Voyager Estate - Harvest News Feb 2011

On the other side of the world a country battles with pretty much everything mother nature can throw at it. Flooding, cyclones, and now bush fires (not to mention the England Test XI) have beset the Australian people in the past two months, demonstrating with relentless ease just what a wild and powerful force nature can prove to be.

Some hours south of the recent fires, in the Margaret River region of Western Australia, Steve James and his team are readying themselves for another harvest. Earlier than usual, though as yet untouched by the troubles elsewhere, he has once again agreed to keep us up to date with his progress through the vintage....

Monday 7th Feb 2011

Well - here we go again with another year gone and a new harvest imminent.

We had some nervous moments during the weekend of the 29th and 30th of January. A tropical cyclone was forecast to move down the coast south of Perth, cross the coast about 80 Kms north of Margaret River, and bring gale force winds and buckets of rain!!. Fortunately it hit cold water and fizzled out, resulting in no wind and only a couple of light showers.

Currently our Chardonnay is about 11 Baume with good acid and extremely good early flavour development.

After some sampling and technical analysis followed by a good walk and tasting in the field tomorrow, I suspect we will be commencing our Chardonnay harvest later in the week.

Similar to the 2007 vintage, we are facing a very early harvest. This has been brought about due to the warm and dry spring conditions which resulted in early vine flowering.

Interestingly, all the reds are fully through veraison and are ripening well.

Although an early season, the ripening conditions so far have been close to perfect, with warm weather and no heat spikes.

Fingers crossed the rain the eastern states are receiving stays away and the warm sun shines for another 8 weeks.

I will send an update sometime next week.

Cheers,

Steve James.

Stars of Southwold

The sleepy town of Southwold in Suffolk has become home to one of the most thorough and respected blind tastings of Bordeaux wines. A panel of UK buyers and journalist (with literally hundreds of years of experience...) descend on the Crown Hotel to give their verdict. This year it was the turn of the much maligned 2007s.

So, what were the winners and the losers? The best flight of wines unsurprisingly came from Sauternes and Barsac. This included revered names such as de Fargues, Climens, Suduiraut, Rieussec and of course, Chateau Yquem. Yquem 2007 was unequivocally declared the wine of the week and averaged a mighty 19/20 from the panel. All agreed that this was a superb flight and that 2007 is one of the great vintages for sweet Bordeaux. If there had been a little disagreement during the primeur tastings as to whether Climens or Yquem took first place, there was no such debate this time around. (If you are interested in a case of Yquem 2007 for your cellar, please speak to one of our sales team).

Of the reds, Mouton took first place on the left bank with an average score of over 18/20, with non first growth, Leoville Las Cases taking silver. Over on the right bank, Petrus and Cheval Blanc took top billing, but there were strong showings from Eglise Clinet, VCC, Le Pin, Evangile and Providence. The Pomerol plateau obviously hadn’t heard that it was a Cabernet vintage...

To conclude on this rather capricious vintage, the sweeties are sensational and are widely available for less than their 2001 counterparts. The Lesser reds from both banks are generally well made, but often lack a little substance. In some cases the wines are somewhat forced and this shows in the tannins. The best terroirs and those with the means and know-how have created some delicious wines with real character and sufficient structure to age for more than a decade. As one of the learned members of the panel pointed out, wine is supposed to give pleasure; the 1997s did just that, and the 2007s clearly surpass the `97s in every respect. They may not be as intellectual or profound as the so called `great` vintages, but they will be good fun!

End of year report

How did the fine wine market fare in 2010? And what of the future?

After some strong re-building in 2009, 2010 always had the potential to be a great year for the fine wine market. The Liv-ex 100 index started the year at 239.36 and rose to a new high of 336.28 by the close, an increase of 40.5%. Lafite Rothschild and second wine Carruades de Lafite continue to lead the way. There is no let up in demand from China for wine’s über-brand. Most vintages of Carruades now trade at over 3.5K/cs and the Grand vin prices head ever further into the stratosphere. The other first growths have also seen big gains in 2010. Mouton Rothschild’s decision to commission Xu Lei to design the label for the 2008 had an overnight impact on the demand for all Mouton vintages. And what of the auspicious 2008 vintage? Much was made of the significance of these lucky numbers before the `08 primeur campaign, but buyers from China never materialised. Now that some wines are available, we expect this to change.

