FrançaisWhen to harvest?
The decision when to harvest the grapes is vitally important. The links to the videos below explain how to assess grape ripeness. It’s not just about sugar levels, but flavour and tannin ripeness too. And don’t forget to look at the colour of the pips!
Preparation for harvest -checking ripeness of Syrah vineyard
Checking grape ripeness in our new Syrah vineyard. Step one – collecting grapes from different parts of the vineyard
Posted by Domaine La Tasque on Monday, September 3, 2018
Checking sugar and flavour/tannin ripeness in Syrah vineyard
Sugar level is one way of measuring grape ripeness but the most important consideration for red grapes is whether the skins and tannins are ripe.
Posted by Domaine La Tasque on Monday, September 3, 2018
Bottling 2016 La Tasque
Bottling 2016 Syrah and Carignan
We bottled our 2016 Syrah and 2016 Carignan yesterday, 2500 bottles in all. It was a small but perfectly formed vintage – our best yet we think. It needs more time to mature in bottle so it won’t be released until next year. In the meantime, here are some photos of bottling, using a high tech bottling line from the back of a lorry.
Making up boxes beforehand
Merve and Mathilda with Syrah
A shady Simon with Carignan
Packing Syrah 2016
Pallet of 2016 Syrah
Trish and Merve packing 2016 Carignan
Et Voila! La Tasque Carignan
2017 – Frost and fruit (or not)
2017 in the vineyard – highs and lows
The morning of the 18th April was when the big frost hit the Languedoc. Not all vineyards were affected – it depended on topography but unfortunately our vineyards were badly hit. Within a couple of hours our vines had gone from looking lovely and green and healthy to this. Approximately 80% of Syrah vines were frosted. 60% of the Carignan.
Carignan before the frost
Carignan after the frost
Pretty depressing, I can tell you.
But nature is amazing. Within a month, the secondary buds had started to burst and now the vineyards are green and healthy with lots of leaves. The only problem is that often these secondary buds are not fruitful. In the Carignan, the bottom half of the vineyard, which was completely frosted, has no grapes. Lots of leaves but literally NO grapes. The top section of the Carignan is, mercifully, a different story. There was much less damage and there are some promising bunches of grapes forming.
Carignan grapes – June
Syrah – grapes from primary and secondary buds on the same vine
The Syrah presents more of a challenge. More of the secondary buds are fruitful but they are approximately 5 weeks behind the fruit formed on the primary buds. And often on the same vine! The photo below illustrates this very clearly. The secondary fruit is only just flowering. This means that the harvest will have to be staggered as the grapes will have be ripe at different times. Selection will be key.
One thing is sure. 2017 will be a very small vintage.
Read MorePruning
Pruning Syrah
Started pruning the Syrah today. Sunny with a light breeze so perfect weather for it. So nice that the ladybirds ventured out too.
Pruning Syrah
Bottling
Bottling 2015 vintage
We had a busy day on Tuesday, bottling our 2015 vintage. We made three wines in 2015, Domaine La Tasque Carignan and a varietal Syrah. Also Tasque Grenache, which comes from a small vineyard of old vines which is owned by a friend of ours.
Carignan 2015 comes off the bottling line
packing Carignan into boxes
Putting the Carignan box into the scotch machine
6 bottles carton of Domaine La Tasque Carignan 2015
Syrah 2015 comes off the bottling line and into boxes
Smart red boxes of Tasque Grenache 2015
