5 Sep 2011 – Gavin Quinney of Ch Bauduc reports from Bordeaux on an unscheduled start to the harvest for one of the world's most famous estates, and the severe misfortune that fell on an illustrious neighbour. He will be posting further live updates of the Bordeaux 2011 harvest on his Twitter page.
'It's an early vintage, and not an easy one', said Charles Chevallier, the director of Ch Lafite-Rothschild, as he checked the Cabernet Sauvignon from their parcel in St-Estèphe in his new harvest reception area. He certainly never thought that he'd be bringing in this late-ripening variety exactly one week before the Médoc Marathon, when over 8,000 runners in fancy dress pass through the vineyards on the second Saturday of September. (In 2010, they started picking their Cabernet on 4 October.)
Unlike this coming Saturday, this is no laughing matter – even if the locals can't resist a bit of black humour. 'They can start the pruning at Cos d'Estournel, because there aren't any leaves left on the vines', was the gag made separately by two tractor drivers – one at Ch Lafite, the other at Ch Montrose to the north. Neighbours, as well as nature, can be cruel.
Hail is, in my experience, the wine grower's worst nightmare. In the space of a few minutes, a healthy crop can be all but wiped out. At 6 pm last Thursday 6 September, with the red harvest just days away, there were several hailstorms across the Bordeaux region. Just up the road from me at Grézillac, near Branne, a few miles south of St-Émilion, hail tore through leaves and blasted grapes in several vineyards (pictured right). There was then a deluge in Vignonet, closer still to St-Émilion, as the storm continued further east. Mercifully, this was mostly just heavy rain.
On Saturday, I headed over to the Médoc and, from what I've seen, a sizeable chunk of St-Éstephe – some 900 ha, apparently – was by far the worst hit. As well as hail, there was an 'inondation', with over 70 mm of hail and rain falling, compared to barely more than 10 mm of rain at the same time in Margaux.
The hailstorm cut a swathe between the vineyards of St-Estèphe – 'a corridor', witnesses said – with the vines on the gravel mounds leading from Ch Lafon-Rochet to Ch Cos Labory and Ch Cos d'Estournel, and beyond to Chx Le Crock, Haut-Marbuzet and Montrose, taking the brunt of it. Leaves were shredded and grapes battered.
My swift stroll around the parcels seemed to support this, with the vines on the slopes down to the Gironde estuary having less damage than those on the south- and west-facing slopes and plateau. The vines to the north of the chai, or winery, were badly hit. St-Estèphe's other super second, Ch Montrose, suffered much less than Cos, but several parcels were hit to a greater or lesser extent before the hail petered out at Ch Meyney. Montrose started picking after the storm, with their large team of imported Spanish workers hard at it on Saturday.
Both the leading St-Estèphe estates have seen massive investment of late, with Cos spending many millions of euros on a new winery and cellars which opened in 2008. Montrose will unveil a new barrel cellar later this year.
Also hit was Ch Lilian Ladouys, where they were busy harvesting by machine over the weekend (70% of 43 ha affected), and Ch de Pez, while Calon-Ségur and the vines around Ch Phélan Ségur, both further north near the village of St-Estèphe itself, suffered only superficial damage. Calon-Ségur was probably spared by the gods because it had been hailed on last year.
In case you were wondering, Lafite has a 4.5 ha (11 acre) plot in St-Estèphe, opposite Lafon-Rochet, and they have had a special 'derogation' to transform this into Pauillac for many years. The Cabernet Sauvignon from here almost always goes into the grand vin – but not this year. At an estimated 50 hl/ha, that's 30,000 bottles that won't make the cut, and the best that Charles Chevallier is hoping for is for the grapes to produce wine of 'second wine' quality.
The fruit was in good condition as it was picked by Lafite's initial squad of 70 pickers and porters, all sporting yellow safety vests as some of the rows are next to the main road. With the leaves peppered by the hail, and some of the grapes split by the impact, there was no option but to bring it in.
Meanwhile, just across the stream that divides St-Estèphe and Pauillac, called La Jalle du Breuil, at least five enormous machines were out on Saturday at Lafite and Duhart Milon next door, spraying an organic 'champignon' product on the grapes to combat the onset of botrytis. Some bunches had suffered a minor impact, and any split grapes could have led to problems with rot.
It could have been far, far worse. Just ask Jean-Guillaume Prats, across the valley at Cos d'Estournel.
Maybe later though, as he's probably got a few things on his plate right now.
