Happy 2017 - Let's make it great together

Photo: Dominique Rambeloson

Høst 2016: Vand som først fjende så frelser

I Champagne har høsten 2016 stået i regnens tegn. Hvad kan vi vente os, når vi møder dens druer som kildrende priklende bobler i ganen? Det er kun få uger siden, vi landede den sidste klase i sorte spande, og derfor stadig svært at forudsige. Men sæsonen har været så usædvanlig siden sidst i april, at det er svært at forestille sig, at ikke også afslutningen, den endelige champagne på flaske, må ende særligt. Så meget desto mere spændende at følge.

Det er jo ingen nyhed, at druedyrkning i Champagne er en besværlig affære. Sådan har det været i århundreder. Alligevel forekom det i 2016 mere mirakuløst end nogensinde at se balancen mellem succes og fiasko tippe til plus. I vores landsby, Soulières, skal man være tættere på 100 år end 50 for allerede at have oplevet en sæson med så snæver en marginal. Det skyldes primært vand: Nærmest endeløs regn gennem hele foråret på minussiden, der blev vendt til plus i sidste sekund af forløsende fem millimeter regn få dage før høststart.


Derfor kunne vi lande 35 tons flotte og sunde, blå og grønne druer fra den 21. september om morgenen og til kort før frokost syv en halv dag senere. Det er væsentligt færre klaser end normalt, men mere end rigeligt til at fylde de godt 8.000 flasker Tange-Gérard champagne, vi har til salg per år, foruden druer til kooperativet. Alle er de nu på efterårets vej mod vin. Først efter nytår følger fortsættelsen på flaske, hvor vinen andengærer sig frem til sine bobler


Vanskelig sæson
I vinmarkerne fulgte frost lige efter de første blade i år. Måske var det den, der generede vinens vækst resten af sæsonen. Måske havde den langvarige tørke i 2015 forstyrret knopperne i fødslen. Det betød en stærk variation mellem planternes udvikling og blev en af de faktorer, der gjorde 2016 til en udfordring helt frem til vinhøsten.

Gennem foråret sinkede den konstant silende regn vinens udvikling yderligere, den forstyrrede blomstringen og gjorde kampen mod vinmeldug konstant det meste af sommeren. Først i august skiftede vejret til meget varme temperaturer langt over 30 grader Celsius. Varmen reddede en god del af vores vindruer fra sygdom, men de var stadig så små, at vi ansatte en tredjedel færre drueplukkere end normalt. Lidt regn få dage før høststart lagde til druernes vægt - det var miraklet - og nu venter vi på de næste møder med indholdet.


Mosten og vinen
Mosten har vi smagt flere gange direkte fra pressen. Især Pinot Meunier er spækket med sukker, vores blå druer nåede en betragtelig modenhed, og de fleste af dem går en rød fremtid i møde som det farvende element i vores ellers Chardonnay-baserede rosé champagne. Vi plukkede Chardonnay-druerne sidst, hvilket gav en most med lidt mere sukker og lidt mindre syre i fin balance mellem disse afgørende poler. Hvordan vandet i 2016 i sidste ende vil finde sit udtryk i årets vin, er for tidligt at sige noget om endnu. Hæng endelig på. Fortsættelsen følger på flaske om nogle år.


Høsthilsener
Alain Gérard og Solveig Tange, Soulières, oktober 2016

Grapeharvest 2016: 1st day

Getting ready for the team of 2016

At Tange-Gerard, switching languages is part of our daily life.

What could be more natural than to extend this to our team of the grapeharvest?

All set and ready. The boxes are out of the grange. The extra van is picked up today. As will be the girls who arrive by train later.

We will all meet for dinner tonight. Certainly the starter will be soup. We just don't know which vegetable yet.

Tomorrow is our first day of 2016. The Pinots will be up.

Vingæster på falderebet før høst

Vi venter gæster til formiddag.

Gæster fra Danmark, der kommer for at se lidt mere på faciliteterne. Champagnen kender de allerede.

Jeg når aldrig rigtig at fotografere festlighederne på anden vis end som ovenfor, men tidligere på året, i sommer, skrev en gæst sådan her:

"Tak, vi havde en rigitg dejlig tur til Champagne. Vi er virkelig glade for, du tog dig tid til at vise os rundt - det var en stor oplevelse for os alle.

