Winter/Spring 2009

This winter and spring in the Languedoc has thankfully been quite wet by local standards with above average precipitation, particularly in April which is normally one of the wettest months, but which had over twice the average rainfall this year. This is a blessing after 2 years of near drought that was beginning to seriously stress the vines and has helped to top up the aquifers of the region. This winter was cold by local standards, one of the 3 coldest in the last 15 years with a number of quite severe frosts, and this will help to ‘disinfect’ the vineyards keeping pests under control. The wet and quite warm spring has really promoted vine growth and in some cases there was excessive flower set and excess vegetative growth. This entails a green-harvest to remove many of the developing bunches of grapes to allow the plant to concentrate its efforts on between 3 and 5 bunches per vine, promoting complexity and concentration in the mature grapes. A proportion of the excessive leaf growth will also be removed to improve the ventilation and decrease the humidly around the grapes lessening the chance of fungal infections. The late spring is usually bottling time with the local domains hiring in a mobile bottling plant. Most domains do not have their own equipment for bottling but hire in outside contracts. It’s quite a sight, as the contractors literally set up a small production line in the winery taken out of the back of a lorry. The sterilised bottles are filled, corked, the capsule and labels are put on, and the bottles are packed, usually in boxes of 6 by hand. This year saw Jean-Luc at Domaine de Cantaussel bottle his 2006 Cuvee Cantaussel, their 2007 Côte de Brian and their 2007 white Vermentino VDP’Oc. At Chateau St. Jacques d’Albas Graham has bottles the 2007 Domaine and the 2008 Rosé. They will have a further bottling in the autumn. The new parcel of Syrah grapes planted last year at St. Jacques are already over a metre high, but it will be at least another 3 years before they take a usable crop from them. Graham planted a hectare of white varieties, Marsanne, Viognier and Vermentino 2 years ago and these are looking strong and healthy and they may get their first usable crop from this next year. In the Languedoc quality wine growers use dry-land farming, only irrigating the newly planted vines a few times in the early weeks. While this cultivation method means that it is 4 or even 5 years before the Vigneron can take a useful crop off the new vines, whereas irrigated vines are often cropped in their third year, it also helps the vines to adapt to the harsh climate of the region. The young vines are forced to sink their roots deep to find water, often many metres down as they exploit cracks in the bedrock below the shallow soil. This confer significant drought resistance to the vines during the 3 or 4 months of hot, dry weather of the Southern French summer, it also allows the vines to fully exploit the nutrients and trace elements in the very poor soil. However, above and beyond these very practical benefits, dry farmed vines produce a more concentrated juice, one that takes on the characteristic of the terroir and is expressed in the flavour and body of the wine. When the vines are irrigated the roots remain closer to the surface and the vines will not survive drought without continued irrigation. This often dilutes the juice in the ripe grape generating less flavour and terroir expression. This can work well for young, easy drinking, fruity wines, but does not produce vines which age well or have the concentration, or tannins to stand up to food.