Maison Des Bulliats

The start time for the vendanges is getting close. Today G and Didier who have been helping us all along came this morning to examine our grapes to assess their maturity and quality.

We walked through each parcel of vines, looking, tasting and discussing each grape sample taken. We were extremely pleased that it seems, in spight of the bizarre mixed weather that we have been experiencing recently, the grapes are in excellent condition! Slightly acid but with a good flavour and very little rain damage. Some of the stalks of the bunches are quite tough and this is why our pickers should use secateurs as pulling the stems by hand will without doubt bruise the fruit and start the fermentation process too soon.

The soil or ‘terrain’ varies from parcel to parcel, some clay and on others more sandy. Grapes that grow on a clay based soil will produce wine that is more ’structured’ as the French say, perhaps deeper more rounded flavour whilst the sandy soils will give a fruitier wine. This is why we mix the wine from different cuves before bottling to make sure we have a good balance of characteristics and qualities.

We are in the process of doing exactly that at the moment. A bottling is arranged for 8 thousand bottles on the 30th August of our super 2006 vintage, to make room in the cuvage for the new 2007 wine. Two cuves will be mixed, filtered and bottled on the premises; this will take one whole long day and I will take photos of the operation for you to see.

Tomorrow at 8.0 am the team from co-operative at Quincie will visit us to do the same sort of inspection. They will take samples of our grapes, sealed and carefully marked for analysis and let us know when they think the picking should begin as, you remember, we hope to sell half of our production in grapes to them as we cannot cope this year with double the wine production to sell.

In between all this activity today, Fernand helps us seal a cuve, or vat, ready for the 2006 wine that will be left unbottled for the moment. This involves pressing a special red coloured putty around the edges of the lid. We must then thoroughly clean the inside of the cuve, with the high pressure hose. Cleanliness is of paramount importance and this will continue right the way through the production of the next lot of wine which very soon will commence.

It could be the 3rd of September but we now await the second opinion tomorrow.

By the way there is a saying that the time of flowering of the ivy plant will give the date of the next years harvest. We have ivy outside our front door in full flower at the moment so 2008 may be an even earlier vendanges!

You would be surprised but it is true that plastic containers for the grapes are, this year, like gold dust! Again we answered adverts and put up adverts everywhere but those found had already been quickly sold, and we had to be extra quick to respond. One early morning we set off for the pretty little village of Charnay, south of Villefranche where we met M. Barrot, who sadly was having to give up producing wine this year. After a degustation of last years production, a cool dry Rose and a red Beaujolais Village, we inspected the famous bennes, all fifty of them, they will fit nicely in our green trailor, and they were half the price of new ones. Twenty six buckets were also avalable, and a set of well cared for greased secateurs, which we also bought. It is important that the pickers use special secateurs so that the whole bunch of grapes can be cut and drop neatly into the hand with the minimum of trauma to the delicate fruit. It seems that loading the grapes into relatively small containers, the bennes, instead of into an enormous container on the back of a tractor, called a ‘bac’ is the traditional way of the vendange, and local people here are returning to this methd. Again there is less squashing of the grapes, it is crucial that the they arrive in the cuvage as un spoiled as possible. The method we will use also enables the grapes to be sorted more easily in the vineyard, as the smaller bennes containing their bounty can be checked on site for any unwanted vegetation or damaged fruit, instead of in the cuvage. We were warmly received by the Barrot family and it was interesting yet sad to hear their story, how they had met each other while tending their separate herds of cows, how as the collection of milk from the more isolated regions became uneconomical as the industry became more centralised and mechanised, how they turned to wine production, when times were good, managed to build a house high up with a beautiful view over the rolling Beaujolais hills. They rented vines, an arrangement known as a ‘fermage’ and sold their wine. We have had some very hot weather over the last few days, people are beginning to say that the grapes will be ready around the 25th of August. We have spent some idyllic evenings eating outside with friends. My hand painted notice at our gate inviting passers by to taste our wine, seems to be working, more visitors from Belgium today and the charming young English couple will call in again on their way back tomorrow for some more of the delicious 2006 with its smart new labels!

