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"We have rain the 13 after 4 o'clock to the 15 in the night. ( 95 mm)
And after it was raining the 23 and 24 September (55 mm)
Total of rain 150 mm.
For my part, all the Syrah , the Cinsault and one Grenache was picked before the first rain. ( the 12 and 13 September).
Concerning the vintage, I'm sure that it will be exceptional!
We have a lot of colour in the wine and a lot of concentration.
We've got a good acidity and all the grape varieties except the Mourvèdre have a TAV superior to 15 % alc.
The malolactic fermentation are not done for the moment. (6 November)
To finish: 2006 will be a good year for quality and quantity."

Julien Barroche makes a small quantity of Clairette Vendange Tardive.
At the photo (left) he shows the grapes for this very delicate wine, which unfortunately is not for sale. Photo: Julien's Blog

Oct 10th, Mourvèdre

B-log Nathalie Coulon Domaine de Beaurenard (10 October.):
We were happy to finish this grape harvest 2006 just like it had begun - with good weather and large sun. 
Time for celebration: (Daniel make a speech)

October 3, end of Grenaches

As envisaged, we gathered the grapes Saturday, Monday and Tuesday morning and finished except collecting Grenaches in Vinsobres. 
Time was very favourable with just some drops of rain Sunday. 
Now some Grenaches in Vinsobres as well as Counoises and Mourvèdres at Beaucastel are all that remains.

From B-log Nathalie Coulon Domaine de Beaurenard: (see video)

Portraits of grape harvest

In a few days the harvest will end. I have made a point of thanking all the cutters, carriers, and drivers, who also this year, allowed us to carry out under best the conditions this vintage 2006. 
(freely translated by webmaster)

Blog Beaucastel:

Sept 29th

Since tuesday, things have really speeded up. We harvested the syrah of our Vinsobres vineyards and also the Grenache in Beaucastel, Vacqueyras and Gigondas as well as some more Roussanne in Beaucastel. A video should come shortly (sorry for the delay). We will harvest also tomorrow and certainly sunday since we believe that the maturity of the Grenache are just perfect now. All the week the weather as been fantastic, we feel like beeing in the middle of summer.

From B-log Nathalie Coulon Domaine de Beaurenard:
The mistral was reinforced today with rather strong gusts. It contributes throughout the year, and mainly in this period, to maintain a perfect medical  state of the vintage. We highly thank it.

On Friday we started harvesting some Grenache of our Chateauneuf du Pape Perrin & Fils les Sinards. These vineyards are located inside the walls that surround the castel of the popes which is now in ruins. We will not harvest during the week-end because we are waiting some extra ripeness.

You could add: the weather is a good excuse for taking a couple of days off, but the weather forecast indicate, the harvest can go on from Monday or Tuesday.

From B-log Nathalie Coulon Domaine de Beaurenard:

Sept 19th, Syrah in Chateauneuf and Gigondas

September 18th, Cinsault and the first Syrah

After a couple of days of rain at the end of last week, the mistral started blowing strongly on sunday, cleaned the sky and dried the grapes.
Today (monday) the weather is also very nice and windy... these are ideal conditions.
We started the red grapes by harvesting the Cinsault of Coudoulet de Beaucastel and the first Syrah .

September 13th, harvest of the Roussanne

Today we have harvested the Roussanne in Beaucastel. We think we will start some red grapes next week.
Blog Beaucastel (with video)

Also at Beaurenard there was hectic activity in the fields.
See B-log Nathalie Coulon Domaine de Beaurenard:

The day of Ban des Vendanges.

It's tradition that a young winemaker reads the declaration announcing the harvest may be started. This year it was Geoffrey Canto from Domaine de la Ronciere. More photos at www.chateauneuf.com

At Beaucastel the first grapes -  white Grenache were picked. - see video on Blog

J Superbe !  J

The taking away of grapes which we carried out these last days, give astonishing results. As well on the level anthocyanes, of tannins as phenolic maturities all the hopes seem to be fulfilled. The fingers are crossed... The beginning of the grape harvest is envisaged Thursday for some roussannes, but especially Monday for good.

Photo: B-log Nathalie Coulon Domaine de Beaurenard: