Vines | amarchinthevines

January 20, 2020
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Grapes galore and Galet

Happy New Year to readers, we shall see what 2020 brings. Hopefully more excellent wines like those I described in my last posts on wines of the year.

The last year ended with one piece of sad news with the death of Pierre Galet on December 31st. Galet was the authority on grapes and ampelography. He pioneered means of identifying grape varieties, encouraged the collection and conservation of vines and wrote extensively on them. His Dictionnaire encyclopédique des cépages is authoritative and an endless source of information and fascination for me. Galet’s work will go on through his studies and students, a man who enhanced the world.

Appropriately I took delivery of a new Coutelou wine produced in 2018. It is made up of the many varieties which are planted in the Flower Power vineyard, Font D’Oulette. These include Clairette Musquée (originally the Hungarian Org Tokosi), Delizia Di Vaprio, Aramon Gris amongst the twenty plus varieties, red and white, planted in the parcel. The 2018 vintage was much reduced by the mildew outbreak across the region and this vineyard produced very small quantities, eight cases in total from a parcel of more than half a hectare in area. Consequently Jeff added two more varieties to the mix, Carignan and Castets from Peilhan vineyard to bulk out the quantities. Castets is another rare variety, only recently added to the list of permitted grapes in Bordeaux having almost completely vanished from wine production only ten years ago.

The resulting wine is bottled as Couleurs Réunies and has a most attractive label reflecting that name. The wine itself is youthful, a rich purple in colour with huge black fruit flavours and fresh acidity. It is lovely now but will keep for a few years. A triumph from a very difficult vintage, which is producing excellent wines despite the problems.

And, so, to my last recommended wine from 2019. I promised that I would include one Coutelou wine and though I enjoyed many, many great bottles I finally chose, ironically, a single variety wine. That wine is Mise De Printemps Grenache. Made for early drinking I enjoyed this wine through the year, its red label meaning it was the wine I drank to celebrate Liverpool’s Champions League triumph for example. Lovely red fruits, soft and with a lovely cherry finish. A true vin de plaisir.

November 28, 2019
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Oddities #4

En francais

Puimisson is on the plain north of Béziers. The foothills of the Montagne Noire lie a few kilometres further north towards St. Chinian so it was a surprise to me when we came across this bunch during the vendanges. Why?

As you may know if you read my harvest reports this year was problematic because of the summer heat but also a spell of bad weather during flowering and fruit set in Spring. This led to problems of coulure and millerandage. This means that the new berries either don’t develop at all or very little, bunches look very uneven.

In the photos above you see evidence of this. A bunch with gaps where grapes should be, some grapes which have not changed colour and matured.

The photo above shows the aftermath of a sorting table after destemming. You will see lots of green unformed berries, coulure.

Moths were also busy ravaging some of the grapes, laying their eggs in the bunch gaps, the larvae then eating into the grapes. The photos below show one of the moths and then you can see a grape in the centre of the bunch with a hole where the worm has buried through, the juice then spoiling the bunch as it falls over it. Incidentally the bunch with the moth shows damage to the bunch caused by the late June heatwave.

However, the headline bunch was something different. I had to ask. Was it birds which had eaten the grapes? Well, I was on the right track but actually it was the work of a wild boar. These animals cause real damage in some parts of the Languedoc eating large quantities of grapes, some vignerons use electric fencing to keep them out. But that is mainly in the hills and wooded areas. Here on the plain they are much rarer but they are still around, perhaps the dry weather brought some further down to seek food.

November 1, 2019
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Oddities

En francais

In the next couple of posts I am going to look at some photos taken during vendanges which highlight some oddities and insights into vines and wines which I have not covered in the story of the harvest.

This photo may look like a bunch of red grapes has been placed in amongst bunches of white grapes. The oddity is in fact that they came from the same vines. The grapes are mainly Grenache Blanc, the others are Grenache Gris. Grape varieties are basically variations of one another.

The Grenache family (Noir, Gris and Blanc) are all the same DNA, with the slightest mutation between them. This is also true of the Pinot family for example. In this case one or two of the Grenache Blanc vines has somehow produced one of the mutations in some of the bunches, the result is that a Grenache Blanc vine produced Grenache Gris grapes.

Grape breeding is a very inexact science. The crossing of grape varieties produces new varieties, eg Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc produced Cabernet Sauvignon. However, if I was to try to cross Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc it is unlikely that I would produce Cabernet Sauvignon vines, the original cross is a unique event.