Ingen af os vidste det store omkring Champagne forinden, men nu er vi vilde med det :-)".

Historier og vinhøst
Det er jo lige præcis det, som det handler om: At opleve druerne sammen, der hvor de er: Det vil sige i vinmarken og på flasken. Historier har vi nok af.

Mon ikke emnepilen peger på vinhøst? For den står sjældent mere for døren end lige nu.

Når gæsterne er kørt videre, skal værelserne have en tur, så de er klar på tirsdag, når der kommer flere folk på gården, end vi plejer at være.

Det er altid en særlig tid. Jeg tænker næsten vores danske gæster risikerer at blive smittet med bacillen.

The Chardonnays are catching up

Finally the grapes are getting there

Day by day the sugars go up and the acidity the other way, though in an acceptable speed.

The Chardonnays were behind the Pinots.

Quite a gap, but they are getting there as these white grapes have approached the last, fast part of maturation before it will slow down again. Now the Pinots are beyond 9% vol and the Chardonnays beyond 8% vol on average.

Minor gap is fine
Since we cannot pick both Pinots and Chardonnays at the same time, a gap is fine. As long as the difference does not measure in too many days.

Finally, it seem that after a summer of 1001 different calamities, finally what is left out there is left to mature nicely. And at the moment with a quite extraordinary healthy quality thanks to the lack of rain. However, you may spot brown parts of the far grape, and they are damages, caused by the burning sun. Damage that we see in several plots. Tuesday the temperatures passed 30 degrees Celsius again.

And we would like to order some rain just a few days before we pick the grapes because that will allow them to put on weight. And us to be able to land just a bit heavier grapes than is the case now.

At Tange-Gerard, we will start the harvest next wednesday, September 21st.

Puzzle of sugar levels before date decision

We are one step closer to the champagnes of 2016.

Yesterday Alain collected samples in all plots in order to measure the sugar of the grapes.

We aim at a sugar level that will provide us with still wines between 10 and 11 % vol.

Sunny weather, more sugar
Currently, we have very warm weather every day so you would expect sugar levels to go up easily. They certainly do grow as we check the measures of other winegrowers every 3-4 days. We have so few grapes this year that we will only do one sampling.

The average in Champagne is of 7,4 % vol for the Chardonnays in la Marne and 8,5 for the Pinot Meuniers and a bit less for the Pinot Noirs, also in la Marne.

In our own plots we reach the same level for the Pinots but our Chardonnays are behind with only 6,5 % vol which makes it a bit of a descision when to begin the harvest. For logistical reasons we need to finish it all in the one week, we hire staff. How that will be manageable with such a gap between the red and the white grapes is the puzzle of today.

Date decision expected
Later, in the afternoon, the winegrowers of our corner will discuss measures and possible dates.

Hopefully this will bring us a big step closer towards the date descision in order to inform the staff.

2016 and never ever seen before - all is set for different champagnes

In a few weeks we will pick grapes in Champagne. What could the future champagnes of 2016 be like?

Well, as you may remember, the story of the grapes of Champagne in 2016 is one long listing of calamities.

We had frost in April (estimated total loss in Champagne of 15%), rain and more rain in May to be continued in June with the flowering, better times in July despite a lot of weeds and now finally very warm temperatures in August with temperatures well beyond 30 deg Celsius. You would suppose, these rays of sunshine should be received with gratitude and pleasure, wouldn't you?

In fact the answer is closer to no than yes, because such temperatures actually kill grapes.

They dry out like raisins (echaudage) in some plots, these days we see it happening in our Pinots of Loisy.

Warmth has dealt with fungus diseases
On the other hand we are very happy to see the sun deal with the fungus diseases, mildiou and botrytis. They developped due to the excessive rain and now the diseases dry out to leave us calm right now and hopefully until the harvest.

So what is left out there, grapewise, for the coming grapeharvest?



Low average per plant
Today Alain went out to count grapes per plant, and this is the result from our plots of Soulieres and Loisy:


Soulieres:
Pinots.....: from 5.125 kg/ha to 6.233 kg/ha
Chardonnays: from 6.313 kg/ha to 12.300 kg/ha

Loisy-en-Brie:
Pinots.....: from 4.232 kg/ha to 10.929 kg/ha
Chardonnays: from 9.750 kh/ha to 10.667 kg/ha


That's not very much.

