Everything is illuminated in the gorgeous sunshine; the vines are slowly fading into a golden ocean, the leave on the trees are changing and the smell of Autumn is deep in the air. I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend having to work only Saturday afternoon and having Sunday off.






Saturday was a lovely day; that morning all of the tanks needed only a light pigeage. Alex sent Jane and I to the marché in the centre ville to find something delicious for lunch. Poulet Roti (rotisserie chicken), Gambal’s heirloom Oregon tomato and mozzarella salad, nectarine and strawberry fruit salad and, of course, a baguette.

For dinner Denis and John (the same famous cooks from the Poulet Smackdown) invited Jane and I over for dinner: 6 Euro rips and chicken bricks. After the invitation we promptly took a two hour walk, up down and around the Mountain de Beaune (a very steep hill).

But dinner was a different story, let me explain; People in France don’t know what to do with a good rack o’ ribs. So they went on super sale at the marché and the boys had a bbq in mind. The bbq sauce was Hoysen, sugar, vinegar, thyme and it was LATHERED. Delicious, fell right off the bones – comparable to John Gates’ ;) As for the chicken breasts, they were split open, paired with prosciutto, and stuffed with comté cheese. Then Denis rolled them in two layers of brique (a paper-like pastry) and put them in the oven at 200*C for 20 minutes. On top, a mustard crème sauce and Gambal’s tomatoes on the side. These guys like to eat the real stuff; the tomatoes were my idea. But hey, I love French food – the sauce is reduce white wine, add heavy cream, add ~ 2tbls butter and Dijon mustard. Mmmmm hummmm.

That night we went big: bar hopping around Beaune to all of our favorites. Everyone comes into Beaune on Saturday night. The count was five separate bars, culminating at Pickwick’s (the first pub started in Beaune after the wine & tourist boom in the 70s). We were out til sunrise, but hey, Sunday was our first day off since we’ve been here!


Despite all odds, Sunday was lovely as well. Around six we started drinking wine and were back at the pub meeting up with CFPPA friends (Mark and Vince) by seven. Mark’s best mate Sam is Beaune for a few days and they’ve been living it up. We left them at the bar “33” with 20L of beer. As for the rest of us, we decided to venture to Vince’s stomping grounds to watch the stars come out. It was beautiful up in the Haute Côte (pronounced ‘oat coat’). Magny-Les-Villers is a small mountain town and his winery’s vines are mountain-top. It was beautiful up there. The moon was a perfect black and white cookie and the stars, crystalline.






After a good night’s sleep today was back on the job. The pigeages and remontages (pump-overs) have been going well and steadily. Today was a bit different. The tasting went as follows:

Savigny – le meme
Volnay – interestingly different taste from days past. It’s coming along and has a better nose. Fruity, but harsh – no fat The pH is high but the malolactic and tartaric acids are where they should be. The pH (acidity) level comes directly from the grapes au natural. There are two types of acid found in wine grapes: malolactic (like green apples, tart acid) and tartaric. The wines. There are traces of gray rot. (When this was said we reminisced about triaging these grapes; THE EARWIGS in this one were horrendous. We were able to cut our most of the rot on the bunches but because we don’t have vibrating triage table, the single rotten grapes were falling in.) Not tasting like a premier cru.
Chorey – tough tannins. Tastes: sulfide and reduced. Gav asked about adding oxygen but Geraldine said c’est pas necessaire.
Charme – just starting to ferment, you can taste the prickle of the yeast. Surprisingly floral.
Chambolle – good structure
Chambolle St. Soufre – high acetate nose and taste. “The first day I tasted this I said oh.. god.. it’s horrible.” Explained Geraldine. “Now it is not the same, there is fruit in the aftertaste.” The acetate flavor is highly acidic (imagine nail polish remover) but it’s not actually an acidity problem; it’s not a volatile acid. You find this flavor because of high oxidation at the beginning of fermentation.
Vosne – dark fruit, floral. These grapes were SO ripe when we got them. Simply delicious, coming along magnificently.
Clos de Vougeot - less floral.
Bourgogne Rouge 2 – Acid, rich, not same fruitiness, not as friendly, ripe tannins
Bourgogne Rouge 3 – Almost light, very pleasant. A lot different from days past, hard acids, tannins need work but they’re there. “it’s important to have more fat now because in the barrels the malo will counter.” Explained Geraldine. She’s referring to the second fermentation that happens in the barrels. All of the malolactic acid is eaten and turns into the tastey, softer acids one enjoys drinking.

“This is definitely a year where the lower appellations will over perform,” Jane observed.
“I’ll definitely be buying ‘09s,” said Gav with a big smile and a nod.





