Harvesting

Period: September-October

Noisy peasant harvest festival.
Fun, laughter, fervent songs ringing!
And Bacchus juice, igniting the blood,
All the weak knocks down, bestowing a sweet dream.

A very busy period for a winemaker. They do not sleep, do not eat, and pray for precipitation not to fall. The ideal scenario is to collect the harvest on a clear day, under the caressing rays of the sun so that the equipment does not break … Oh, these assembly machines, everything can happen. Saint Valery and Vincent, please, help! Don’t turn away, help the winemaker!

The goal is to harvest each variety at their optimum technical maturity. The start date of the collection is decided collectively by the winegrower, the owner, the oenologist.

The collection starts with Merlot, then moves on to Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon.

In the farms of Bordeaux, a large vineyard is divided into parts that differ not only by varieties but also by the age of the vines. We do not take into account the peculiarities of the land here, but it plays a huge role. Of course, grapes are first harvested from young plants (younger than 15 years old), then they move on to mature vines.

In Bordeaux, two types of collections are used – manual and mechanical. In the winery de Pitray, the collection is mechanical.

And then a new process begins: ‘The Birth of Wine.’ And that’s another story…