Champagne 2017: Easy season, harder harvest

Our grapes have been placed and carried in buckets and boxes to the presses to proceed the pressing by the first fermentation. They currently are in a state of very young wine.

The Champagne-harvest of 2017 is through, and let’s just say that our expectations are as big as we dare.

Even we have picked the grapes, sorted them out and when tasting them appreciated their interesting balance between high acidity and a strong sweetness, we still cannot know them very well as wine. Neither young, nor older and since every change has many possible directions, we'll have to wait to know what flavours and tastes time will bring us.


Early, dry, warm then cooler season with rain
In 2017, the growth of the vines began already in early April, and we were lucky to avoid damages when it froze a few weeks later. Very warm days, very little rain were the standard most days until mid July where the temperatures finally dropped and days got cooler.

We were quite happy to see the super speed of growth slow considerably down. Even a bit of rain made the grapes gain some weight. Later more rain followed with a timing we liked a lot less since lots of rain closely before the grapeharvest is a likely source of possible disease.

The start of the grapeharvest was agreed as late as a week before we began on September 2nd.

For us, it was too late to save it all as a surprisingly fast deterioration left us with many rots between our Pinot Meunier-grapes. Consequently, we had to leave grapes on the ground instead of in the bucket.

We count ourselves lucky because our Chardonnay-grapes came out a lot better. These are the grapes, we are currently working into one of our Tange-Gerard plot champagnes. Grapes that came very close to a perfect degree of sugar, and a must that contained a delicious creaminess that we are looking much forward to check and taste again when the young wine will be stable in a few months.

An early Tange-Gerard
This 2017 vintage will be the first Tange-Gerard champagne from an early year.

It is also the first time that we have measures of our grapes being challenged by the plants that grow naturally between the rows since we do not remove them constantly.

When the vines have to compete with wild plants about access to minerals and water, this may show for instance in the natural level of nitrogen in the berries. As nitrogen is needed in the early stage of the fermentation, we had to add some to help the work of the yeast.

So exciting to trace our sustainable methods directly at this crucial moment. Double exciting it shall be to taste the result in some years.

Introducing two lines: Singles and Classic
This far, we concentrate on our vintage from 2013. This was the first grapeharvest where we managed to make our first champagne with 100 % our own plots' grapes.

We remember the year as unusually late. The grapeharvest continued in October which nowadays is very rare in Champagne. October 3rd, we pressed the grapes of this 2013-vintage, that will be the first of our new ”Singles” line of champagnes with a very limited amount of bottles and the symbol of sustainable viticulture on its label. Stay tuned for more news later this autumn.

Our assortment this far continues with the ”Classic” line including the assembled champagnes of Tradition and Noirs & Blancs, the vintages The Blanc de Blancs (vintage 2011/12) and Selection (vintage 2007) and rosé champagnes Rosé d'Assemblage and Rosé de Saignée .


Automnal regards,
Alain Gérard and Solveig Tange, Soulieres, September 2017

Champagne 2017: Nem sæson men bøvlet høst

Druerne er landet i spande, sendt gennem vinpresser, har gennemgået den første gæring og er i øjeblikket en ganske ung vin.

Champagnehøsten 2017 er overstået, og lad os da bare afsløre, at vi allerede har så store forventninger til resultatet, som vi tør.

Vi har plukket druerne og sorteret dem, smagt på dem og værdsat deres lange eftersmag og interessante balance mellem høj syre og stærk sødme, men kender vi dem endnu ikke ret godt som vin. Hverken ung og langt mindre ældre vin, og hvert skift kan føre smag i forskellige retningerr. Vi får vente for at vide, hvad vi vil få af smag. Med tiden.

Tidlig, tør og først varm siden køligere sæson med regn
I 2017 begyndte sæsonen meget tidligt. Allerede først i april foldede knopperne deres første blade ud, og vi var heldige og slap for større skader, da det nogle uger senere frøs. Meget varme dage, meget lidt regn hørte til årets orden helt hen til midten af juli, hvor det blev køligere.

Vi var kun glade for at få lagt denne bremse på vækstens ekspresfart. Lidt regn gjorde det også muligt for druerne at øge deres vægt. Siden kom der større mængder regn på et tidspunkt, hvor vi bryder os mindre om væde, fordi vi altid frygter sygdom tættere på høst.

Vinhøstens start kendte vi så sent som en uge, før vi gik i gang den 2. september.

