Author: Caroline

Champagne Harvest 2015 – Mineral in the making at Pascal Agrapart 

  This morning I visited the Côtes des Blancs for the first time this harvest.  There has been a lot of talk of oidium problems however the grapes looked gorgeous at Pascdl Agrapart. “I am really happy, we are receiving ripe, healthy grows with lots of flavours”, says Pascal When we arrived Chardonnay from Les Biones in
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Champagne Harvest 2015- beautiful biodynamic grapes at Bourgeois Diaz and Françoise Bedel

     Yesterday I sPent the day in Croutes sur Marne, the last village of the Vallée de la Marne when driving to Paris. It is a rare village with 2 biodynamic producers – seeing there only are 25 certified producers in Champagne. We started our day at Jérôme Bourgeois, who was picking Pinot Noir
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Champagne Harvest 2015 – picking Pinot Noir for Vouette and Sorbée

  Yesterday afternoon Bertrand Gautherot’s team were picking Pinot Noir in the Vouette vineyard. I love Bertrand’s Vouette vineyard as you can really see the Kimmeridgean terroir, lots of limestone pebbles in the clay :-)  Bertrand feels that this clay and limestone will better express the character of the 2025 vintage. “The summer has been very
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Champagne Harvest 2015 – a morning with Michel Drappier

 The sunrise was glorious early this morning en route for Urville, where I arrived just about at the same time as the first grapes of the day.  Harvest started with a handful of pickers over the weekend but really got into full swing yesterday. “Last week Monday I panicked, it was 34 degrees, the berries
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Champagne harvest 2015 – the sweet Pinot Noir of the Clos des Goisses

 This afternoon I spent a few hours with Charles Philipponnat in the Clos des Goisses; without a doubt one of the steepest and most beautiful vineyards of the Champagne region.  The harvest started here today and is advancing a lot faster than expected. Charles explaines: “we harvested an extra plot, which was not planned. The
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Champagne harvest 2015 – portrait of a harvester: Nicolas Pinodel

  Nicolas Pinodel, a recently graduated architect student, is experiencing his first harvest in Champagne at Olivier Horiot. When asked why he chose to come and work harvest he explains: “a friend of mine had a contact to work harvest here, another friend had worked here last year and really enjoyed the experience. It seemed
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Champagne Harvest 2015 – taking about the flowers and the bees with Dominique Moreau and Roland Piollot

 The catch with live blogging is iPhone battery as I am finding out.. And when you run out, not only is there no live post, but also very few pictures… I visited Dominique Moreau and Roland Piollot, another awesome couple of wine makers in the Aube on the way back home. They started their harvest
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Champagne Harvest 2015 – The Clos St Sophie in Montgueux by Emmanuel Lassaigne

  The Clos St Sophie is the only Clos in Montgueux and one of only 3 Clos in the Aube. Since 1913 it belongs to the Valton family. Etienne Valton, founder of the Petit Bateau brand, bought it after Marcrl Dupont passed away; Dupont, a professor in Agriculture,  had founded the property as a plant
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Champagne harvest 2015 – portrait of a harvester: Myriame Chaperon

 Every harvest Champagne attracts more than 20,000 harvesters from all walks of life. It is one of the few regions were the majority of pickers are still watered, fed and put up during harvest. This means that some people return year in year out, whilst others come only once to enjoy the experience. As part
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