One of the outstanding successes in 2010 was of course the release of the 2009s from Bordeaux. Our tasting team travelled to Bordeaux in April and tasted extensively throughout the Medoc, Graves, Pomerol and St Emillion. The vintage is rightly heralded as one of the greats. We witnessed some of the most decadent, hedonistic, enchanting wines we have ever tasted. Release prices, as we had forewarned were very high, but the demand was even greater. As with previous `greats` (2000, 2005), the record release prices didn’t put consumers off. They also had a knock on affect to older vintages, which comparatively looked cheap!

2011 has started with a bang. Our Burgundy 2009 campaign has broken the records set by the 2005s. Over 450 people attended our tasting and demand for the top wines has been typically voracious. And whilst the very top wines have now been snapped up there are still plenty of wonderful wines to be had from Bourgogne to Grand Cru level. Have a look on our website for full availability. 2010 Bordeaux is potentially very exciting too; a small crop, but the quality is excellent, so there is much to look forward to. We don’t have a crystal ball, but it seems likely that the fine wine market, in near term at the very least, will depend on the evolution of the Chinese market. We are already seeing an increase in demand for super seconds and other top Cru Classés. And why not? The gulf between the firsts and the others has never been greater. Those looking for smart drinking are clearly looking beyond the likes of Mouton and Lafite, and who knows, maybe investors will follow...

Burgundy 2009: An interview with the Bachelet-Monnot Brothers

By all accounts they have made another superb Maranges in 2009. This really is a domaine to watch...

Xu Lei unveiled as the latest Mouton Rothschild artist

The speculation is over; Mouton 2008 will indeed wear a label painted by a Chinese artist. He’s not exactly a household name, but Xu Lei’s profile is sure to rise amongst wine lovers if no-one else. According to the Chateau's press release, 'Xu Lei's ram asserts the role of a great wine as a link between people and cultures, from one hemisphere to the other of "planet wine"’. Presumably the eastern and western hemispheres...

Conjecture over the nationality of the latest Mouton artist started at the end of 2009 and the price has been rising steadily since. After the announcement, the 2008 has traded at £7800 per case on Liv-ex, some way behind the Lafite 2008 (£13,643/cs), but nevertheless, an enormous increase on its release price (£1750/cs).

Burgundy 2009: An interview with Guillaume d'Angerville

In which Giles asks Guillaume about the similarity between the 09 and 05 vintages, and the rise and rise of his Volnay Champans...

Mont Redon Cotes du Rhone 09

17 points from at a mere £65 cs ib.

Having sent out a mailer on the deliciousness of Mont Redon's 2009 Cotes du Rhone, it was nice to read Julia Harding's similarly complimentary view of this excellent value little wine on www.jancisrobinson.com

"Ch Mont-Redon 2009 Côtes du Rhône 17 Drink 2011-2014
Bottled. Fresh dark fruit leaps from the glass. Dark cherry and plum. Wonderfully juicy within a well-judged framework. Tannins and acidity both clearly present but playing a supporting role to all that lovely fruit. Fine bite on the end and a long finish. (JH) 14%
£65 per case ib Justerini & Brooks"

2009 Burgundy - Roundup

Two weeks, 800 kilometres, and not a vegetable in sight, until, (hurrah!) a solitary carrot was to be found sitting on my supper plate last night. Praise be to the people of Chablis. This morning saw the last of my 46 visits, at the charming Tributs in Poinchy near the town of Chablis. The last stop en route to the A6, Paris-bound. Rather like in the Cote de Beaune, the white wines of Chablis have really surprised me. They have a similar profile to the wines further south: Round, not very high overall acid but distinctly long and fresh, often with a very distinctive minerality, they are certainly not cloying or heavy. Alot of noise is being quite rightly made about the 2009 reds but for the majority of top flight Chardonnay growers who picked early, they have found a tremendous balance in their wines of smooth textures, fruity flavours and long fresh finishes. Talking with Patrick Javillier in Meursault, yesterday, he concluded that although total acidity was not high the low phs indicated a high natural tartaric acid element within the "total acidity" and it is this, he beleives, that is giving the wines such long flavours, even at villages level.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent pretty well entrenched in Vosne-Romanee, no bad place to be. Domaine Eugenie, Etienne Grivot, Meo-Camuzet, Emmanuel Rouget, Anne Gros, Francois Lamarche, Domaine du Comte Liger Belair, provided a formidable line up. A detour to Cecile Tremblay, then to Morey St Denis to see Louis Remy, Clos des Lambrays and Clos de Tart completed the tour of the Cote de Nuits.

