The 2012 harvest began at Rives-Blanques this morning at 04h30, under a bright half-moon and a starry sky, as we picked the first 1.5 ha of chardonnay. The grapes rolled down the sorting table and into the press well before daybreak, cold to the touch and in impeccable condition.
Despite an unconventional lead-up to the harvest, in which we had all the right weather at the wrong times, and a very late flowering, this harvest date puts us more or less in line with what we used to consider ‘normal’, and we can probably expect still to be harvesting in October.
The quantity of juice from the first field also reverts back to ‘normal’, about 20% down on last year.
For a day-by-day account of Harvest 2012, please read our Diary of a Vineyard