It’s another early start as we like to bring the grapes in quite cold, especially when the days are so warm. This way we can give the Merlot a ‘cold soak’ for a few days before fermentation, making for a tasty, juicy wine – hopefully. There is no rot whatsoever, so we’re just removing any leaves or green bits on the sorting table before the de-stemmer.
Category Archives: Chateau Bauduc
We’ve Found a Bigger Tractor
September 26 2009
After the debacle of our tractor going up in smoke as it struggled with a trailer full of grapes, coming back from our newly leased vineyards up the road, I managed to find a chap with a slightly bigger one. Thierry also has a very fine trailer to go with it (apparently there are only six as big as this yellow one in the whole of the Gironde), which is handy as our singed effort is being repaired. Nelly may not be tall, but she can hardly reach the step of the John Deere. Unfortunately it’s all only on loan.
Tractor’s on Fire
September 24 2009
Another mini-disaster movie. Maybe it’s just not our year…
The Quest for Vines
September 23 2009
Given that we’d lost most of our 2009 crop (and a fair chunk of 2010) to hail in May, we could either have thrown in the towel, or gone in search of more vineyards to buy, or take under lease. We were tempted by option A, but umpteen, welcome messages of support from customers – some on this site – persuaded us to get off our butts.
If we’d been in, say, New Zealand, we’d simply have gone out and found some grapes to make up the 80% loss. It would have been up to us – not the State – to ensure that the quality is good enough to go into our ‘brand’: about 70% of the grapes that go into Villa Maria’s consistently good wines, for example, come from contract growers. Keep reading
Hail at Bauduc – the Sequel
September 21 2009
A 5 minute video update on the state of our vineyards at harvest time, 4 months on from the devastating hailstorms in May.
Night Harvest at Bauduc
September 20 2009
After some handpicking fun at the start of the harvest, it’s now down to business.
For the past five vintages we’ve harvested the white grapes – and the reds for rosé – by machine, in the small, wee hours of the morning. Early, chilly starts make for zippy, fresh grapes, even if we ourselves look a bit doggy at the end of the day. So you’ll be pleased to know that we don’t feature in this 5 minute clip, which might be of interest to wine lovers who have never seen harvesting machines at work.
This 4 hectare (10 acre) block of Sauvignon Blanc was the only white parcel at the château to produce any reasonable amount of grapes following the hail in May – and the grapes from here have always gone into our Bordeaux Blanc Sec. But the yield from this more protected part of the vineyard was still only 20 hectolitres (2000 litres) per hectare, way down on the maximum quota allowed in 2009 of 65 hl (6500 l)/ha.
Catch the Harvest on Bauduc TV
September 17 2009
If you’d like to receive emails like this, please sign up here for our email news and offers.
Start of the Harvest 2009
September 11 2009
The 2009 Bordeaux white wine harvest at Château Bauduc began at 9am, on the ninth of the ninth.
We picked a couple of hectares of young Sauvignon Blanc vines by hand, with the help of some of Britain’s most talented students and the youngest members of the Quinney family who don’t have school on wednesdays.
Hail in Bordeaux – the Video
June 03 2009
Never mind the recession, the strong euro, the weak pound, increased duty costs and global over-supply of cheap, industrial wine. It’s back to nature, and sometimes nature can be cruel.
Thanks for watching, and excuse the French. Feel free to leave a comment below, or a question.
The Hand of God
May 13 2009
Clatter, clatter, clatter. The worst sound in the world for a winegrower.
In the middle of the night, at 3.30 in the morning on 13th May, we were battered by a hailstorm. And when violent winds accompany the sound of hail, we know it’s very bad news. Parts of Bordeaux were hit the night before, on Monday 11th, and we’d had a smattering of peanut-sized hail too. Our vineyard manager Daniel joked yesterday that if we’d been included in that storm, with hailstones the size of new potatoes, we should change our métiers, or jobs. I don’t think he was expecting lightning to literally strike twice.
On close inspection first thing this morning, this is by far the worst we’ve seen here. We lost 50% of the crop on 24 June 2003, and last year we had frost in April that wiped out much of our sauvignon blanc. Keep reading