There are many excellent wines, so fruity open knit yet powerful. Particularly in the Vosne cellars there are some wines that rival the very best vintages. Cecile Tremblay has proved what a sensation she is, her wines have gone to another level, if only there was more if it! In the Chateau du Vosne Romanee cellars at Domaine du Comte Liger Belair, the 2009s are incredible. They are in such a different style to other greats like 2006 or 2005 so it is difficult to compare in terms of quality. However tasting them from barrel they were so gorgeous and seductive, with a deep complexity and enormous length of flavour, that is difficult to think of another vintage that as enjoyable to taste. La Romanee was the icing on the cake, unforgettable.

So there we have it, it seems to be an excellent, seductive style vintage for reds, perhaps most of all with the higher or cooler terroirs in the Cote de Nuits, Volnay and around Corton. Whilst for white wines, a very good and really quite suprising vintage, different to 2008, in most cases equal and certainly superior to 2006, though not quite the level of 2007.

Burgundy 2009 - The Second Half

A leisurely weekend saw the buying team take in some 2009s from Sylvain Cathiard, Bruno Clair and Jean-Marc Millot, and more window shopping in and around Beaune's Place Carnot than I care to remember. The rest was good and, though it may not have seemed it at the time, was well needed. For the second half approached. 27 Domaines down, 20 to go until Thursday. Today was spent back in the Cote de Beaune. 8.30am at the affable Vincent Dancer (pictured)in Chassagne was a breeze, such were the poise and moreish minerality of his fine-tuned wines. The wines needed to be particularly good today, the weather has turned and gets fouler, colder and wetter by the minute. Fortunately the wines "turned up on the day", as a premiership football manager might say. Again the cooler zones have proved themselves successful in 2009: Rully, Monthelie, Aloxe Corton and Pernand Vergelesses chez Suremain, Follin and Rollin were all pure, unbridled pleasure. The day finished on a massive high, Ghislaine Barthod has produced one of the most thrilling line ups so far.

Since Saturday there have been some magnificent wines but there are three that stand out, all from the cooler zones of their appellations - Vosne En Orveaux 1er Cru Cathiard, Gevrey Clos St Jacques 1er Cru Bruno Clair and Chambolle Musigny 1er Cru Les Fuees Ghislaine Barthod. Three different wines but all ethereal, haunting and with spine-tingling elegance. If these three don't sit amongst the critics' top spots, then the world is a very unjust place.

Burgundy 2009 - First impressions of the Cote de Nuits

There aren't many vintages that would have me leaping out of bed for a tasting in Pernand Vergelesses at 8.15 at the end of a hard week's tasting, but 2009 is proving to be one of them. The last two days have been a tour around 11 Domaines, 2 in the Cote de Beaune and 9 in the Cote de Nuits, among them Chevillon, Leroy, Rousseau, Roumier and Mugnier to drop just a few names. Again, as in the Cotes de Beaune, the key seems to have been picking early in 2009, most Domaines finishing by mid September. Also the cooler terroirs seem to have done particularly well, Latricieres, the high Chambolle and Gevrey vineyards, the cooler parts of Chambertin.

Burgundy seems in rude health, not only are the top growers making good to excellent wines every year but the average age of these top growers seems to be dropping. I have seen two such young stars in the last couple of days. Christian Gouges' nephew, Gregory, has made superb 2009s that mix classic Henri Gouges structure with a fair dose of finesse and baskets full of fruit. They should age seriously well whilst being more approachable in their youth. Its true that THE highlight so far has been an Henri Gouges Les St Georges 1958 thats shows remarkably vivid, youthful fruit, but rather selfishly I want to get some pleasure out of my 2009s and not leave that luxury soley to my children!

The other star is Arnaud Mortet who has arguably been even more successful. I was blown over by the definition and finesse his 2009s show, equal to the intensity the Mortet wines habitually demonstrate. This is a balance never before achieved at Domaine Denis Mortet.

The wine of the day goes to Chevillon's Vaucrains, it left me stuck for words, I have never know it be so expressive and yet retain such concentration and power.

Saturday morning promises the chance of a lie in, Vosne-Romanee at 9.30, followed by Marsannay and then again back down to Nuits. More of that and another taste of the Cote de Beaune on Monday.

Burgundy 2009 - A taste of Cote de Beaune

November has come around all too quickly, but so much the better! For the autumnal colours and bright skies are a joy here in Burgundy, and the temperatures are unusually balmy. The first three days of our trip has been spent in the Maconnais and Cote de Beaune.

