“We were stressed because of a variable Bordeaux climate until almost the end of August. And now we are happy because of the nice back season we had until the end of the 2011 Bordeaux harvest!”

Michel Rolland has taught us to be patient and wait for the optimum maturity in the grapes we harvest. In this vintage, we needed patience as well as extra sorting as 90% of the work has been made in the field to get perfect berries.

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.

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”.