January 2018 Vintage 2016: first bottling
At the vineyard …
At the beginning of December, some snowflakes remind us that winter is coming.
December 12 begins transplanting … in descending moon, root day. The preparation of the grafts is important. The roots of the plants are placed in water before planting 24-48. Just before planting, the roots are resized to about 10-15cm and praline with a water / earth / horn manure to promote mycorrhizal plants (mycorrhizae are fungi that live in symbiosis with plant roots and facilitate his diet). But the rainy season makes the soil too wet and some plots can not be transplanted.
Rain is nevertheless welcome because at the end of year the rainfall deficit is very significant.
Meanwhile the size and branches burning continues.
In the cellar …
After put into mass previously made, it is December 6 that the first bottling are done.
To date, the appellations “Chambolle Musigny”, “Bourgogne Pinot Noir”, “Bourgogne Passetoutgrain”, “Gevrey Chambertin” and “Savigny les Beaune” are in bottles.
Then on December 21st the barrels of “Vosne Romanée” are in their turn racked to be put in vat and prepare the wine for its future bottling in 2018.
Then a little later Vosne Romanée 1er cru “Les Brûlées” are en masse to also be bottled at the beginning of January.
Racking with thrust gas (CO2/nitrogen) is tested with a construct in bundles of 3-4 pieces, this small tank is then lift by lift before being unified in the final tank. This technique is softer for the wine (avoids brewing and compression in the pipes at the time of pumping) the amount of natural carbon dioxide is preserved, oxygen inputs are better managed and this allows us to work more serenely.