My expectations were, tentatively, high. These 2009s that appeared so flattering and round in May, will they have lasted a summer in barrel unblemished? The answer is resoundingly yes. Initial reports seemed to indicate a great red vintage but I have found that there are some incredible whites too. Dominque Lafon thinks is the best vintage he has made for white wine, whilst not everyone can say that there plenty of beauties up and down the Cote nonetheless. Certainly those who have picked early, before grapes became too overripe, have made wonderfully balanced Chardonnays, admittedly less racy than in 2007 or 2008 but with absolutely tremendous balance: Silky, ripe, fresh and strong mineral identity, and, it must be said, huge length of flavour even at villages level.

I have not made it to the Cote de Nuits yet but this seems to be a quite excellent vintage for Cote de Beaune reds, particularly Volnay. My tasting with Marquis d'Angerville was exhilirating. Whilst you can not really say for all of the wines that they are better than 2005, I think you can for the Champans, it was simply breathtaking. And as a whole range, from villages upwards, I think they are a hair ahead of 2005. In general the Pinots have the silkiest of textures without losing precision or characteristic varietal bitter-sweetness.

More updates from the Cotes de Nuits on the weekend and over the coming weeks look out for video interviews on the 2009s with some of Burgundy's top growers.

Lucky 8

There has been much speculation that Chateau Mouton Rothschild would commission a Chinese artist to adorn their 2008 label. But, not to be outmanoeuvred by their neighbour, Chateau Lafite Rothschild has announced that their 2008 bottles will all feature the Chinese symbol for the number eight. Lafite, already the darling of the Chinese market has seen the price for the 2008 soar from £9000/cs to £10,400/cs in just a day.

Cynics may be tempted to say Lafite is cashing in with a shameless marketing gimmick, but I’m sure those who bought a case en primeur will not be complaining too much. A spokesperson from Chateau Lafite said that the ‘shape of the symbol seems to offer a perfect representation of the slopes of the vineyard (in the Penglai peninsula) and commemorates the launch of our Chinese wine project’.

First impressions

Whilst in Bordeaux last week, Hew and I had the opportunity to revisit a few wines from 2008, 2009 and even got our first glimpse at a 2010. Starting with 2008, the wines of Chateau Latour displayed real breed. The Forts de Latour was somewhat closed, but there is enormous potential here. The Grand vin was by contrast extraordinarily expressive, open and utterly seductive. We also tasted with Denis Durantou at Chateau Eglise Clinet. His 2008 Eglise Clinet is very smart indeed. Flavours are precise, cool and classy; a very serious wine. Denis’ 2009 is off the scales in terms of richness and concentration. It has fleshed out in barrel and is now the most exotic, most decadent Eglise Clinet we have sampled. There is wave after wave of sumptuous velvety fruit – a truly exceptional wine. Denis then shocked us by asking if we would like to try his 2010. He only finished picking on the 2nd of October and there we were on the 19th tasting the final assemblage... Malos will not finish for some time, but the colour was an incredibly vivid purple and the wine was already displaying great depth of flavour and big structure.

Analytically, the 2010s are off the charts. Sugar levels are exceptionally high, whilst the lack of rain has resulted in tiny berries with thick skins, so we can expect good colours and lots of structure. We look forward to tasting more in April...

Bordeaux UGC - The 2008s

The Bordeaux circus rolled into town today. There was not too much talk of industrial action and petrol supplies running out; we were all gathered to re-taste the fascinating 2008s. Many of the Chateaux are still harvesting their Cabernets and they couldn’t resist telling us about their 2010s; remarkable quality, but tiny yields. Many spoke of the young wines as real contenders to the 2009s, but we shall reserve judgement until April.

Back to the 2008s. When we first tasted these in April 2009, the economic outlook was bleak to say the least. The metrological reports suggested a summer that had been even less glorious than 2007, so, it was fair to say that the prospect of tasting and selling the 2008s was not something we were particularly looking forward to. However, we made the trip and we were pleasantly surprised by many of the results.

Despite the cool August, the best wines had a real concentration, coupled with really precise flavours and good acidities. Not `Classic` meaning bad, but `Classic` meaning good, to steal a phrase from RUN DMC. The economic outlook remained gloomy, so Chateaux such as Angelus, and the 1st growths made the bold decision to release first and at very attractive prices. The market place tentatively bought the top ten or so wines, but it wasn’t until Robert Parker waxed lyrical about the 2008s, that merchants and customers started to by a wider range of Chateaux. The rest as they say is history.