One of our bigest problems this year was to manage the vendanges, in previous years totally organised by the Grandjean family. We dont have outbuildings set up to receive the 20 to 30 people who we need to help pick our grapes. We had to find local people who would come for ‘ la grande journee’, that is they do not need feeding or lodgings. Through a vigneron friend we managed to find Monsieur Uaysal! He lives locally and during the harvest time he gathers his extended family around and together they pick grapes from several vineyards in the region. We are confident that with his experience and the reputation the Turkish people have for working hard and conscientiously, all will go well. We will need to oversee and manage the whole operation and make sure that things go smoothly in the cuvage as the grapes get delivered for the first stage of the wine making process. M.Uaysal is at the moment in Turkey on holiday at a health spar! Hope he comes back……

Possibly my favourite and most unexpected visitors were pointed out to me this morning by one of our regular lorry drivers coming to pick up an order of wine for Brittany.

He noticed some baby Sparrow Hawks nesting in the dove cotes along the guttering of the outbuildings, long since abandoned by their usual owners.

I thought at first that they were owls but the driver insisted they were hawks. They have been chirping and squawking all day, flexing their wings, crying out for their food hunting parents. Judging by their size, they can hardly fit in the arches of their rented home,the time has nearly come to leave, I was thrilled to see them!

Fred took their photos from afar but hope they might pose for a better one tomorrow! Maybe we will depict the sparrow hawk on future labels for our wine!

Where shall I begin? In the last few days we have been continuing to make arrangements for the vendanges. As I have said earlier, this year we are in charge of the management of our whole production whilst we continue to market the fine Beaujolais wine around the world, taking care of our loyal customers and courting new ones.

Responses have been coming thick and fast to our advertisements for grape pickers and for porters to fill the ‘bennes’, huge plastic containers that will be lifted by hopefully young, strong arms onto trailers, we interview people who can work in the cuvage to furnish the cuves or vats with grapes that will start their fermentation and then be carefully transferred to the pressoir to extract the juice from unwanted matter.

Fred finds a vendange pump at a village ‘porte ouverte’ designed for taking the wine from vat to press. We answered an advert for some ‘Bennes’ and find they are sold but instead we buy the farmers three and a half ton trailer for a hundred euros!  It will be perfect for bringing the grapes from the vines to the cuvage.  The gentle giant of a farmer sadly having to give up his vines due to ill health, looked at least pleased that this faded green majestic wagon would once again be put to work.

Paulo, a larger than life local vigneron called in one day, we had tasted his Regnie in his den of a cave in early June and discussed our needs for the coming harvest.  He arrives with a vigneron friend who would be available to aid the 2007 vinification process, we taste our Regnie together, very positively received.  Paulo sits at the head of our kitchen table, he has a shock of wild curly greying hair and a huge beak of a nose. At one point reaches for a box of matches, opens them, and rather delicately for such a large man proceeds to poke one into an ear whilst continuing his raconteuring and the emptying of his glass! Sylvan, his friend, may well be a possible for us, he has an excellent reputation as a vigneron, a charming manner, round smiley face and strong weather worn arms.

The team from the Quincie co-operative came to inspect our vines with a view to buying half our grapes. They were extremley positive, our vines are in excellent condition. I don’t know why but I had made some Shrewsbury biscuits, like shortbread with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla, which we ate with coffee and were much appreciated. We think they will want to go ahead with us, we wait to hear in a few days after discussion with the President!

Tonight our friend from Morgon arrived with yet another President, or rather ex President of ‘Inter Beaujolais’, the organisation in Villefranche who, amongst other activities, are responsible for the administration and promotion of Beaujolais wines. He could be another expert who is willing and ready to give us his professional advise. We tasted both our 2005 and 2006 Regnie. Fred and I were delighted at his positive response, of course we know its good but it is particularly encouraging to have such praise from a person with his experience and knowledge.