For os var det for sent at hente alt ind. Vi havde allerede råd i vores Pinot Meunier-druer, og det spredte sig overraskende hurtigt. Derfor måtte vi klippe mange klaser ned på jorden i stedet for i spanden.

Heldigt for os havde vores Chardonnay-druer det langt bedre, og det er da også denne grønne drue, vi er i gang med at vinificere til endnu en af vores helt egne champagner. Disse druer var meget tæt på et perfekt indhold af sukker, og mosten besad tillige en cremet-hed, som vi glæder os til at gensmage, når den unge vin er stabil engang i det nye år.

En tidlig Tange-Gerard
Årets vin vil blive vores første Tange-Gerard champagne fra et tidligt år.

Det er også første gang, at vores druer har været så målbart udfordret af de planter, der ofte vokser naturligt i rækkerne, fordi vi ikke fjerner dem konstant.

Når vinstokke må kæmpe om adgang til mineraler og vand, kan det f.eks. afspejle sig i druernes indhold af kvælstof, hvilket har en betydning for gæringen. I år måtte vi hjælpe processen ved at tilsætte netop kvælstof.

Spændende at genfinde vores bæredygtige dyrkningsmetoder direkte i ståltanken, og dobbelt spændende skal det blive, hvordan det endelige resultat vil smage om nogle år.

Fremover to linjer: Singles og Classic
Foreløbig koncentrerer vi os om årgang 2013. Det var den første vinhøst, hvor vi havde sat alle logistiske sejl til for at kunne lave vores første champagne på 100 % egne druer.

Vi husker året som usædvanlig sent. Vinhøsten strakte sig ind i oktober, hvilket hører til sjældenhederne i Champagne i vore dage. Den 3. oktober pressede vi druerne, og vi ved nu, at årgang 2013 bliver det første medlem af vores nye ”Singles” linje med symbolet for bæredygtig vindrift på etiketten. Mere nyt om årgang 2013 følger senere på efteråret.

Vores hidtidige sortiment fortsætter under navnet ”Classic”, og den linje indeholder alle gamle brut kendinge i form af assemblage champagnerne Tradition (fås også som demisec) og Noirs & Blancs, årgangschampagnerne Blanc de Blancs (årgang 2011/12) og Selection (årgang 2007) og endelig rosé champagnerne Rosé d'Assemblage og Rosé de Saignée.


Høsthilsener
Alain Gérard og Solveig Tange, Soulieres, september 2017

Pleurs in the vines

No doubt, les pleurs is here.

Pleurs mean tears. This liquid is the sap of the plant regaining its fluid form, rise and move up inside the branches to eventually wake up the buds, that will begin to grow.

We know the sap is back as it flows from the spots where branches have been removed when we pruned.

It is also the sign to speed up attaching the branches because in some weeks the buds will visibly grow bigger and it will be harder to attach without breaking them. Read more about here (the 2016 report).

But it all depends on temperatures. They stay around 13 degrees in the days and colder at night. Sunny days may even send us 16 degrees celsius. People with bare legs and t-shirts have been spotted in town. In the countryside, it's cooler.

Pleurs is back. It really is springtime in the vineyards.

Finished pruning

This is what it looks like everywhere in our plots.

Since a few hours ago.

Pruning began with prepruning in October.

Now we're through for this season. The scissors will rest at least until November. Nice.


The pruning is crucial for the health of the plants, for the quality of our grapes.

So we pay attention to the quality of the work done.

But... you know, even so, it's still long and it's great when we're done. Every year.

Bring out the bubbles :-)

Freeze fits feeding the soils

Profiting from the cold.

The ground is frozen. It's great times to spread fertilizers.

We do it with this little machine, very handy to pass all over the plots, next to the vines.

Organic fertilizers
As the fertilizers are organic, we can spread them already now.


Obviously, the idea is that they'll be ready for the benefit of the vines as these will enter their growth period in some months. Thus we don't feed the vines directly, but rather nourish the soil, and then this is where the plants will find what they need for growth and maintenance.

As organic manures decomposit much slower - 90 days - compared to conventional - 30 days, the time schedule is also different. It basically means that organic products can be spread much earlier.

To fit with analysis
Alain choses the manure in order to fit a soil analysis of each plot the best possible way.

The manure is natural, and this means that your choice is not à la carte. You go for what will fit your need better from what is available.

In our case, we have opted for guano for quite a few years now. Basically it's bird excrements, and it surely smells like it for quite some time after the spread.

But the smell is not for long, and it seems to satisfy the need. Our plots are all healthy according to the lab that measures their composition. One good thing done then.