So, how are the wines showing now that they are in bottle? This is not a consistent vintage; we were very picky and we advise customers to be cautious with their purchases too. Yes the best wines are fabulous, but there are some stinkers too. The big question is, has Parker stuck his neck out too far on this one? Many wines achieve similar or better scores in 2008 than they achieved in 2005. 2008 is no 2005, but there are some fine wines. On the basis of today’s tasting, Pontet Canet, Lynch Bages, Pichon Baron, Leoville Poyferre, Beychevelle, Conseillante, Haut Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier, Rauzan Segla and Leoville Barton are all very smart wines and will offer collectors much enjoyment. The biggest surprise is the improvement of the Margaux commune. We were very disappointed by our initial tastings, but many of these wines have improved in barrel. Despite the weakness of sterling, many of these offer very good value (particularly when compared the magical 2009s). Other than the wines mentioned above, there were particularly strong showings from Ormes de Pez, Lafon Rochet and Poujeaux. The dry whites are crisp and classic, whilst the unsung sweeties are delightfully crisp with beautifully precise flavours. There is enough botrytis present, but these are not blockbusters. Guiraud and de Fargues were the richest offerings on show, whilst Climens was the most complete.

All in all, there are some jolly good wines from 2008, and the fact that this is not a 2005 or a 2009 is reflected in the prices. If you pick carefully, 2008 offers some of the best value buys on the market today.

Picking in Piedmont - Harvest is over!

GAME OVER GAME OVER GAME OVER !!!

Yes, we are finally done, we can start breathing again, we are all tired but happy.

We finised picking on Wednesday, it has been a long month. Non stop, no days off, 15-20 hours of work per day, but I can finally say, now that it’s all safe in the cellar, that 2010 will be a GREAT VINTAGE for Piemonte.

So cheer up everyone, excellent results for all the grapes, Dolcetto, Barbera and Nebbiolo, and of course Barolo.

The few rain showers that we had didn’t effect the vineyards nor the quality of the grapes, and even if at the end we were literally running, because we were afraid of mould and infections, we still harvested very good quality grapes.

There are a few more weeks of work in the cellar ahead, pressing, racking, putting the wine into barrels, preparing for malolactic, everything now seems quick and easy, as we no longer need to rush in the vineyards anymore.

All the wines are turning dry easily; becasue we just use our indigenous yeast sometimes the wines tend to remain sweet, but it’s not the case of this year, almost everything is dry now.

This harvest has been an other great experience for all of us, to work close with a very good team makes life much easier, we all worked hard, we were all tired at night and but smiley in the morning...and now we all look forward to the big “harvest crew” dinner that Elio always offers us, and we always make sure he picks the fanciest restaurant in the area, the biggest menu and the nicest wines :-)

See you next year!!

Silvia

Cornas news - Harvest complete.

A further installment from the delightful Matthieu Barret at Domaine du Coulet. It would seem, with the exception of the painfully low yields this year, things are looking good in 2010...

"Hello all,

I was not able to write to you as regularly as I wanted to keep you informed about the harvest in 2010.

We have been cutting grapes for the last three weeks with a small team of 10 people. The harvest is healthy and ripe and over the third week we collected grapes with a very big phenolic maturity. This last week, we harvested the summit of our mountain (which is the base of Billes Noires) and the East hillsides (which is one of the bases of Terrasses du Serre).

I ‘ve decided not to make any “Gore” cuvee but a “big” Billes Noires

in 2010 which will be, in my opinion, a great vintage of elegance and fruit in the spirit of the 2007.

We brought in 11 plots which oscillate between 12.7 and 13.9 % of potential alcohol. The yield per hectare is close to 15 hl which is a little bit frustrating as it is way too low! This is the third vintage in a row, below our technical objectives which are 20 hl / ha (which is not very pretentious…).

This week we shall begin to draw off the first tanks for the first press - always good moments to share.

Our grape-pickers' team made a beautiful sorting with

a lot of precision, which allowed us to vinify almost all the tanks without SO2.

I enclose two or three photos of the grape harvests to make you share these beautiful moments in the life of the estate.

