Special to The Washington Post
The grape harvest is in full swing across the Northern Hemisphere, as wineries buzz with the noise, smells and colors of grapes being picked, sorted and pressed. It’s a heady time.
Aromas of fermentation fill the air, and winemakers pray the juice will become wine in time to get the tank ready for tomorrow’s batch.
Decisions made throughout the day, every day, during harvest influence how the wine will taste in your glass years from now. So do matters outside the winemaker’s control; most notably, the weather in the weeks leading up to and during harvest. Beginning in August, winemakers tend to resemble guilty penitents, constantly scanning the skies for signs of nature’s displeasure.
At Chateau Corbin in St. Emilion, in the Right Bank region of Bordeaux, the harvest is a family affair. Anabelle Cruse-Bardinet, the fourth generation of women to run the Grand Cru Classe chateau, recruits her children, Diane, 11, Pierre, 10, and Henri, 3, to help the 15 vineyard workers gather the crop.
“The children love this period of activity in the cellar, and they enjoy picking grapes on Wednesday, when there is no school,” Cruse-Bardinet said. “Henri eats a lot of grapes in the vineyard, and he might know as well as me when they are ready to pick.”
Corbin has 32 acres under vine, mostly merlot with some cabernet franc. Cruse-Bardinet started picking the youngest planting of 2½ acres on Sept. 25, then turned her attention to the older merlot vines. “We have fantastic potential for aroma, tannins and color this year,” she said.
Bordeaux winemakers are excited this year because August did not bring the heavy rains that diluted their 2007 vintage or the cool, cloudy days that made 2008 a nail-biter (2008 turned out rather well, actually).
Logistics are a major part of the harvest. Winemakers prefer their grapes to ripen in orderly succession, but that is not always what happens.