That's really not very much. Even the grapes may still put on weight.
Let me just remind you, that the quota of this year is 9.700 ka/ha. We must consider ourselves lucky if we will reach numbers that approach this.

In a more usual year, we would expect around 12 grapes per plant. Let's say around 12.000 kg/ha on average.

What is also noticable is the difference between the maturation of the Pinots and the Chardonnays. The planning of the grapeharvest will be quite a puzzle since we obviously aim at picking all grapes at their optimum ripeness. But we also need a group of staff to work during one week of continuous work.

Fat maturation expected
Since there are less grapes, they will mature faster than usual. Sugars will increase fast and acidity will decrease even faster.

Which means that what looked like a probable late harveststart has already moved closer to average due to the low yields and very warm temperatures in August. However, the final date for the start is still to be decided.



An unusual season
During the season of growth there has been many comments of du jamais vu for decades.

Never this much rain. Never such big difference of maturity between Pinots and Chardonnays. Never such violent attacks of mildiou (Comité Champagne estimates a total loss of 15% due to the disease.

These days we experience the fastest dicrease of acidity seen in almost 20 years.

All in all: a very unusual season.

In fact, all sails are set for equally unusual champagnes from a certainly memorable year in Champagne, the 2016.

And as we all know, it's not over until the fat lady sings.

Green grapes move into the blue

Summer has come to Champagne these last days with temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.

Nice for the grapes, nice for us as well as the sunshine contributes to deal with different problems due to bad weather this far.

As you can see the Pinot-grapes have begun to change from the summery acid green to move into the shades of blue.

That is the last part of the cycle before the maturity wanted at the grapeharvest.

So welcome blues. We will count the days.

GUDDOMMELIG favorit

"Kære Solveig,

Så har jeg smagt den første glade "Noirs & Blancs".
Der er kun én ting at sige - DEN ER GUDDOMMELIG!!!!!

Jeg har fundet min favorit blandt alle!"

Sådan skrev en kunde for en uges tid siden.

Dejligt at høre og fint at dele.

Hvilken champagne er din favorit?

Sidste Tour-etape: Gult og prikket

Vi er da ret stolte over at se Københavns nok guleste etiket være med til at åbne Tour'ens sidste etape på TV 2.

Gætter på at kjolerne også hører til de mest prikkede.

Bobler er vel også en slags prikker, og den gule etiket sidder på Champagne Tange-Gerards Blanc de Blancs 2010.

Den smager aldeles glimrende også hvis du ikke lige har østers ved hånden.

Hvis du skal bruge en flaske til afslutningen i dag, fås den hos le Petit vinbar i Torvehallerne, København, frem til kl. 19-20 stykker.

Franskest: Tour eller champagne

Få ting er mere fransk end champagne.

Det skulle da lige være Tour de France, som har rullet gennem landet, såvel som henover fladskærmen i Soulieres de seneste uger. Min svigermor kan nemlig godt lide at se levende billeder fra alverdens franske landsbyer.

Slutter med gult
For nogle år siden var Tour'en i Champagne. Her runder rytterne en rundkørselen ved Mareuil-sur-Aÿ. Det tog dem vel en 30 sekunders tid alt i alt for alle deltagere, så det var bare med at holde øjnene stive. Vi havde ventet i tre timer på disse få sekunder. Det var det værd alligevel. Tilbage i 2012.

2016-udgaven slutter senere i dag, når manden i gult er nået hele vejen op ad Champs-Élysées.

Det kan du følge med i på dansk TV 2 fra kl. 14.10. Holder du ud hele vejen, skulle der dukke noget med både gult og bobler op på et tidspunkt. Det gad jeg personligt godt se :-)

Durability

This is one of our vineyards in Loisy-en-Brie.

We have worked here together for more than ten years. Alain on his own much longer.

Many rules
Here in Champagne the way we grow the vines are rather fixed. But within the rules, the many rules, you can still introduce new ways, other features that may, or may not, work better than what you used to do.

So every year, Alain will find something to change to see if it can be done in a smarter way.

Thank you French engineer school :-)

This year the biggest news by far will be what is happening tomorrow.

Certification for durability
We will have an audit to be certified as viticulture durable. It's not yet organic but a nice long step in the direction. And as far as we can move at the moment.

But then again, that quite a step forward. It is only four years ago we gained full control of all vineyards thus only four years ago could we begin the change.

