Sunday and the forecast contained the threat of a lot more and even storms at the end of this week. That would bring a temporary halt to picking as you don’t want grapes with a lot of water on them which would dilute the wine flavours. It would also make it more difficult for vehicles to get in and out of the vineyards to bring back the grapes. Therefore, Jeff was pushing us to work even harder to try and get ahead of the weather, as much as can be done without compromising the quality of the grapes. No picking early and under ripe just to avoid the weather, for example.

Rain would also increase the threat of damage to the grapes from rot. Though much of the Syrah was very dry and healthy it lacked volume in some vineyards such as Peilhan. The Cinsault on Saturday afternoon was picked just in time from a parcel of Segrairals where it ripens earlier than other rows of vines. A day or two of rain would have quickly made it go over the top though.

There has been some oidium (powdery mildew) in some parcels but nothing out of the ordinary. The main damage to some bunches has come from the perennial issue of ver de la grappe, grape worm. I have written about this many times before and it continues to be a problem with no real organic solution. Jeff has tried using tricholine, a white card containing the eggs of many tiny wasps which predate the grape worms. However, he seems resigned to them not having enough effect. The grape worms lay their eggs inside a bunch and they damage the bunches by piercing some grapes for food, the juice then runs on to other grapes in the bunch and this causes rot. Have a look at the bunch and the black powdery rot which results, up to the pickers and sorters to keep this out of the wine. Rain would simply compound that risk of rot.

On Monday we brought in the grapes for one of Jeff’s most successful new cuvées in recent years, Ploutelou. This is mainly Aramon, the traditional Languedoc grape which is having a small scale revival in recent years. The Aramon, from Segrairals vineyard, provided probably the best quality grapes of my six days of work. Lovely big, conical bunches many a dark black, others shining like rubies. Mixed in were some Mauzac, Aramon Gris, Clairette and Cinsault grapes.

One interesting point to emerge was the grappillon. These are bunches of grapes which grow from secondary flowering, after frost damage or pruning. They don’t ripen fully as a consequence but harvest brings some in, most have been removed as they will use up the vines’ energy at the expense of the main bunches. They will add acidity to the wine rather than flavour and depth. The photograph below shows a grappillon on the left and a full bunch (grappe) alongside. We don’t want to add many though.

Tuesday brought around seven tonnes of fruit, it was full on. Mostly this was the big, juicy Cinsault grapes from Segrairals from the older plantings than the Cinsault mentioned earlier. Once again there was Mauzac and Aramon Gris from a few vines planted in the parcel. The tanks were filling fast, a contrast to the meagre Syrah yields. Clairette was also brought in from Segrairals and direct pressed, it was already showing the slight bitterness which means that the resulting wine stays fresh and dry even with low alcohol.

The other big challenge Jeff now faces is utilising the team to best effect. Those full tanks require care and attention too, for example remontages to keep fresh the cap of skins floating on the wine. Bart, with his experience of winemaking in Tasmania, is taking charge of those jobs, helped by Flora and others. The balance has to be right between picking and processing grapes too, Jeff doesn’t want grapes piled up waiting to be processed because too many are picking, but he equally doesn’t want the sorting team to be standing around waiting for grapes. People, climate, machinery, pests – no wonder Jeff gets stressed. Fortunately he has been in good humour, things have gone well so far. Hopefully, that will survive the challenges and he and the team can finish vendanges with style.

In a horse race (or any other race for that matter) as the start falls behind you need to get into a prime position. Not too fast or you’ll use up all your energy before the finish. Not too slow so that if things go wrong you’re caught out and in no place to achieve what you want.

That’s how it has felt as the first week drew on at Jeff Coutelou’s this year. The Syrah grape is a fundamental part of the domaine. It is grown in four different vineyards and is used to make pure Syrah wines, such as legendary La Vigne Haute, or for blending into wines such as Classe and Le Vin Des Amis. It also matures relatively early and has formed the bulk of this week’s picks.

