If it continues like this, we will wimden the end of August. The beautifully ripened grapes come into our care and we start the new wine year with them. Joy reigns.
We have been allowed to do this for almost 100 years. Many memories shape my thoughts around the grape harvest. More or less all my life I have been standing at the grape reception in autumn, discussing with the grape suppliers and rejoicing with them over the beautiful grapes. A good time.
Many things have changed, many things will change, only the cutting of grapes has remained the same. Gentle hands take the grapes from the vine and gently place them in a grape crate. From then on, a lot of things were changed.
For us, the most exciting moment is the definition of the beginning of the harvest. Anticipation, excitement, anxiety; it’s a bit like giving birth, the joy prevails.
In the past, one tasted a grape berry and somehow decided that the grape was now ripe for harvesting, it was cut off and taken to the winery.
Subsequently, there was a period when the grapes were simply taken to the winery. At the state, someone felt like saying, “The grapes are ripe, now you have to harvest.”
And today? Analytics, harvest logistics, receiving and fermentation capacities, and our personal experience are all factored in to determine when to start harvesting. It has become more complex.
We have only one moment a year to harvest the grapes. The whole wine year depends on it. Actually, it is logical that we give more weight to this moment.
What makes the whole thing even more exciting is that no two years are the same, standard processes are not applicable. Working with the uncertain is our task, which we face every year with pleasure and joy.
If grape and man do not find each other, there is no good wine.
I look forward to the Grape-Human partnership in 2020.
Santé and see you soon.
Amédée
