We're now done with harvest. This year (strangely) ended with Roussanne, as well as with our annual preparation of our vin de paille wines. We've been dehydrating grapes in our greenhouses throughout the harvest, and by early November, the last grapes to go in (Mourvedre) were ready to be pressed to make our annual production of Sacrerouge.

The vineyard crew lays out Mourvedre grapes on greenhouse benches.

Collected clusters dumped into a tank

Notice how tough the berry clusters are!

We can't send the dehydrated grape clusters used for vin de paille through our destemmer machine, because with their reduced cluster weight and dried stems and skins, the berries do not separate easily from the stems. This is not a problem for our white grapes; the clusters are pressed right away, and stems and skins remain in the press. However, with red grapes, we're left with the old standby of stomping the grapes by foot.

The berries and what little juice there is will ferment over the next several weeks. When they have reached the concentration that we'd like them to have, they'll be pressed and the juice moved to barrels to complete fermentation.

A bin of Mourvedre harvested 10/14

We're now about 80% done with harvest. Over the last two weeks, we've brought in the rest of our Grenache and Syrah, as well as most of our Mourvedre and some of our Roussanne. The weather is holding steady with perfect conditions (temps in the 80s during the day, in the low 40s and night, lots of sun, no humidity) and looks to stay this way for the forseeable future.

The quality has been uniformly high, with beautiful clusters of fruit, excellent flavors, and near picture-perfect numbers. We have been a bit surprised, though, by our quantities. It looks like we will have between 15% and 20% more crop than the past two years, partly due to a few additional acres that are in production, and part due to higher than expected yields. Even though we got the expected numbers of clusters on the vines, the average cluster was slightly bigger than expected, and we've had higher yields of juice than normal from each ton of grapes. This would be worrying if the weather hadn't been so good,

Stacked foudres provide space... as well as an ideal aging environment for our red wines.

but we are thrilled with the flavors and color that we're getting off of the wines.

Several of the whites that we picked in late September and early October are done with their primary fermentations. We've had a chance to taste the Viognier and the Chardonnay, and are excited about both. It has been a puzzle to fit nearly 20,000 cases worth of wine into a winery designed for 14,000 cases. One major tool we have had in this effort is our foudres... which, in addition to their qualities on the wine they contain (a gentle aging process with minimal application of wood flavors) are more efficient in their use of space than small barrels. And, since we began stacking our foudres above one another, we've suddenly found an additional 4,000 cases worth of space!

Bob Haas with newly harvested Grenache Noir

Grenache being dumped onto the sorting table

Syrah barrels ferment in the winery

Grenache in bins outside the winery

We are picking daily, with Tannat, Grenache, Cabernet, and the first Mourvedre lots into the cellar. On Thursday, October 13th, we brought in 37 bins totaling nearly 20 tons of grapes... our busiest harvesting day of the year so far, and one of our busiest ever. At the same time, we are pressing our Syrah and moving it to barrels, both to free up tank space for the other reds and to get the Syrah into neutral wood while it completes its fermentation.

Grenache pushed into the destemmer

When red grapes arrive in the cellar, they are first dumped onto a sorting table (pictured to the right) and then after underripe bunches and any other debris are removed, are pushed into the destemming machine. This removes the grapes from their bunches, propels the stems out the end, and collects the grapes to be pumped into tanks to ferment. As is traditional at Beaucastel, we ferment all our wines (red and white) exclusively with native yeasts.

Syrah is pressed in a bladder press when it reaches the desired level of extraction

Assistant Winemaker Ryan Hebert with a newly harvested bunch of Tannat

Tools of the winemaker's trade... not as glamorous as it sounds!

We will take a short break this weekend for the 2004 Harvest Wine Tour, and then pick back up next week. We expect to finish the Grenache and make a signifiacnt start on the Mourvedre and Roussanne.

Mourvedre grapes on the vine

The crew harvests Viognier

Neil in the winery lab

Harvest is in full swing! As of Friday, October 7th, we have picked all of our Viognier, and it has been pressed and is fermenting in tanks and barrels in the cellar. We have also brought in most of the Syrah, which is fermenting in open-top tanks, to soften the tannins and prevent its tendency toward reduction.

Fermenting Syrah grapes in an open-top tank

Syrah stems after the destemming machine does its work

Winemaker Neil Collins checks sugars on newly-pressed viognier

Grenache Rosé fermenting in barrel

The Grenache Noir has also begun to be come in, and we have selected the lots that will go into the 2005 Rosé. The three varietals that comprise our Rosé each year (Mourvedre, Grenache and Counoise) are harvested and vinified separately, then blended together after they have completed fermentation. This is supplemented by the nursery block from which the same three grapes are co-harvested and co-fermented. The Grenache is usually the first of these grapes to be picked, and the lots have already fermented on their skins for 72 hours, and the juice bled off. This pink juice will ferment remain in barrel until we have enough to make a tank of, typically when the other two varietals have been picked in late October.

Looking forward, we expect the Syrah, Grenache Blanc, and Marsanne to be in in the next few weeks, and the Counoise, Picpoul and Mourvedre throughout the second half of October and the first week or so of November.

Viognier in the field

Viognier juice after pressing

Assistant Vineyard Manager David Maduena weighs newly-harvested viognier.

Harvest 2005 is underway! On Wednesday, September 21, we brought the first lots of the year (Viognier, as usual, led off) into the cellar, followed by Chardonnay and Roussanne.

On Tuesday, September 27, we brought in the Roussanne that we will use to make our Bergeron wine. Bergeron is the name for Roussanne in the Savoie region in the foothills of the Alps, where Roussanne makes a bright, clean wine with pronounced citrusy characteristics. We selected Roussanne from one of the coldest spots in the vineyard, picked it a little early, and will ferment it in barrel, consistent with the practices in the Savoie.

In addition to Roussanne, we continued harvesting Viognier and began harvesting Vermentino (September 28), Grenache Blanc (September 28) and Syrah (September 30).

The weather has been cooperating; after a hot mid-summer and a cool late summer (daytime highs in the second half of August and first week of September were an unseasonable mid-70s) a picture-perfect spell of weather set in the second week of September and has continued ever since. Daytime highs in the mid to upper 80s are allowing the grapes to attain ripeness, while cool nights (typically in the upper 40s) have maintained acids and given us the flexibility to pick at peak flavors.

It appears that the grapes have achieved ripeness at slightly lower sugars in 2005, at least for the whites, which should allow us to make full bodied wines at slightly lower alcohol levels than in the past few years.

We will continue to update this page as harvest progresses. Meanwhile, you can read a retrospective of the 2004 Harvest, the 2003 Harvest, the 2002 Harvest, the 2001 Harvest, or the 2000 Harvest.