The grapes from Peilhan were suffering as I described in an earlier post but since then we have sorted several tonnes of lovely, fresh but ripe grapes in good condition. The sorting table has been mainly a question of sifting out snails, sticking to grapes for any water they can get, earwigs and dried leaves. The vibrating table means that the snails shells rattle and it easy to pick them out whilst it lets the smaller leaves, peduncles and any grit drop through the grilles. We remove larger detritus and any bunches affected by grape moths or oidium. The Syrah from La Garrigue was in very nice condition, Jeff even teased about making La Vigne Haute, I’ll try not to get too excited just yet.

Jeff decided on Thursday to pick some Cinsault which was a little underripe and only around 9% alcohol potential. Why? It will be used to balance some of the riper and higher alcohol yields such as some of the Syrah, adding freshness and energy as well as lowering that alcohol level. It’s decisions like these which mean that Jeff has put us in that pole position going into the second week. The base is there and now we can add the grapes to make very good wines.

White grapes were not ignored, I described the Muscat in the last post and since then the Clairette and Macabeu from Sainte Suzanne has been harvested too. This is a young plantation still, only four or five years old and the heat has got to it a bit. Macabeu had a downy underside on its leaves to help dissipate heat but even that has found 2024 a wee bit much. Nonetheless, early picking and direct pressing means that we have nice, fresh white wine in the tanks, just not enough of it really, the effects of the summer.

On touring the vineyard of Segrairals Jeff felt it was necessary to bring in the rest of the Cinsault, just a couple of days after the previous pick. In those two days there had been great changes, amazingly. The grapes were fuller and riper but they were threatening to go over the top just as quickly. Cinsault has very thin skins and full grapes which provide a rich target for grape worms, wasps and other insects and if they get to work then spoiled grapes in a bunch can turn the rest to vinegar. So, Saturday afternoon brought a lot of Cinsault, its size and generosity means that the big bunches soon fill the cases and we were working flat out sorting to get rid of any potential problems. Again, having that in tank to use for the cuvée 5SO or for blending to add lightness and fruitiness, means that Jeff has greater options in the coming days.

Saturday, in particular, was full on and the temperature hasn’t dropped below 30c any day this week. Sunday, and a day of rest, is a welcome break and chance for Jeff to look at the analyses and make his choices for what comes next. Back to the race analogy, the pace has been rapid but steady and we are placed well to go on and finish the race with energy and success. Problems and decisions remain, there is a threat of rain this week and the machinery has felt the pace of work and given a few headaches and lessons in French swear words with occasional breakdowns.

On to the prize!

Eleven years of coming to vendanges (minus covid year), my tenth experience. Is there anything new to say? Well, yes, of course. Each vintage is different, the weather, the new plantings and the people. Jeff Coutelou is the central figure and around him there come and go people from all over the world, each bringing new eyes, new stories and they become an extension of the Coutelou family. There are quite a few who have gone on to make their own wines, some who move into different aspects of the wine world and others who simply put it down to experience.

When I tell people that I do wine harvest each year the most common response is that it must be lovely, how romantic the idea is. They obviously don’t recognise the brutally hard work which harvest brings, the aches, pains and cuts which follow and the heat! It has been a hot start to the ’24 harvest, every day well into the 30s centigrade. I drank many litres of water yesterday (August 28th) and still felt parched. Clothing covered in dirt, grape juice, sweat and blood are a commonality between many of us. As I have reached 65 years of age I am starting to feel such days take their toll so have taken today to recover from yesterday’s sweltering conditions and hard work, but I shall be doing six of the first seven days of vendanges.

After so many harvests it has got to the point where Jeff and I reminisce about past experiences, how we had to work differently, problems that arose in the past and which recur – shall we do the same thing this time? Something which did come back was the sorting table which broke down twice last year and had to be replaced. It is high tech, vibrating to winnow the loose debris from the bunches together with insects and snails and it makes sorting bunches a lot more straightforward. Hopefully it will continue to work for the whole season in 2024.

