Bordeaux harvest: day 2

Yesterday was a heavy day. I stopped the cold macerations because too many of the grapes were "grill" and a bit dried out.

This morning in the cellar, the fermentation aromas were really strong. In fact, it was odd - it smelt really good, not dissimilar to the aromas of white wine fermentations.

The potential alcohol of the wines in the cuves is between 12 and 13 C - quite amazing given the awful weather in the summer.

Talking of which.. the forecast got it wrong again yesterday, they said rain and in fact it was just like a hot summer's day. All the better for our cabernets still on the vine.

Great weather at the moment. I have started picking the cabernet franc in St Emilion and I am pleased at the good health of the grapes.

Interesting that it is already over 120 days since flowering and we are still picking, so, for the last grapes there could be a gap of 135 days between flowering and harvest.

Compared to the normal average of about 100 days. The result is that the skins are thicker than usual and, especially on the warmer soils, that the fruit aromas are less pronounced at this stage.

The good thing is that the pips are really ripe and so we can afford to work hard on the extraction of colour and tannin, without risk of extracting bitterness.

So, during the pre-fermentation cold macerations, we have been practising both pigeage (punching down of the cap) and delestage (rack and return) and we are finding that the colour is eventually being released.

We have also been experimenting with cold maceration in barrique, which will be followed by fermentation in barrique - the results look most encouraging up to now.

The last vintage that the pips were as ripe as this was 2000. I'm not saying that 2007 will be as good as 2000, at least not on my estates. But nonetheless I am pleasantly surprised.

All our white wine fermentations are now finished, and the wines look highly aromatic and lively.

We are practising "batonnage" each day on both Sauvignon and Semillon to improve mouth feel and to expand the aromatic range. Our barrel-fermented cuvee "Experience" is still gently bubbling away and we are keeping the lees in suspension.

We have made a ros from Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and the must is still going through cold stabilisation, enabling us to extract the more delicate aromas.

We finished picking our Merlot yesterday and all the musts are still undergoing a pre-fermentation cold maceration.

We think this is especially important this year because the skins are very rich in anthocyanins, but the thickness makes them hard to extract. Conversely, the pips are relatively low in tannin, so we expect also to have to work hard on pumping over all the way through fermentation.

Today (October 5th), we are picking Cabernet Franc despite the light rain - the forecast is for more rain over the next 24 hours.

I have already been out to the vineyard to adjust the settings on the harvesting machine to suit the grape variety and the state of the grapes.

As I write, a trailer of grapes has just arrived and the cabernet franc has given us really small berries this year, which makes me think that the actual juice yield may be fairly low. Analysis of the juice in the trailer shows 12.4 potential alcohol and total acidity of 4.2

We tested our Cabernet Sauvignon grapes yesterday. Anthocyanin potential is high but, we think, hard to extract. Total acidity is still very high and we don't expect to harvest before October 15th, or even later if the weather permits.

Overall our yields are low this year, not helped by a hail storm on June 18th which lost us 30 to 70% of our crop, depending on parcel. But the grapes are very healthy, with no signs of rot.

My challenge this year will be to keep the colour in the red wines and to work out how best to extract the tannin and structure from the red grapes.

What has been unusual so far has been how disjointed the vintage has been. Normally we harvest all our grapes without interruption.

This year, there are big gaps (5 to 15 days) between harvesting different varieties, which makes it easier to organise cellar work and ensures an unaccustomed atmosphere of serenity.

This morning I am at Chateau Preuillac with my estate manager, Michel Dufaure, and we're tasting grapes.

They do look and taste pretty good, so we are going to start picking the Merlot around the 10th. One surprise. The small Cabernet Franc parcel appears to be ripening faster than some of the Merlot blocks.

At Brown, we are still picking Merlot. The big surprise for Stephane Derenoncourt and myself during our grape-munching tour of the vineyard was that our best parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon was almost ripe.

This parcel was, until 1994, an orchard and is on the highest part of our vineyard, so is very well drained. These grapes normally form the heart of Chateau Brown's red wine and we have decided to break off picking Merlot so as to pick them on Monday.

The last two days, the temperature has been 17 c at night and 25 c during the day, so genuinely summery. Our Petit Verdot is also ripening well and we expect to pick that too before the last of the Merlot.

We will probably pick on Saturday too because one 2 ha block of Merlot is beginning to show signs of stress (drying out of the stems and yellowing of the canopy).

The weather forecast for the next 3 days is worrying. Variable, cloudy, mild temperatures, some rain and high humidity (80-90%). Ideal conditions for the development of grey rot.. Zut