Vineyard Diary 2002
December 2002
Vinification and aging of the 2002 vintage shows terrific promise. Each year we seem to learn more about little tricks that make a big difference. Intuition coupled with experience! We have produced one batch of red by hand, with no pumps or mechanical handling at all..................and the quality is phenomenal, a promising signal for the future. In the vines we started pruning using the system "créneau alterné" which restricts yields by limiting bunches per vine. We have marked another hectare of Muscadelle/Semillon to take up and replace with Malbec (known also as Cot here) and some more Cabernet Franc. Planting density will be high, at 8000 vines/Ha.
November 2002
Maceration and fermentation have passed off well and the good news is that we have a slightly higher yield of red this year, welcome relief for our "Lady" customers who can't get enough. White volume is down of course because we have lifted 3 Ha of Sauvignon blanc and planted Cabernet Sauvignon, which comes into production in 2004. An innovation that we are trying this year is an 'unoaked' white for early drinking. Our classic Château Masburel white continues to attract accolades but some customers are demanding something they can tipple straight away, so we will see what we can do!
October 2002
We started harvesting the Merlot on the 3rd, the same time as the previous 2 years, with a potential alcohol of 14° which is normal for us. The same day we brought in all the Sauvignon Blanc, which looks better than ever, with a potential over 14°. The Sémillon and Muscadelle, harvested on the 6th, looks good too, promising a good vintage. The Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc came in on the 6th and 8th, well ahead of last year, and the last day before the rain came. The good luck held for us until the end and we are very content with the 2002 harvest. We have very healthy grapes, polyphenols are good, promising good colour and ripe tannins. Now it is up to us to make the most of it!
September 2002
On average, weather must even itself out sometime but it is now almost harvest time and the sun is distinguished by its absence. Eventually the sun arrived on the 10th and it looks as though all the finger crossing may have worked. Bright blue skies, fresh mornings and 27°C during the day. The 'harvest waiting' is more nail biting than usual but it could turn out well. Now even the legs are crossed! In the final analysis, it is truly remarkable, but the weather saved us. 4 weeks of continuous sunshine, not too hot but sunny nevertheless. And no rain at all before the harvest, to the point that the vines went into stress. We started harvesting the Sauvignon Blanc on the 27th (4 days later than last year) but stopped again to give the grapes a few more days to ripen further.
August 2002
Well I know French farmers always complain about the weather but this summer has been the pits! We are now well into August and the sun is coyly hiding behind persistent cloud. We need a long spell of sun to bring the harvest back on schedule and, perversely, we need some rain as well. It's only the 8th so we'll see what the rain Gods have up their sleeve.
Veraison (the grapes turning from green to red) started in the Merlot around the 5th and the Cabernet on the 9th.
The good news is that relevage (lots of manual work) is finished and rognage (done on the tractor) has started. Rognage cuts the vines down to size ready for the ripening season.
The rain gods were indeed kind and lots of rain marked mid-august. Veraison virtually finished on the 19th and green harvesting (when we cut out the grapes that will not ripen in time for harvest) started on the 20th. Hot weather has arrived but it did not last.August ended as damply as it started.
July 2002
Diabolical, dreadful, awful, terrible. How many adjectives does it take to describe the weather in the first two weeks of July. If you took your holiday in South West France then you have my commiserations! Otherwise, things are progressing well. Around us there is a lot of mildew rot but we have been using the best treatments delivered with the best equipment (Holder of Germany) and, fingers crossed, we are mildew free. On the other hand, our Merlot had a difficult floraison and some of the grape bunches aborted (coulure), which happens to sensitive grape varieties from time to time. So volume will be down but quality should be up. However, it will be difficult to beat the Merlot quality of the 2001 vintage (still evolving in barrel) which is sublime, our best millisime yet.
June 2002
With no let up, June is here and the rain has gone. Only 2 mm of rain in the month makes it a 'dry' surprise after May! Floraison (flowering) is in full swing and quite protracted. The quicker it happens the easier it is to manage the vines during the summer, but like last year, we will have some work to do to remove a lot of grapes that won't make it to maturity by harvest time. Heavy duty work now is 'relevage', lifting the long vine fronds vertical from horizontal. This maximises leaf exposure and hence photosynthesis. Lots of people just cut the fronds off because it is less work, but it does not give the vine the best chance to ripen the grapes. Our vines do not look as 'neat and tidy' but by golly you can taste the difference
May 2002
After the huge job of planting it is a bit back to normal now; épamprage (removing unwanted parasite shoots from the base of the vine). We also have the job of putting in the stakes for supporting the wires for the new plants and attaching the small plastic pockets for each plant to provide protection and a warm microclimate to encourage growth. One month after planting, it seems as though 100% of the new plants have taken, great news and a pleasant surprise.
At the end of the month, this has been a very wet May, which has been brilliant for the plants but muddy boots for the team trying to get into the vines.
March/April 2002
This has been one of the most exciting periods in the development of Château Masburel; a new planting. Over 25000 new plants have gone into three parcels on the property. Dense planting at over 8000 vines per hectare, coupled with the best clones and rootstock should bring a major boost to quality in 4-5 years time. We have been lucky with the rain too. Over 40 mm have fallen since planting and only one manual watering was required.
February 2002
The weather, although cold, has been dry, in contrast to last winter when we had 7 months of rain from October to April. The pruning was finished on the 28th, the last day of the month. This is quite a feat given the introduction of the 35 hour week from the beginning of the year!
January 2002
The month of January was the coldest in the South West since the 1940's. With temperatures down to -16C for weeks on end it was a challenge to keep going with the pruning. We have also taken on the challenge of changing 2Hectares of Sauvignon Blanc into Cabernet Sauvignon. This will help increase our proportion of red wine to around 70% from the current 50%