We feared a difficult harvest period because of the very dry 4 months between the middle of March until the middle of July. Then we received 50 to 60 mm of water between middle of July and middle of August
If we had the same weather 30 or 40 years ago that we had in 2011, the results would have been different (bad) because now, we work differently in our Bordeaux vineyards.
Food has a way of elevating your wine experience to a whole new level. When you get that perfect bite, where the flavours in the food make the wine sing in your mouth, you have reached a place in heaven.
Chateauneuf du Pape can be enjoyed young, mid-term or with some age. The wines are myriad of wine styles and offer great character. They are food friendly, and for world class red wines with character, many remain fairly priced.
For the 2011 Bordeaux vintage, we invested in a new de-stemming machine called The Cube. This allows us to get outstanding results, much better than with hand de-stemming. This is extremely smooth to the berries. It looks like it caresses them!
We are going to begin the extraction carefully and adapt the nature of pumping over accordingly. The most difficult task this year, will be to extract enough tannin and color to obtain all the finesse and elegance we are seeking at Chateau du Tertre.
“It depends more on the weather, than on the early harvest. That said, when a vintage is very early, it means that the maturation period is warmer (August vs September) which is good for phenolic ripeness”.