An early report from Martin Krajewski of Chateau de Sours in Bordeaux with details of the harvest.
“I am really delighted to tell you that at 08h00 on Wednesday 1st September, the 2010 harvest began at Chateau de Sours under cool sunny blue skies that brought much warmer sunny temperatures later in the day.
With a small team of 20 people, we commenced hand-picking the 2.1 hectares of young Sauvignon Blanc planted in 2 blocks 3 and 4 years ago and situated on the limestone plateau close to the winery.
The early results look very good indeed with the juice a very nice and very light silvery-green gold in colour and with beautiful aromas. The picking finished yesterday lunchtime and we now have 60 hl (8000 bottles) in tank !
The weather continues to be sunny and hot in the daytime but cool and crisp at night, perfect for picking and the maturing fruit.
However, we have had no significant rain at Chateau de Sours since early April and as a result we expect to have a low yield this year, possibly 20%+ down on what we would usually have and with some of the younger vines under quite a lot of stress from water deficit.
We are now just waiting to see what happens over the weekend before we decide if we need to continue harvesting next week, but it certainly looks as if the picking of the Merlot for the Rose could start soon at this stage.
This afternoon at 15h00 the temperaure was up to 28C and it is forecast to be 30C tomorrow and 32C on Sunday afternoon, but will fall to 10/12C at night for the next 2 or 3 days.
Monday is also due to be hot and could reach 30/32C but then on Tuesday it is possible that we could start get some welcome rain, possibly as much as 30 mm between Tuesday morning and Friday evening.
Anyway, we are off to a flying start, the rain will be welcome to just refesh and plump up the berries a little, then allowing for another two weeks or more before we start to pick the reds, things should be looking very good indeed.
Finally, our new Red Fermentation Cellar is ready to go and looks amazing and I will include some photos next week when I write again !
Now we’ve got just to wait another 3 months or so before everything else is done including the new barrel halls, laboratory, offices and the landscaping completed, but we’re well on the way !
Bon weekend to you all
Martin Krajewski”
And finally, here’s Martin in action at our Summer Rose tasting.