And look the opposite direction.

This is still Loisy-en-Brie. One of our vineyards. Greener than ever.

Happy days for weeds

Weeds. We don't really want them in the vineyards.

Mechanical or chemical
There are two solutions: The mechanical solution or the chemical one.

So far we have used chemicals. We had no choice.

However, this year we finally were able to buy the tools needed to work the soils instead.

Difficult to plough
Just about non stop rain has made it a very difficult task to work with the tractor. Since you better avoid heavy material when the soils are wet and soft in order not to compress too much.

This week Alain finally managed to plough some of the plots.

Others still are a great deal greener than we like at the bottom. And once these climbing things reach the vines you need your hands and quite a lot of time.

Well, another monday approaching, we've got weeds for everybody with spare hands.

So nice to cut stems: it means no rain

Finally, the tops of the vines have been cut in all plots.

As the stems grow longer, they become quite heavy as well, and the vineyard grows more and more chaotic.

Shorter lengths help to control this otherwise rather uncontrollable growth.


This season the weather has been rather uncontrollable.

Lots and lots of rain has made it rather difficult to find time to do this job.

As you cannot drive the enjambeur tractor in the plots when it's too wet.

There is the risk of sliding.

But even worse, the weight of the machine may compress the soils which anyone would want to avoid.


So we have done other things as we waited for better times, better days.

And less rain.

Well, yesterday was such a day, and now the job is done.


For some time anyway.

In a week's time the next set of stems will have grown longer. And then it will be their turn to have their tops cut.

One of summer's pleasures. Or whatever.

This year it's sort of nice to cut since it means no rain for a little bit of time.

Chardonnay between flowers and rain

A crucial stage for Chardonnay and the other grape varieties: The flowering.

We saw the first flowers of the year last week.

Grapes need sun
The weather is rather crucial at this time.

Good conditions - sun, warm temperatures though not too warm and a bit of wind - will determine the amount of grapes.

Well, we are not very optimistic. To be frank with you.

Rain complicates work
This year we have incredibly difficult conditions to work with.

Rain almost every day which makes it very difficult to do a good job in the vineyards as we are dependent on the tractor which cannot be send through when the soils are too wet.

The combination of a very humid air due to the heavy and frequent rain and rather warm weather especially when the sun peeps through helps advancing disease more than grapes.

But... we do what we can. So far, we are quite happy to finally spot flowers.

Just before the flowers

Despite the endless rain we endure in Champagne, the grapes do develop.

From small apple-looking green little things a few days ago, we now see them slowly opening here and there.

Each little thing will open to let a flower out.

This is the next crucial step since the flowers must be pollinated for a grape to be developpned.

Some come rain, come shine... we believe, we have seen the rain, now we'd like some shine to finish this nicely.


The first flowers are reported now, we expect to see them in the days to come.

Lifting

Another monday morning in Champagne, and what are we up to at the office?

There's always work to do. We tend to choose the tasks that are urgent, the rest can wait.

Like updating the website, work on an idea on how to label future bottles. Find customers for them.

Because rain or shine, shorts or coats, rubber boots morning, midday and afternoon. The vines grow.


And thus we lift the wires.

In fact, we have been lifting the wires all week.

Low wires, high wires. First hook.

The next will follow. Soon enough.



Before we put the agrafe in place, we push the stems a bit to the side to create enough space for the little piece of wood.

Each autumn we collect these to reuse them again until they get weaker and eventually break.


This is the first part of the lifting. Many stems don't yet have the length to reach the upper double wire, and we will have to place it manually.

Because of this we only put one agrafe at this time. Later we will put more, one between each plant to seperate them nicely and make sure that the stems with many grapes are well exposed for the sun.

The low wires stay side by side due to another type of agrafe that looks like white plastic. In fact, it's made of starch, thus it's biodegradable and saves us a round-trip of collection.


Thanks to the lifting the stems stand nicely upright, rather than climb or bend towards the neighbouring lines of vines.

Collegues in other villages have begun to cut the tops of the vines. Soon we will follow.

These ones have the length and the position as well. Due to the lifting.

Romance in the vines

Rain and rain and then, you've guessed it, rain again.

These last weeks have been incredibly wet, even for Champagne.

Happy days for snails
Apparently it suits some of us fine.

This couple seems to head towards founding a family.