Tuesday was, as many first days have been, a day for Syrah. The grapes from Sainte Suzanne vineyard were somewhat lacking in juice because of this year’s drought. Healthy bunches but small grapes and Jeff felt they would be best vinified in whole bunches to bring out the fruitiness of the grapes. Normally we have sorted such grapes by hand straight from case at the top of the fermentation tank. However, Jeff decided to hang on to the original sorting table and so this was used inside the cellar to make it a more comfortable and efficient operation. Joining me at the table were Tys, a Dutchman who lives in the Auvergne and is considering winemaking for his future. He was there for just one day. Alongside him was Bart Johnston, an Australian, the fourth in my time with Jeff. From Sydney originally Bart now lives and works in Tasmania, running a wine operation as well as making his own wines under the L’Appel label. He was all set to come and do harvest with Jeff in 2020 but, for obvious reasons, that had to be postponed. His experience will be a big help to Jeff this year.

In the afternoon the pickers moved to the large Segrairals vineyard and its Syrah. As I mentioned last time this vineyard has suffered less from the heat and drought than the other side of the village so the grapes were bigger and juicier than those in the morning and by balancing them out Jeff hopes for a good base of Syrah wine, probably for blending into classic cuvées such Le Vin des Amis. The team of Moroccan pickers returned and were joined by Flora, Jeff’s niece. Dario, an Italian who has been working in Puimisson since March after coming for harvest last year forms another experienced hand. Linus, from Sweden is here for the harvest, he works in the wine business there and is looking for more experience of real winemaking. Gilles, as ever, ferries the grapes to and fro and keeps Jeff up to date with how the picking is going.

Day 2 brought a change of personnel. Another familiar face returned for a day. By coincidence the person who replaced Bart in 2020 was Louis from Narbonne and he ended up working for Jeff for a year or so. As it happened I had seen him at Jeff’s in April and it was good to catch up. He and Linus did half a day each of sorting and picking. The morning brought white grapes. Muscat À Petits Grains from Peilhan was collected and pressed directly into tank.

Back to red grapes and Grenache from Sainte Suzanne which, as I wrote last time, had fared much better than the Syrah. Good, healthy and full bunches meant a lot of work and, hopefully, a fuller tank than the Syrah from there which Jeff had estimated to be about half the usual yield. It was a sapping, hot afternoon and I must admit, a tiring one but it was good to have had a successful day.

Compare these two pictures to see how much sorting the grapes has become more mechanised and efficient.

It’s that time of year. the harvest is just around the corner. We’ll be starting next Monday at Jeff Coutelou’s domaine. I’ll be here for some but not all of the vendanges as I have a lot of travelling coming up and a much busier time here on the blog lies ahead. I shall be updating about the harvest whilst I’m here and with reports passed on to me when I return to the UK.

It’s been an ‘interesting’ year here weather-wise in the Languedoc. When I was here in April it was grey, damp and colder than average. Since then though the region has a long period of hot weather, it was still 38c when I arrived a week ago and that was cooler than the previous fortnight. I toured the vines and talked with Jeff who was rather downbeat about the vintage.

Mildew, the powdery version, has been prevalent from Spring onwards, the humidity and warmth setting it off. There is downy mildew, oidium, too. The vines look parched, the grapes struggling to swell because of the dry summer. A couple of storms last week offered a brief respite, sadly no more rain is forecast. It reaches a point where you just have to harvest as the vines are struggling and their long term health needs to be protected.

There was also a lot of evidence of the difficult Spring with coulure. This is caused by strong winds damaging the flowers and buds at that time, which was exactly what conditions were like when I was there in April. The result is bunches with a lot of gaps.

Jeff was clear that not all vineyards were equally effected. Peilhan, to the West, has suffered most whilst Segrairals, to the Eastern side of Puimisson, has done much better. There will be good grapes and good wines from 2024.