The vines we see across vineyards worldwide are often cuttings propagated from successful vines which show characteristics favoured by the producer, such as quality or quantity of grapes. These clones are planted but, again, slight variety amongst the billions of cells in the vine means that they could well be different to the original vine, not identical clones at all.

Therefore, this case of grapes was fascinating to me. It is not that unusual for this to happen, but it certainly piques my interest as I learn more about grape varieties and grape growing.

October 3, 2019
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Harvest 2019 – The End

En francais

Life is full of surprises.

I went along to the cellars on Monday 23rd September in order to take some photographs of the pressing and progress with the making of the wines. When I arrived Jeff and Julien were on their own pressing the marc from the Cinsault. The free juice had been run off already into tank but the grape skins and pulp contain a lot of juice still so they are pressed adding more tannins and colour to the finished wine.

However, shifting tons of grape skins from a tank through a small doorway and then pumping it into the press is hard work and though they were managing well enough I decided to help out and get stuck in. It’s a proper workout pitchforking all that pulp, it gets very messy (bad news for my trainers) but job done. More remontages in the afternoon but also the chance to taste through the tanks before sending samples off for analysis.

Tasting wines from tank during or immediately after fermentation is challenging. Jeff is used to it and knows how a wine will emerge. I taste a lot of wines and know his very well by now but all I seek to achieve is an idea of acidity, tannin and fruit presence, to see if these elements are balanced. Happily it is good news all round. The wines tasted good, very promising for the vintage following on from last year’s excellent quality. The analyses are also good, there have been one or two scares along the way but the wines have worked themselves out with a little help from Jeff.

A week later I was a little surprised to hear that there was to be one last pick. This has happened in previous years, often picking Muscat for the solera. However, there were a few rows of Grenache Gris unpicked and so on September 30th, a month after harvest began we started over.

I picked all morning with the Moroccan team of four, my aching back a reminder of how quickly we get out of practice and rhythm. Then back to the cellar where the grapes, with a few vines of Macabeu, were pressed.

Grenache Gris is one of my favourite grapes, its pinkish colour marks it out and many of my favourite white wines from the Languedoc, and especially Roussillon, are made with the grape. The bunches were healthy, the wine should be very good.

**Grenache Gris, right on the edge of the Peilhan vineyard**

In the afternoon we used the marc from the Grenache Gris. It was passed back through the destemmer and the grapes placed into a container with a little bit of water. This will make a piquette wine, a light quaffing wine. I was surprised to read a couple of days later that piquette wines are the new trend in the USA. It is something of a tradition in Puimisson. On Wednesday the piquette was already fermenting when we looked in the container.

There still remains much to do in the cellar but this was definitely the end, the final cases are in. I think.

September 26, 2019
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Harvest 2019 – Mother Nature’s Son

En francais

One of the flagship wines for the Coutelou range in recent years has been Flambadou, made from 100% Carignan Noir in the vineyard Rec D’Oulette (locally known as Chemin De Pailhès). Wine writer Jancis Robinson is amongst those who have praised Flambadou for its dark fruit flavours, subtle tannins and sheer pleasure as well as its ability to age well.

Therefore, it was something of a surprise that Carignan suffered so much this year, especially as a result of the intense heatwave of June 28th. This was the case for vines across the region and Carignan seemed to suffer more than most, a surprise as it is a native of Spain and the Mediterranean, and, therefore, accustomed to heat. Whole vines were grilled in some parts of the Languedoc.

In the days following June 28th Jeff’s Carignan showed clear signs of stress, bunches were dried out especially towards the tip. It was almost like the bunch protected itself nearer to the vine itself but the extreme grapes were sacrificed. I have no scientific or botanical justification for that but that is the impression the bunches gave me. On Thursday September 19th (Day 16 of vendanges) it was time to harvest the Carignan.

Muddy Icare paying the price

I helped to pick for two or three hours. The rain of the previous week had left the ground very muddy underfoot so it was hard going. Some rows of the parcel were better than others, careful selection and cutting out of the dried sections was required. After picking I went back to help sorting in the cellar whilst the picking continued.

Fabrice prepares the way for whole bunch work
Steeve is a happy picker

The Carignan was to be made whole bunch, the first time Jeff had ever done so. Don’t get me wrong there was plenty of good fruit but it had certainly suffered and quantity was, of course, well down on average. More Carignan was added to the tank from Peilhan on Friday 20th, a parcel less affected by the heat than the main Carignan, baffling.

The other problem with the vintage had been coulure and millerandage. These are two sides of the same coin, damage caused to the bunches during the flowering stage by wind so that some of the grapes did not form. The combination of that and the damage of June 28th meant that some bunches were quite open to the elements.

Regular readers will know that leaves the bunches prone to disease but fortunately that was not a problem this year. On the other hand ver de la grappe did take advantage. The grapevine moth lands on the loose bunch, lays its eggs and when they hatch the little worm (ver) buries into the grapes to form its cocoon. The grape is spoiled and its juice runs on to surrounding grapes which can attract rot. Whilst picking I came across one moth sitting on a bunch.

So, in many ways the Carignan was a reflection of the vintage – small quantity because of heat damage, coulure, millerandage and ver de la grappe. However, also a reflection in that much of the fruit was full flavoured, concentrated and delicious. On Monday 23rd we tasted some of the juice from the tank and it was delicious, I know I could be accused of bias but it is honestly true. Let’s not exaggerate the difficulties, the vast majority of the fruit is fine. The Carignan has most definitely been Mother Nature’s Son.

And that was it, picking for 2019 was finished. Much work remains in the cellar, for example pressing the reds which have been macerating on skins and pulp for up to two weeks. Jeff must also make the decisions about which wines will be blended with others to balance acidity, flavour and alcohol levels.

How the Carignan emerges will be my biggest point of interest for this vintage. What I am confident of is that Jeff Coutelou will make into something well worth drinking.

September 22, 2019
by amarch34 2 Comments

Harvest 2019 – The Long And Winding Road

En francais

Into week three of the harvest, tired bodies all round especially my own as the old man of the group. Nicks and cuts on the hands, aching back and joints, bruises and bumps but still loving it all. Jeff meanwhile is faced with his annual puzzle of which wines go where, what needs to be done for each one to get it to its best, what might be assembled with what. It is a 3D jigsaw puzzle in action.

The little blackboards might remind us of what wine is in each tank, when it was picked, the story of its fermentation and transformation into wine from grape juice but Jeff needs to keep all this in his head (and spreadsheet) so we move the right wine from one tank to another, give one a remontage, another its pressing. He leads from the front, lifting and carrying heavy loads, driving, fixing creaking machinery. He must be very tired as well as stressed but he carries on regardless and we respond in turn.

Monday 16th, Day 13. A small harvest of Grenache Gris and Macabeu from Peilhan, a wine for blending perhaps or a very small cuvee. Principally it was a cellar day, Tuesday another. Pressing the Rome grapes, punching down the future orange wine of Muscat d’Alexandrie, remontages and pigeages on all the tanks. Picking is the traditional image of vendanges but this cellar work is essential to nurture the juice, to supervise its progress into the 2019 vintage. Pressing the red fruit which has been on its skins and pulp also means that the marc which is leftover after the juice has been extracted can be taken away ready to be distilled. This is after all, Vins et Spiritueux Coutelou.

Muscat pigeage
Marc

Wednesday 18th, Day 15 time to get back into the vineyard and pick the Mourvedre from Segrairals. Some of this had been picked on the Sunday by Jeff’s ‘Rugbymen’ friends to make their own cuvee and it was lovely fruit.

The slope of the vineyard means that lower parts can be a bit damp at times and the fruit not so good as the rest so careful picking and sorting ensued. The resulting juice was very good, reflecting the year’s story it is concentrated with quite high alcohol. I would predict that it will be blended though it has been a single grape cuvee in the past.

Sloping down to a damper section
Mourvedre in tank
Anthony and Steeve

One welcome addition to the team this week was my friend Steeve from near Besancon in the Jura. He has visited many times and worked at Jeff’s last vendanges and to help with pruning in the winter. His enthusiasm and experience were very useful and helped to rejuvenate us all.

One last effort required, the Carignan remained to be picked. Its story this year is a summary of the vintage however, so I shall leave that until next time.

Day 13 Day 15

September 19, 2019
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Harvest 2019 – We Can Work It Out

En francais

If Day 10 saw the eight different grape varieties harvested Days 11 and 12 were a contrast. Friday September 13th was all about Grenache and Saturday was all about Cinsault. These two varieties together with Syrah make up the bulk of the Coutelou production, important for the various wines which emerge each year and for the economic well being of the domaine.

The Grenache was from La Garrigue, planted facing south towards the sun. It copes well with heat, Spanish on origin and grown all around the Mediterranean (known variously as Cannonau, Garnacha, Alicante amongst others). Traditionally this parcel gives good quality fruit which is blended with other wine to make Classe for example.

I was feeling under the weather on the Friday but a day sorting good bunches of tasty grapes helps to improve the day. There was plenty of it too, perhaps the recent rain had boosted the yield a little. A quick tour of the remaining unpicked vines to check maturity also boosted the spirits with some attractive Mourvedre in the pipeline.

Saturday (I must have been feeling better as I took more photos) and the Cinsault of Segrairals. These grapes are used for the 5SO cuvée as well as being blended with other wines, eg for the rosé.

Cinsault grapes tend to be big and the bunches can suffer a little as a result. The large grapes leave gaps in the bunch which leaves it vulnerable to disease and insects getting in, especially ver de la grappe. This moth lays its eggs in the bunch and the grapes are pierced by the resulting larvae. This causes the juice to flow in the bunch and attract rot.

**Ver de la grappe cocoon emerging from a Piquepoul Noir grape**

Sorting in the vineyard and on the table in the cellar needs to be thorough. That said 2019 has happily been a year of little or no disease.

The day showed how different sections of the vineyard differed in the quality of grapes. There were parts which gave slightly under ripe fruit but others which provided big, black grapes which tasted great to eat. Since 2019 has been so hot and dry much of the wine this year is very concentrated and high in alcohol. The under ripe grapes in the Cinsault actually served a useful purpose in providing lower alcohol and adding more acidity. Nature sometimes finds its own solutions.

Meanwhile in the cellar there is increasing amounts of work to do. More and more of the tanks are full and needing remontage, batonnage or pigeage. The team has to work well together, fortunately this year’s does just that.

The amphorae, filled on Thursday also needed punching down to soak the skins. Fermentation has already started as you may see in this video.

With the Cinsault picked there are now just two main picks left to do in 2019, the Mourvedre and the Carignan. An intensive two weeks has gone by, much work still remains.

Jeff punching down the amphora grapes

Days 11 and 12

September 17, 2019
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Harvest 2019 – Eight Grapes A Day

En francais

Carignan Blanc, Carignan Noir, Terret Blanc, Piquepoul Gris, Muscat d’Alexandrie, Macabeu, Castets, Morrastel.

These were the eight grape varieties picked on Thursday September 12th (Day 10 of vendanges). There are some unusual ones in there. Morrastel is a Spanish grape by origin (known as Graciano there). Part of the 2015 new plantation of Peilhan, it is already giving generous fruit in big bunches. Castets, from the South West of France, was very rare but has sprung to fame in 2019 as one of the new varieties which the Bordeaux AOC is allowing to be included in its wines. Jeff planted some in Peilhan long before this in 2011, its small, concentrated berries mark it out.

Tackling the Morrastel on a hot day Castets (right)

In Decanter magazine Andrew Jefford recently described winemaking as the litmus of climate change. I think that is an excellent way of describing the situation. When Carignan, a Mediterranean grape, is badly affected by the kind of heatwave we experienced this summer then there is something wrong. Castets, along with other varieties, has been added to the Bordeaux mix to help its vignerons adapt tot he new climate situation. Morrastel and other Spanish/Italian/Greek varieties might well be part of the answer for regions such as the Languedoc.

Jeff is well aware of the problem and it is one of the reasons he has experimented so much with different grapes in recent years, trying to add nuances of flavour, variety and the best way for his terroir to express itself being other reasons.

The Carignan Blanc went straight into the press, it will form its own cuvée or be assembled, we shall see how it turns out and how it might add to other white wines of the year. The Terret Blanc and Piquepoul Gris, both from the same 2015 plantation as the Morrastel, were added to the two new amphorae. This will be an interesting wine to follow as Jeff has previously used red grapes in the older amphorae. I think the white version could well be more interesting still.

The Muscat d’Alexandrie always produces big grapes, perfumed like most Muscats but this is picked before it becomes sweet. The grapes were destemmed and put into tank. They have been used to make the OW (orange wine) in recent years, I suspect this will follow that route.

