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.

Harvest 2014 - Carignan Gris

One grape that is particularly naughty is the rare Carignan Gris!  It took ages to ripen - this was the last vineyard to be picked this year 5 weeks after the other whites and the potential alcohol is still only around 12%.  I can understand why this grape didn't make it down here in the Languedoc Roussillon.  Larger structures just wouldn't have been able to cope with small amounts of very late ripening white grapes so it probably just got hidden amongst the reds or picked with the other whites far too early.  At the earliest opportunity the vines would have been ripped up thus part explaining perhaps why now this is an extremely rare grape.

At Domaine Jones we can cater for all types of capricious grapes and we love our Carignan Gris. We feel challenged by it at times but very lucky to have some of the last remaining vines.

We only have 500 vines but Les Perles Carignan Gris that we made last year turned out so well that we want more and will be taking cuttings this year.