With so much work to do in the cellar I left Jeff Coutelou and the gang to get on. I was waiting for the harvest of my favourite vineyard, Rome and made a tour just beforehand. It was dry in there and the grapes were, unfortunately, quite scant. There was some lovely looking Cinsault but the white grapes, Muscat mainly, were looking a bit tired. I had actually opened a bottle of Jeff’s Rome 22 the night before and it was superb, attractive red fruits with a nice complexity and depth, it will age well. I could see this year would not warrant a cuvée of its own and, a couple of days later, a mere forty cases of grapes or so were gathered. Therefore it would need to be supplemented with grapes from elsewhere.

The hot, dry summer meant that snails were in abundance, they had been seeking moisture and the grapes were the obvious source. Fortunately, they were easily removed with the aid of the vibrating sorting table and our eagle eyes.

Given the complantation of Rome, with Cinsault, the three Grenache types, various forms of Muscat it made sense that Jeff opted to blend in grapes from the terrasse of Peilhan with its mix of varieties; different colours of Riveyrenc and Terret, Piquepoul Gris and Morastel.

It was lovely to see Louis back with the team, he worked for Jeff during the Covid pandemic and for a year or so afterwards and still pops back from time to time. Like me he was taken aback by the changes to vineyards, for example the grubbing up of Sainte Suzanne, but happy to see some lovely fruit coming into the cellar. We had been joined for a couple of weeks by Raphael doing a work placement from his studies as a sommelier. As a former teacher in a college for hospitality Jeff welcomes a stagiaire each year, Raphael being the latest. A keen worker he is too.

Meanwhile a lot of Grenache Gris was also arriving from Peilhan. Pièr, Flora and Jeff were busy putting it straight into the press.

In the afternoon Jeff decided to add some whole bunches of the Grenache Gris into the tank as the skins are such a lovely colour and add to the wine. This meant reorganising all the equipment to work inside so that the grapes can be sorted but quickly put into the tank. I’d be lying if I said that was my favourite job as working inside is more uncomfortable with heat coming from the tank, less light and more cramped conditions. But that’s what Jeff wanted so we got on with it. To be fair this is how we used to process all the grapes back in my early years of vendanges and before the changes made to the cellar in 2017.

We put a lot of fruit into the tank that day and it was no surprise, but very welcome, to see the following notice on one of the tanks.

A long, hard day but a good way for me to finish my vendanges 25. I may not be a full time vendangeur these days but five days was a good spell for a pensioner. The fruit looks great despite the issues of mildew and heat through the year and there seems to be good volume too. Jeff has been relaxed and content throughout despite the occasional setback. And, I can honestly say, it has been one of the very best teams to work alongside since I began. So, thank you to Jeff, Gils, Flora, Pièr, Boris, Marie, Jean-Jacques, Raphael, Louis and Catherine for your friendship and fun. And, of course, Icare.