2014 Harvest

Well that's it for another year!  The 6th Jones vintage has been safely harvested and is now gently fermenting in vat.  The first bunch was cut on the 4th September and the last bunch on the 8th of October.

2014 harvest was a 'close shave' of a harvest !  In a vintage that saw 4 months of rain fall in just 3 hours in Montpellier 60 km away, followed by horrendous floods we count ourselves to have been very very lucky!

Here we did have rain mid harvest but a relatively light shower of only 45 mm over 2 nights.  It would have been good if the north wind had then blown to dry the vineyards but for some reason the north wind has been particularly absent this year. In fact in the whole harvest we only had 1 day of north wind and then only blowing at a feeble 40 km an hour.  It usually acts like a great hair dryer in the sky and blows away any moisture that may be on the grapes thus allowing us to harvest in a more sedate manner.

When it decides not to blow it makes the harvest all the more complicated!  The skies were dominated by the moist south wind and humid air so the picking rota changed daily to make sure that the grapes were picked as soon as they were at optimum ripeness.

This was probably the most challenging vintage to pick so far due to the weather but thanks to the numerous helping hands it was probably one of the most enjoyable harvests too!

And those hands did help - picking, carrying, sorting, washing - many thanks to all who made the 2014 harvest special!

And really sorry my Mum and Dad couldn't make it this year but there will still be plenty of grapes to be picked and plenty of cases to be washed next vintage!!

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.

Harvest 2014 - the whites

The main white grape varieties are Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc and small amounts of Macabeu and Carignan Gris.

The grapes are hand picked into small crates, chilled then pressed and popped into vat to ferment for around 20 days.  Sounds easy but those crates are all hand loaded on to the trailer (thank you to Damian and Becky!) then hand loaded into the press - and then all hand washed!!

We destalk about 40% of the Grenache Gris and Blanc grapes before they jump like lemmings into the press.

Then the wine starts to come alive in the vat as the magic of fermentation begins

The wines then become a bit like offspring - you worry about them day and night - are they warm enough, are they cold enough, have they got enough air, too much air....  They start to develop their own character, some advance quicker than others, some are naughty and some are well behaved but you end up getting very attached to all of them.

Harvest 2014 - the reds

Syrah lees or the gunk at the bottom of the tank

Here at Domaine Jones our main red grapes are Carignan, Grenache and Syrah. These grapes will either go into our Fitou (a blend of all 3) or kept separate as single varietels.  As each of our 25 vineyards are fermented separately it means that not only do we have a lot of small vats and barrels but we keep our options wide open until we get to know each wine intimately and then blend or not in April 2015.

The Syrah usually comes in first, except for our high altitude vineyard, followed by the Carignan and Grenache.  This year was even more exciting than usual as we have invested in a vibrating sorting table!  We did think of a couple of uses for the table which had absolutely nothing to do with the harvest but its main purpose is to make sure make that all stalks and leaves are removed before putting the grapes into vat.  The top grapes for La Perle Rare are inspected by no less than 8 people on their bumpy journey down the table to the awaiting open barrel.

The top wines then received more VIP treatment barrel as the grapes were gently squeezed by 3 pairs of feet twice a day for 7 days.

Although it is still early days, as we have only just started to press the Syrah, (usually after about 20 days) the wine is already showing a great concentration, lovely fruit and a great balance.

For the wines that ferment in vat we do twice daily pump overs to extract colour and structure from the skins.

I'd also like to give a special mention for our awesome vineyard of 80 year old grenache in Maury that surpassed itself this year and gave us the biggest crop we have ever had.  The wine is fermenting away and smells absolutely heavenly!

Harvest Diary 2014

We seem to be having a 'rest' here at Domaine Jones.  It is not that we particularly fancied a rest but two rather important things have given us no choice - the grapes aren't ripe and it's raining.

We have harvested all of the white grapes except for our late ripening Carignan Gris and all of the Syrah except for one small high altitude parcel that isn't ripe yet.  So we were just waiting for the Carignan and Grenache Noir to fully ripen and then it started to rain.  We were forecast 5 days of wall to wall rain which is not ideal during the harvest.  Fortunately we have only had 2 nights of rain (45 mm each night though).  Now the skies have cleared, the sun is back, the pickers are raring to go but you can't just dash back into the vineyard and start picking.

You have to wait!  Picking straight after rain can dilute the resulting wine not because of the water on the outside of the grapes but because of the water on the inside of the grapes.  So although tomorrow looks like being a perfect picking day we will not be picking but waiting for the grapes to get their concentration back.

Harvest Diary 2014

Last week it was the Syrah's turn to be picked.  And how lucky we were to have an all girl team (and Owen) to help bring it in!  'Old' University friend Liz and her colleagues Nicky and Jo from The Wine Society came down for a week's harvesting and we were joined by experienced picker Julia from Europvin who has done every single one of Domaine Jones' 6 harvests!  Or at least a little bit of every single one!

After checking the ripeness, Liz decided it was time to bring those grapes in so we got out the picking cases, buckets and secateurs and in a very lady like fashion brought those grapes in!

Julia and her lovely bunches

In the afternoon and after a hearty wild boar stew and a glass or two of Domaine Jones Fitou, we sorted the grapes and popped them into (a very small) tank.

Many hands definitely did make light work and many smiles too!
Haven't laughed so much in ages!!  Merci beaucoup les filles!

The team sporting the new Jones t- shirt

Harvest 2014 Chapter 1

The 2014 Domaine Jones harvest is well underway and we have harvested all of the white grapes – grenache gris, grenache blanc, macabeu and muscat and they are all safely in vat.  When I say we, I mean our fantastic team of harvesters which this year included some old favourites as well as some surprise pickers from Thanet. 

The white harvest has been abundant – large juicy bunches of grapes compared to the small meagre bunches of 2013 harvest.  Even in this generous harvest our yields remain relatively small (25hl/ha) and although quality is more important than quantity here at Domaine Jones there is always something very satisfying about harvesting large bunches of healthy grapes.

We were very fortunate to have a visit from some of the members of the Thanet Wine Appreciation Society at the beginninig of the harvest.  Not only can they now recognise the different grape varieties but they made light work of harvesting the first vineyard of grapes in Tuchan. 

We had a very enjoyable 2 days, ate and drank far too much and became very attached to the bunches they picked.  So much so that I am sending regular updates just to let them know how the wine is coming along.  A little bit like sending pictures of a new member of the family !

I always forget just how physical the harvest is.  In the winery it is non stop !  Lifting crates of grapes into the press, carting hoses and buckets round the winery, screwing and unscrewing pipes, cleaning, brushing and rinsing presses, pumps and destalkers.   I get my annual fix of excercise and love the physical challenge but I may not be saying that by the end of the harvest.

The press is now sparking clean as we wait for the reds to come in.  I must say though that up to now we have been very fortunate with the weather – an indian summer, sunshine, smiles and a fridge full of ice cooled beers.  BUT there are clouds on the horizon – literally !  The weather for next week is rain, rain and then a little more rain.  This is bad news and we can only hope that the north wind makes an appearance sooner rather than later to chase away the mass of humid, wet clouds.  Perhaps the weatherman has got it wrong – as is so often the case here – here’s hoping !