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Harvest at Château Latour #4

Monday, 26th September 2011 by Thomas Parker & Ben Browett

Last Monday the big Cabernet harvest started, which confirms that the harvest will be over by the end of September. We started by picking the young vines on Monday in weather more unpredictable than an England Rugby World Cup performance. On Tuesday we took on more pickers and carriers for the large number of Cabernet vines inside and outside the “enclos” which were deemed ripe enough to be picked.

Sunrise at Latour before a long day in the vineyard

On Wednesday, the harvest went into full swing as we took on a full team which would oversee the picking of all the remaining Cabernet Sauvignon. Roughly 220 people arrived in order to help pick, carry, drive the tractors and forklifts, and sort the grapes at the château. Everyone working in the vineyards was split into three teams which consisted of pickers, “porteurs” and “suiveurs” who ensure that no good grapes are left behind. After this, each team also had people to load the crates onto the tractor palettes and transport them back to the chateau. With all these people working towards the same goal, we should be finished by Monday given the latest predictions.

Ben Browett "Porteur"

Thursday and Friday were both very busy days as the last of the Cabernet which goes into the Grand Vin had to be picked. As the temperature soared to near 30 degrees, we spent much of the day inside the “enclose” near to the winery picking healthy bunches from Latour’s best vines. The last grape was picked at six o’clock exactly as two of the teams merged together to tackle the last plot and we all went home with smiles on our slightly red faces.

The overall quality of the grapes has so far been good, but the rain has threatened to cause some botrytis. This seems to be the case across all of Bordeaux, but with the large team, we are ahead of any real botrytis issues for the vines, and as such we are finding good quality bunches of grapes to fill the “cagettes”. With the sun coming through in the mid and later part of the week, any problems were halted, and we were picking fully ripe and mature bunches to finish the grand vin picking on Friday evening. We continued to pick on Saturday and today (Sunday). Frédéric seems very happy with the grapes that we have collected so far, and has said that the weather during harvest this week helped allow the grapes to be fully mature without falling off the edge. With all the grapes hopefully in tomorrow we will then be doing some work with the vats at Latour to see the next stage of the process. We are both very much looking forward to this, as it will give us an insight into Latour’s processes that produce such a high quality wine.

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes ready to be picked

This Tuesday we went to visit Basile Tesseron at Château Lafon Rochet who kindly invited us for a home-cooked dinner. Over a relaxed evening we discussed the vintage, and the reduced volume that Lafon Rochet will be producing due to some hail damage and a desire to make the best wine possible. For dinner we were served some really great food, and with it some spectacular wines. The first was a special cuvée of 2003 Lafon Rochet of which only 600 bottles were produced. This is a family wine, made for one of Basile’s nieces. The wine was tight at first but opened with time in the glass. The wine was dense, revealing vanilla and cinnamon on the nose with dark, brooding fruit. The palate was softer than I have come to know from some St Estèphes, the tannins not aggressive or drying yet still mouthfilling for a great textured wine. The acidity was perfectly in balance, which I have found is not always the case for 2003 Bordeaux, and the structure led me to believe the best of this wine’s life is still yet to come. There was a smooth long finish of blackcurrant with subtle spice from a balanced use of oak. It really was a privilege to be able to taste such a rare and family oriented wine.

Cabernet Sauvignon grapes just picked.

Secondly we were served Lafon Rochet 1986. This wine was in full flow and singing from the outset. The wine was openly perfumed with a floral leather and animal fur, carried by black cherry and just ripe red cherry. The tannins were soft and supple, inviting the drinker to experience the full leather, fresh aniseed, and wonderful nutmeg notes that were on offer on the palate. The tertiary characters of the wine made this a real treat, and still with a decent finish, it was wonderful. Basil himself said that 1986 was one of those vintages slightly lost in the wake of ‘82, ‘89 and ‘90, but that it is a good vintage and one that is perfect for drinking now. I couldn’t agree more; this wine was fully open, well balanced and with great aromatic and flavour profiles. It is not the first ’86 I have had this year, and I am yet to be disappointed by one. We left the big yellow château, filled with great wine, great food and great conversation. I look forward to returning at the next opportunity.

Château Lafon Rochet at night

Having nearly finished picking all the Cabernet Sauvignon, we are fairly exhausted but pleased to see that the 2011 vendange seems to have been a success. Most of the work will now be done inside the winery as the sorting and fermentation processes move up a gear and we are excited about the opportunity of getting to witness this first hand.

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