Harvest Diary 2016 - my point of view

The first red grapes came in on Saturday 17th and oh dear me, where were all the grapes?  We were worried.  We started picking the grenache vineyards lower down in the valley and yields were dramatically down, bunches thin and berries small.  Now I know that we like low yields here at Domaine Jones and we do everything we can to limit over production but there is a bottom limit where you wonder if it is worth going out to pick.

However, as we continued to pick the different vineyards (I have about 25 small vineyards between Tuchan and Paziols) we started to relax a little.

My favourite vineyard (where Jean Marc proposed to me 2 years ago) really came up trumps with lovely bunches of carignan and grenache.  It's a beautiful vineyard with 5 small plots separated by stone walls and with just the most amazing view.

Another of my little favourites is the first vineyard that I bought here in Tuchan.  100 year old carignan and grenache vines and 40 year old syrah half way up the Mont Tauch mountain and with a view over the Chateau d'Aguilar.

I am sure that there are many scientific reasons to explain the variation in yields, but I have come to my own Katie conclusion for 2016 and it seems to be the better the view, the better the grapes.