See you soon,

Matthieu"

Viviani awarded 3 Bicchieri in 2011 Gambero Rosso

The Slow Food movement began in 1989 and continues to gather pace around the world as a grass roots, not for profit organisation that promotes and recognises small, locally focussed food and wine producers. In 2010 the organisation joined forces with Italy's most highly esteemed wine publication Gambero Rosso. Together they taste literally thousands of wines each year, including in the review only those wines they deem to be above average. The highest accolade they award is the much coveted Tre Bicchieri (Three Glasses), indicating an "extraordinary wine"

For the 2011 edition, and for the 10th time, our newest listing, the already highly popular Viviani, has been awarded 3 Bicchieri for their stunning Amarone, Casa dei Bepi. Anybody who tasted it at our tasting will surely agree, for their style is quite different to most of the Amarones we had ever tasted before. The key to their production is their situation in the cooler Mazzano zone, right at the highest limits of Valpolicella production with vines at around 450m above sea level. It's a family domaine, tiny in size, run by Claudio and Sandra Viviani. Talking to them you get a sense that their other great wine love it Burgundy, and tasting with them you get a real sense that this love transfers across to the way they produce their Amarones. Delicate, elegant and full of finesse, they are surely some of the leading wines in the appellation.

Picking in Piedmont - Larigi Time!

Finally we are done with the Dolcetto picking, pressing and racking. We have now started barbera and the vineyard we decided to start with is Larigi.

Larigi is one of our oldest vineyards, it was planted by my grandpa Giovanni in 1948, and the vines still look healthy and in good shape...just like baby vines.

The production is always very limited, not just because of the age, also because we do a drastic green harvest in July-August to reduce the yield perhectar.

Since we had a very hot and dry summer, the grapes look really really healthy, in some spots even a little bit dry, they almost look like raisins, which tells us that the plant has been suffering a bit from drought (see pictures below)

The picking is done by hand and it usually takes a while because you have to look carefully at every grape and at every single berry to make sure there are no damages, and if see any, you pull the berry out and you throw it away, but this year we were picking as fast as superman, no need to check, Larigi was perfect!

Plus we had the supervision of Mr. Talin, 85 years old (and pictured below), our oldest but fastest picker of the cru. This is the first time he is not picking because of some health problems, he has been work ing the harvest with us for 70 years and he knows every single vine one by one, I’m sure he has names for all of them!

Once all the grapes have been harvested we took them to the crusher-disteammer, and big surprise: 25,5 brix sugar, this will be an other big juicy wine.

Once Larigi is totally picked, we will move on to our regular barbera vineyards, and then soon, the nebbiolo.

Cornas news - The harvest is under way at Domaine du Coulet

Matthieu Barret, the man in charge of the brilliant Domaine du Coulet, always innovating in a constant effort to improve his techniques, sent us this last week detailing the goings on in the run up to the harvest....

"Saturday the 25/09

It is now three days since the harvest started under a beautiful rising sun and a fairly high temperature for the season. We started with our vines in Cotes du Rhone which will give birth to our small production of Côtes du Rhône "No Wine's Land" very ripe with a nice acidity which should give a good balance to the final wine, generally seductive and elegant.

We followed with the bottom slopes vineyards of Cornas in the "Lieux dits Genale, Mazards and Patronne. We found some spots of "vers de la grappe” - Grape worm that we had to sort rigorously. The harvest seems very promising yet we will have a better idea in a few weeks of the precise level of quality after the first fermentations.

We have improved our system this year with the use now a conveyor belt-elevator to feed the vats by gravity. This is very satisfying for us as it increases the amount of full berries in the vat to enhance the fruit aromas in our wines. The potential alcoholic degrees are quite high as we reach 13,5% approximately which is higher than our average of 13%.

Despite a few problems of equipment badly repaired before harvest by our suppliers which made us loose time and energy, we can say that all is going well for the moment!

We had to stop cutting today as we have a small rain of 10mm which forced us to stop. It shouldn't be a problem for the rest of the harvest regarding the small amount of water we had.

The first juices in vat have a superb and dark color which confirms the high phenolic maturities. We have done no intervention on our vats for the moment to able the intra-cellular fermentation to happen so to gain fruit and elegance and bring this very delicate wine texture that I seek and love over all for the fluidity it confers.

I will be in touch with more news, photos and facts from the harvest 2010 at Domaine du Coulet.

All the best,

Matthieu Barret, Domaine du Coulet"

News from Etna: Harvest 2010

News just in from Marco de Grazia where the Tenuta delle Terre Nere harvest is under way...

"We just picked the best white grapes ever, and are starting with Feudo di
Mezzo. It looks very good to excellent, and could even rival 2008 if the
weather holds, particularly in Calderara.
Ciao,
Marco"

Sounds promising.....