And it all happened in Loisy-en-Brie this very weekend.

Snails are usually not that big of a problem, but it does depend on the amount of them.


As you can see in the picture, the vineyards are incredibly green at the moment. Unsurprisingly.

Therefore, can we ask for some sun please? Or just, no more rain, to let the soils dry a bit and the weeds grow at a lesser speed.

Lifting the wires
Next week, we should be out there to lift the wires.

A bit late actually, but you can't expect miracles when temperatures have been low for so long.

It's not cold these days. Just grey. However, today the rain has ceased and there are even some spots of blue skies with sun.

So hold your breath, and so do we.

Forår i Frankrig med 60 mm regn

Dette er et arkivbillede.

Heldigvis.

Sådan ser det ud i Loisy-en-Brie, når alt for meget vand løber de helt forkerte steder.

Det hedder erosion.

60 millimeter vand hos os
Fra søndag eftermiddag og til tirsdag først på eftermiddagen stod vandet mere eller mindre uafbrudt ned i stænger.

Det har beriget de underjordiske reservoirer med 60 millimeter. Når de engang når derned.

Ganske meget vand på ganske kort tid.

Men vi piver ikke.

Oversvømmelser og ødelæggelser
Vi har ingen oversvømmelser, og dem er der ellers mange af mange andre steder i Nordfrankrig i disse dage.

Se bare her Paris på den våde måde. Louvre holdt lukket for at evakuere kunst fra sale, der kan være i farezonen, hvis vandet stiger igen.

I Château de Chambord, en af Loire-dalens mange juveler, når vandet helt op til slottets fundamenter, og selv det var en af Francois I's idéer med et slot helt omgivet af vand, er der ikke nutidens ønske. Fredag er slottet lukket af samme grund.

Læs mere om ødelæggelser her.

Græs er en hjælp
Hos os altså ingen problemer.

Vi har tidligere haft en del vrøvl med vand, der løb ned igennem visse af vores parceller ved heftigt regnfald.

Denne gang er der græs i rækkerne i parcellerne overfor vores, og det forhindrer vandet i at løbe ned som en springflod.

Det er i øvrigt ikke slut. Der er i øvrigt meldt mere regn.

Growth in the vineyards

Off goes the surplus buds

Monday morning we began the ebourgeonnage in our plots in Loisy-en-Brie.

A grey morning, but that's fine with us. Rainy days equal not too cold weather equal no frost.

And as this job moves forward we see the damage of the frost of late April. And it may not even be over yet.


Many buds are frozen
Many of the buds in the low part of the vines are frozen.

The final result we will not really know before the time of grapeharvest.

So what are we doing with buds then anyway?

Well, they are not all frozen.


Pink spots on old wood
There are still buds, that develop into branches where we will get grapes at the end of the cycle.


But there are also buds that grow on the old parts of the plant. Buds that develop on wood, that is two years old or more, are not very fertile. We want the plants to deal with important matters, buds that will provide grapes, and thus we just remove the rest.

And those ones, those that create manual work right now. Well, of course they have not frozen. They show like little pink spots on the wood. They are easy to remove. It is just a long job, because you have to check all plants in all lines in all plots.


More trouble
As you work, you get depressed about number of frozen buds.

Plus those that have been eaten by a little insect that lives in the soils under the vineyard. It is called the mange-bourgeon which means the one that eats buds.

This insect bothers us every year, we can see some lines give less grapes, and it is also linked to this.

As long as we can fill our boxes at harvesttime, we live with it.

Frost is worse. And it may not be over yet. More is announced on sunday morning.

Gæster i det grønne

For et år siden havde vi en skandinavisk kvartet på besøg på sådan en dejlig majdag.

Året efter var der besøg igen. Og sørme om ikke vi i dag skal vise en busfuld danske vinbønder rundt både ude og inde.

Først en tur i vinen, bagefter en tur i vineri og kældre og så ender vi der, hvor det altid ender her i regionen: Med et glas i hånden.

De kommer denne formiddag, og det skal nok blive sjovt. Men jeg er ikke helt tilfreds med vejrudsigtens pil på regn. Husk altså fornuftig beklædning for vi skal se på vinstokke uanset vejrlig.


Dette billede er fra i år, man ser tydeligt forskellen i vinens udvikling, og i øvrigt også ændret praksis i vingården. Pløjet jord har erstattet græs i år.