2019 harvest in Champagne
The story of how I met a winemaker from France is a very long one and another story for another time. For this time, I will tell you about the opportunity I had this past September to be part of vandage (harvest) 2019 with an independent wine grower in the heart of Champagne.
People in food and wine always talk about going to help someone they know harvest grapes, whether it’s in Canada or anywhere else in the world. Harvesting a vineyard is labour intensive and the hours are long and it is usually hot. When a winery needs to go into harvest mode, they need all hands on deck and many hands to make it all happen. I volunteered to help a friend and in return I would get to hang out and drink Champagne…in Champagne. Not too shabby eh? So we decided on a date and booked a flight for when we thought it was all going to go down.
This past summer in Europe was especially hot. The harvest was projected to come a bit earlier because of the weather and unfortunately they couldn’t wait any longer and had to pick. To make great champagne you need lots of acid, therefore the grapes cannot be too sweet or too high in alcohol. Each day the vineyards are monitored very intensely to see how far along the sugar is in the grape. It has to be at that special point in which it is sweet enough to make alcohol, but still needs to acidic enough to have optimal freshness.
So by the time I flew over there, most of the grapes were already picked. I watched in sadness on social media to see the days before I would arrive and grapes being already picked. I thought would I be going all the way over there, just to have it all be done by the time I get there? You can't predict what mother nature is going to do sometimes, so you just have to go with it.
The day we actually arrived we did get to go into the vineyard and see what they had been up to for the past week. We drove straight from the airport, to their winery and met up with some members of their team, to get going on whatever was left of the day. The team was in full work mode, while we were mainly just standing there and taking it all in. I remember the sky being perfectly blue, the sun very warm and the heat being just enough that you wouldn’t get burned. We picked for about an hour as the sun came down and then it was time to wrap up the day and press the grapes at the winery.
Once the grapes come back to the winery, they are pressed and used for the 2 presses of grape juice that will either be put into a tank to ferment or a barrel. The first press of juice is the best and the more expensive of the 2 wines, while the second press is less prized, but also important. The must and sticks from the bunches of grapes are saved and given to a co-op to make spirit liquor that may be used later in fermentation.
That Friday was really the only day we were out in the vineyard, since mostly everything had been harvested already in the heat of the French summer. We were very lucky to mainly hang out at the winery and enjoy the sunshine and watch the wine-making team do their magic.
It’s a tough job being out there in the hot sun harvesting all day and they usually won’t finish until much later in the day after all the pressing and cleaning is done. It is a short time frame and they have to harvest fast, so the grapes retain the needed acidity to make the wine. My friend Morgann, who is the winemaker, looked very tired most days, since there is a lot to focus on and a new baby had just arrived before the start of harvest season!
By the time Saturday came all the staff that were working for the harvest had finished, but they still needed help collecting data, so we volunteered.
After the press of juice, a portion of the newly pressed grape juice goes into barrels to ferment for a period of time and develop different flavour characteristics. Our jobs were to measure the sugar levels in the barrels, to make sure alcohol fermentation was happening and the juice was becoming wine. They are usually watching these levels very closely at the start of fermentation to make sure everything is going as planned. Wine is an expensive thing to make, so they want to be absolutely sure that everything is going to plan to avoid spoilage.
The great thing about helping out at a small winery is the fact that you are really exposed to everything, since most of the time there is not a huge number of staff to do it all. At larger wineries there will be numerous staff sometimes working around the clock to get things done and not much time to explain anything. I would probably never have been allowed to help out in the way that we did that weekend in a larger facility. Even though there are sometimes language barriers, you can see people are trying to help you or explain something with their hands to you so you can assist in whatever way is possible. The reward for the help…usually Champagne and great food, so obviously I was not complaining.
The rest of my days in Champagne were spent exploring other champagne houses that were open for tastings and driving through rolling vineyards to see different parts of the region.
So my advice is, if you ever get the chance to help out a winery for harvest and you don’t mind a bit of physical labour, I would say do it. You may only make a little cash or even no money at all, but you will be very well fed and very well drank. It is an opportunity to learn and to see how things are really done and a chance to explore many different regions across the world.
It was one of the most rewarding and special experiences of my life and I am so happy I got the chance to do it. The next time you open a bottle of Champagne to celebrate, maybe you will think about going there some day when we can travel again. Check out these few links for stuff to do in Epernay and Champagne.
*if you are not planning on going for harvest and you just plan on going to see the region of Champagne, you can go by car or by train. If you are travelling by train Epernay has a train station in the middle of the city and most of the large Champagne houses are within walking distance of the station. If you are planning on seeing smaller houses or ones that are not in the centre of the city, you would have to either drive or arrange for a tour.
*This is the name and place of Morgann's winery near Epernay. They also ship there wine to Canada through an independent agency (if you want more information, just let me know)
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