The Macabeu is another Spanish grape (known as Macabeo or Viura there) but it has taken well in the Puimisson vineyards, often producing its own synonymous cuvee. It was pressed immediately and put into stainless steel like the Muscat. The Carignan from Peilhan was again destemmed and will be used for blending. The Carignan from Rec D’Oulette (the Flambadou grapes) meanwhile is likely to be the last of the harvesting this year.

A fascinating day with such variety of grapes and stories. A sobering one too in reflecting on the litmus situation.

Icare and Bulles (Alain’s dog) certainly found it hot

September 13, 2019
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Harvest 2019 – Rain

En francais

Finally. Maybe a few weeks too late but we had around ten hours of rain on Tuesday to relieve the parched Languedoc. That said, it soon dried out again and much more rain will be needed for the well being of the region. However, for the vines it was a welcome relief and should revive some parched vines.

Jeff Coutelou told me that in Peilhan vineyard for example the grapes were pretty much skins and pulp, now there is some juice to balance them. We have had some lovely fruit through the vendanges but it is very concentrated and lacking juice. Whilst for Jeff’s bank balance the rain would have been more welcome a month ago to fill out all the grapes and provide more wine, this was better than nothing. I saw one southern Rhone producer say it was like 100€ notes falling from the sky. That may be true for Chateauneuf du Pape but not for Jeff who said maybe a few centimes coins would be nearer the mark.

Cinsault in the rain, some of these were picked Wednesday

Grenache being put whole bunch into tank

The day before the rain, Monday 9th (Day 8 of vendanges) was a picking of Grenache from Sainte Suzanne. It was put into tank in whole bunches to give a more fruit driven wine, a semi carbonic maceration.

Anthony collecting cases, star over the stable

No picking on the Tuesday or Wednesday morning , the photos show why with water standing on the grapes. Wednesday afternoon (Day 9) saw more Grenache and the first Cinsault of the year. This was destemmed as usual.

Cinsault (left) and Grenache

Meanwhile the break gave Jeff the opportunity to do more work on the wines in tank which have all begun their fermentations, the whites took a little longer in their temperature cooled tanks but have started too: Remontage, pouring or pumping wine over the top of the crust of grape skins and pulp; Batonnage, stirring the white wines in tank; Pigeage, pushing down the cap or crust into the wine for the same reason as remontage.

Meanwhile the figures on specific gravity for the wines continue to decline, indicating the fermentation process is going ahead successfully.

To give you some idea of how hard that crust can be and how much effort it takes to punch it down have a look at the video of Jeff treading on the cap of the Syrah from La Garrigue.

September 10, 2019
by amarch34 1 Comment

Harvest 2019 – Girl

En francais

One of the idiosyncrasies of the French language is the allocation of nouns as masculine or feminine. Tables are feminine, pencils masculine, word endings which are usually masculine have exceptions and vice versa. It’s a minefield for English speaking people.

Grape varieties are also given a gender, but the vast majority are masculine. Of the major grape varieties only one is feminine, la Syrah. My favourite wine of Jeff Coutelou is 100% Syrah, La Vigne Haute. The grapes come from La Garrigue vineyard on a slope facing north to avoid the hottest direct sunshine.

La Vigne Haute is only made in special years, in other vintages the grapes go into other cuvées. How the 2019 La Garrigue Syrah turns out is yet to be determined but they were harvested on Friday September 6th, Day 6 of the vendanges. The good news is that there was more of the wine than last year, when all the vineyards were hit by mildew. Tasting the juice the following day (pre fermentation) it has an amazing depth of red fruit but also a complexity which might be described as minerality. Of course, the wine will be very different after fermentation but this juice has something special about it.

The following day brought more Syrah into the cellar. This time from Segrairals, the largest of the Coutelou vineyards. Again the bunches came in firm and healthy. Syrah usually has small berries and, in this drought year, that is certainly the case. However the grapes are very healthy, no sign of rot or disease. The Segrairals juice had an overwhelming raspberry fruit flavour, not the more serious notes of La Garrigue but very good in its own right.

The Syrah of Segrairals, after destemming and juice in a glass whilst being sorted by Alain

As one of the five major red grapes of Languedoc Syrah is a crucial part of so many of its best wines. It is an expressive grape, try some of the great Syrahs from the Ardèche for example, to find a huge range of flavours and quality. It makes up around one third of the Coutelou production so the lovely fruit of those two days is a relief and also highly promising that, despite the drought, some great wines will emerge in 2019.