Vendange 2007

It took a little while, but I got some pictures from this years grape harvest at Chateau Vieux Chevrol in the Lalande Pomerol. It was a very long harvest this year with extraordinarily adverse weather.
It rained, it was downright cold. We had to stop the harvest after the first week because the cold weather prevented the grapes from fully ripening on schedule.
Inspite of it all, the growing conditions this year made the grapes we harvested full of sugar, flavor with nice thick skins. All the ingredients for a very good vintage. This was not the case at many other Chateaux, the moist cool summer created the conditions perfect for mildew and other maladies of the vines.
One thing that made it a successful harvest for us, was the fact that the same core group has been working together now for quite a few years. We all know each other and get along like any dysfunctional family speaking multiple languages from different parts of the world.
This was my 6th year working and as usual, I was a porter. I also worked earlier this year doing the empamphrage (trimming of the pied, the base of the vine) in the late spring and then the Vendange Verte (the cutting of the excess green grapes and the extra leaves) in the late summer.
Consequently, for me it was very satisfying to see the condition of the vines and the quality and quantity of the harvest this year!
One important quality of the Chateau Vieux Chevrol technique is the fact that everything is done in in a very traditional manner. All cultivation is by hand.. The harvest is by hand. There is no fertilizer used and pesticides and fungicides are all natural.
The wines are fermented in traditional vats, then in oak casks. After a year, they are bottled. They are not offered on the market for 2 years. The optimal aging of a Lalande Pomerol is 6 years. After that, they often get better, but it is unpredictable. They are a rich, oaky, complex dark red wine with a mix of fruit hints, framboise, cassiss...each year offers a slightly different mystery of flavors to unravel.
We ate well as usual at the table of the old Chateau. Great meals every night and one night we had a grand paella feast accompanied by a tasting of a variety of Rose Wines of various techniques.
When the Vendange was halted, I went home for a few days, but many of the workers come from Holland and they had a chance to visit the Dordogne and see the part of France I am most familiar with. They visited Sarlat, Beynac and Domme all incredibly beautiful sites. Beynac on the Dordogne River has one of the most impressive medieval fortress castles perched on a high cliff I have ever seen.
On the way back, they followed the valley of the Vezere River, where the Lascaux Cave is hidden and under the impressive Roche St. Cristophe, a massive palisade in the cliff which was continually inhabited from 18,000 bc up to the 20th century. This Valley is truly considered the birthplace of paleontology as two of the sites contributed their names to the ages of the neolithic cromagnon eras, The Madelinian and the Mousterian.
We took a visit to Libourne one night to visit Jackie who has a private collection of
antique autos in a big garage in back of his house. He is a passionate collector of Peugots and has a 1911 Motobloc, the first car with with the modern "drive train" which was made in Bordeaux until the 1930's.
It was hard work but rewarding for all and we look forward to to tasting the fruits of our labors next year!
We all want to thank the Champseix family for making this experience so full of good fellowship and the care they take to make sure we are entertained and well fed!
Click on the pictures if you want to enlarge them, but be careful, this last picture is Grapezilla 2007, and he bites!