"Green" Mourvedre grapes harvested (note the bird nest also found in the vines)

Dear wine lovers,

In 3-4 weeks and depending on what mother nature decides on weather conditions, we should start the harvest.

Before that, I trained my clippers and all other harvest materials by doing some green harvest on the Mourvèdre, a grape variety which needs very low yields if we want to bring it to maturity. Seeing those grapes on the ground (and also to avoid that our Dog Braise eats them and gets sick), I had the (silly) idea to try to vinify them, just for fun but before anything to launch the very first fermentation in our "new" cellar (built in a 400 years farm) and then install some natural ways to start the fermentation of our coming matured grapes.

Of course, with a potential of 4% alcohol, it has taken some time and some extra sugar but after a week, the must started bubbling and the very first 2007 rosé was fermentating.

This rosé is now done with about 10% alcohol and a huge acidity. And even if it looks nice, I will certainly not put it on the market !

Next edition will happen after we start the real harvest, which should happen in 3-4 weeks. All your positive thoughts for mild weather conditions will be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu