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2005 HARVEST IN GAZIN
- October 2005 |  | | The 2005 harvest , in Gazin, has been completed, as well as in most of the Pomerol appellation wineries. The grapes picking have just started in Saint Emilion and in the Medoc. As usual, I am going to tell you that this vintage is superb, better than the 2004, and even better than the overrated 2003, as well better than the 2002 (which is quite understandable according to the bad weather conditions we got during this summer). Indeed, this 2005 could be the best one since 1982. Some people thing of the1989 vintage. Wait and see. What is sure is that this millesime has got off to a good start ! (Don’t worry about the 2004. It is still keeping good promise to be a great vintage as well). You wonder why ? We started the green harvest at the beginning of July. The yield is weak, below 40hl -may be 35hl- (compared with the 47hl per hectare allowed, for this vintage, by the administration). But we will have to wait till the end of the rackings to see which figure is the good one. During summer the weather conditions were excellent, with a precocious flowering (first flower on May the 23rd !) followed by a véraison (when the bunches are suddenly turning read because of a sugar migration into the grapes), which ended early August. During this period rainfalls occured on due time to « refresh » the vines. 2005 is a dry year with less than 400mm of rain, so far.This drought was only a problem for the corn producers ! Early September (on the 9th and 10th) worrying heavy rainfalls occured, but the downpour stopped on Sunday. The harvest started on September 12th under drizzly weather. Then the sun came again for the whole period… And it is still there. The merlots harvest was completed on September 20th together with the cabernets francs. The cabernet sauvignon were harvested on September 26th. The grapes are full ripe (which does not mean over’ripe), with a good acidity level. The wine is well balanced and full bodied which is a must to make a great wine when you have a natural 13.5 degree. (Our wines normally reach 12.5 degree). The sorting tables were not really useful except to remove some leaves and stones sticked to the bottom of the picking baskets. Presently the vats offer a delicious nose of fresh and ripe fruit. The color is superb and, after several pumping overs, already inky. The point is now how to keep this wine its freshness, its complexity and avoid « overjammed » blackcurrant and cherry wine. Indeed, we know that such wines please the tasters when showing them, as futures, in March, but are not ageing well. This means they do not have the structure to age properly and are not getting more and more complexity as ageing …showing only oaky fragrances and offering tasteless fatty mouth. The malolatic fermentation started, for the first merlot vats, in a set of new casks. By mid November we will know the truth about the 2005 quality. |
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