Charging the Press

Picking finished on Friday 21 August. Marc Chauvet were one of the first houses in Rilly-la-Montagne. It is the early season on record for the team here. With the weather being SO hot you can taste the berries from the morning and they have risen a brix or two by the afternoon. This season was one of the best for the region, no disease pressure and the weather just perfect for ripening the fruit, the berries were small but in great condition. The press loads did take longer because of the berries being small this season, but this was to get maximum juice.

The last press load of the whole picking season was Philip's fruit and I finally got to “charge the press” alongside Jules. Philip's part of the French sabrage society, and I'm planning on buying a sabrage sword off him before I leave, a proper connection to take home. I'd wanted to charge the press the whole vintage because during active picking it has to be done at speed to keep too much first juice sitting in the press, and that's not really a beginner's job when everyone's flat out. But for the very last load, with less pressure on, I got my turn. Heavy work, lifting crates of grapes into the 2 tonne press. This was one of my highlights from harvest in Champagne. The crates are 40kgs and are lifted one at a time. Sometimes there were up to 36 or even more, depending on the size of the load and how much was picked from that plot or vines.

That same evening the whole team celebrated with a harvest party, music, dancing, beautiful food, and more champagne than anyone probably needed. Nikolai had a wee game going during the past week, filling my glass and saying “not the same, not the same” every time, meaning it wasn't the same champagne even though it obviously was. It caught on right round the room, and by the end of the night the two vineyard managers, who have no English at all, were saying it too. A daft little phrase that jumped the language barrier completely and became something the whole team shared for one night. I did take myself off to bed at a sensible point though, which saved me the next morning.

Not the Same

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Not the Same 〰️

Nobody made it into work until eleven or twelve the day after, and the whole place had this loose, relaxed feeling that was completely different to the intensity of picking.