Harvest Diary 2016 - The extremely rare Carignan Gris

We have a very small vineyard of 60 year old Carignan Gris at Domaine Jones and I always look forward to harvesting it.  The Carignan gris is a bit temperamental and takes its time to ripen so this is always the last white grape to be picked. Well it's not officially white but gris.

Carignan blanc on the left, Carignan Gris on the right -multi coloured vine!

Its late ripening is probably why Carignan Gris isn't so popular down here and most has been ripped up.

Wikipedia and Wine Searcher both say that there is less than 1 hectare planted in Languedoc Roussillon so if that is really the case I must be one of the world's largest producers with a total production of 800 bottles per year.

AND I LOVE IT!!

Here I am checking to see if the grapes are ripe the evening before harvest.

They tasted delicious so we picked and then pressed and out third vintage of the rare Carignan Gris 2016 is bubbling away happily in a tiny 500 litre vat.