There were also a couple of other observations I thought to pass on. One vineyard area which was in good condition in Peilhan was the new plantation of Spanish grapes such as Parellada, Malvesia de Sitges and Macabeu. I assumed that they must have been irrigated as they are in their first year, they were a lush green in colour and looked strong, holding their branches out wide. Jeff corrected me though, they were watered on planting and then once in their early weeks but not since then. In vineyards such as La Garrigue and Sainte Suzanne it was also noteworthy that Grenache, (Spanish origins) was also doing well compared to most. Similarly, the Xarel-lo, now 2 years old, was looking strong with good, full bunches. Perhaps the deliberate policy of Jeff in moving towards grape varieties more adapted to hot and dry conditions is already proving a wise one?

Visiting the cellars on the 20th Jeff had emptied all the main concrete tanks and they were being cleaned thoroughly. The harvesting machinery is also being prepared, checked and cleaned. Lots of hard work to get things ready. there will be plenty of triage for me to do next week but fingers crossed for a successful harvest despite the worst nature can throw at it.

One last oddity. In the midst of the good looking Grenache vines of La Garrigue, one vine has mutated to offer Grenache Gris instead.

Strands sometimes come together. At Bons Vivants I met a Danish woman talking to Jeff Coutelou who is writing a thesis on natural wine, climate change and the environment. She had been told by many vignerons to talk to Jeff as he is so knowledgeable about vines, plants and the environment in general. She arranged to visit Puimisson on the 23rd, a week after the tour I featured in my last post. We were also welcoming Louis, from Narbonne, who has worked with Jeff many times at vendanges and, indeed, for extended periods. It turned out that he too is writing a thesis on natural wine as part of his studies for the University of Paris. So, a combination of my last few posts and coincidences galore led to another tour of the vineyards. At this time of year it is interesting to see how quickly the vines change, so were things so different in just a week?

As I said in the last post Jeff had held a gathering of fellow winemakers on the 18th and it was a cold day with a small fall of hail as we sat in the garden. One of the consequences had been that some of the newly budded vines were grilled by frost. Vines develop a contre-bourgeon after frost or hail damage, a kind of second attempt so they will grow through the season (unless more frost damage occurs) but grown vines will not bear so much fruit. Obviously, new vines won’t develop grapes but it was interesting to see how rapidly they responded to the damage.

In Rome vineyard the development of the buds and flowers was plain to see on the Cinsault vines.

On the tour some interesting points emerged. For example, Jeff explained how some of the grape varieties such as Macabeu are better adapted for coping with heat than others. The back of their leaves has a rougher, waxy surface protecting themselves better than the thinner leaves of other varieties.

A visit to the Flower Power vineyard also revealed an interesting contrast. This was planted ten years ago and it is fair to say that it has proved to be a disappointment after early promise. In 2016 I spent a whole day in this vineyard picking snails off the young vines, but, like the proverbial painting of the Forth Bridge, it was a job without an end. The snails returned that year and devoured much of the plants and they have never really recovered from that. The 2015 Flower Power wine was excellent, recognised by La Revue du Vin de France even, and widely available. However, since then the vines have produced such small quantities of grapes that they have had to be assembled with grapes from other vineyards. The vines themselves remain short though they have grown in the last couple of years.

Over the unpaved road is a vineyard planted by a conventionally farming producer two years ago. The vines there are much taller than the ten year old Flower Power vines. They are also very spindly and lack substance, fed by irrigation and fertilisers. They will make grapes for wine this year and probably be grubbed up within ten years, qualifying for subsidies! Now, you could argue that they will be have been more successful than the Flower Power vines but at what cost. For example the soils are bare and every time it rains the topsoils are washed away. This post from 2014 illustrates the point clearly.

Meanwhile, the water level in the marne created by Jeff to help animals was getting low. There were tadpoles and animal tracks showing it was doing its job but rain was needed here just like the rest of the vineyards. Happily, shortly after we left the Languedoc to return to the UK, heavy rains arrived for a few days and Jeff tells me that the vines are thriving though the water table is still very low beneath the surface.

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