Today we also noticed that the Savigny les Beaune isn’t heating up fast enough. Geraldine made an executive decision to take the juice out and transfer it into another tank to heat it up to about 33-36*C. As Gav put it, “this takes balls.” But Alex has a great modern cuverie set-up and is equipped and able to do this in a couple of hours. After the juice was transferred, it was heated by two drapeaux. The goal of this process is to soften the tannins. Tannins have short protein chains; By warming up the juice and pouring it back over the grapes and skins you are essentially elongating the proteins chains. This gives the wine a better mouth feel and softer tannins.

As for the rest of the day, les estagieres were sent to clean the drains

"Un seau de merde (a bucket of shit)" -Jonathon

We’re due to be in the winery by eight in the morning so we’re taking it easy and having movie night at Mark’s apartment.

"A Bath of Grapes!" - Geraldine

Saturday and Sunday: These times, they are a changin’

Saturday and Sunday were a nice change to the schedule. Saturday we processed those last boxes of grapes and got started with the cleaning. We power-washed all of the dreaded boxes and finally stacked them one last time. We cleaned and scrubbed each instrument and finished in time to shower and polish for our night out to Megan and Matt’s house. Megan and Matt have been with Alex since the beginning: building the business, building the cuverie and full and constant support. They’re a couple trés chouette (very cool). They enjoy rock climbing, hiking, good music and art; a happy pair. They have two lovely children whom are some of my favorite people that I’ve met thus far in my travels. Lila is 2 years old and has never-ending energy and spazzaz. She’s full of smiles and little chirps of French vocabulary that often saved me during the harvest. She’s being raised bilingual – which I think is totally rad – and is capable of switching between the two easily. Jack is 10 weeks old. He’s adorable and lovable. Trés, trés petit!



Off to Saint Romain for the night! They’re house was beautifully snuggled into the heart of this small town that is walled by ancient cliffs. They’re currently renovating an old family compound (by the looks of it) and conjoining the buildings studio style. The kitchen still has the original wood-fired stove that they use occasionally for pizzas! The master bedroom is above the kitchen (as it has always been) and when you walk in you can smell the remnants of a room once warmed by wood. For dinner we had pumpkin soup, veal stew over rice, cheese and dessert. I wouldn’t doubt that every single person brought at that table brought at least one bottle of wine that night. It was lovely to be in a cozy home with interesting and wonderful people








My contribution to dinner - A Huet Vouvray sweeeeeet wine. Went deliciously with ice cream and pie :)



WEEK THREE (Sept 21-25)

Post Harvest Activities:

Ahhhhh. Sleep is good! That last week was dragging and damp. The weather has picked back up and we’re enjoying what seems to be an Indian summer. Our schedule has changed as well: 10am arrivals. (Can’t you just see our smiles?)

Alright, so if you’ve been paying attention, you understand that all of our chardonnays are in their barrels and down in the cellar. What we’re working with these days are the cuves full of Pinot grapes. Depending on when they came in, some have been sitting longer than other and thus have started to ferment. Take our Savigny for instance. They were the first pinot grapes we received and the largest amount received. They’re in le grand cuve. When this juice starts to ferment the yeast rises and carbon dioxide bubbles are created. The CO2 pushes the whole grapes to the top of the cuve and forms a “cap.” You would be surprised how thick and how solid this cap gets.
Every morning we come in and Geraldine (the very funny and very pleasant winemaker) has taken the density measurements of each wine. Basically, the density is affected by the total soluble sugars. Yeast eats sugar and yields alcohol (or ethanol), which is less dense than water. By taking the density you’re reading the progression of the wine to yeast and alcohol. You’re looking for a pattern; you’re checking everyday to make sure the yeasts stay constant. If they’re struggling or if they’re going too fast we can alter the temperature by dropping “les drapeaux” in them (stainless-steel sheets that can be filled with antifreeze or heated water).
As for the white wine down in the cellar, the barrels are only filled about 3/4 (or maybe 4/5) full. This fermentation is usually slow to start, though yeasts are sluggish in nature anyway. Fermentation usually starts around 17-18*C though yeasts prefer to work at 25*C. It’s a constant fight, but a good one because are a key component for the aromas of the white wine. For example, more elegant aromas occur at lower temperatures. Whereas when the yeasts are highly (overly) stressed you have a nose sensation to that of a bitter orange rind.

“Geraldine is gentle with these wines,” Gav observed. “She says, ‘deux pigeage, max’!” C’est trés vrai (this is very true). Pigeage has been my next biggest physical accomplishment. Remember how I told you about the caps a little while back? Well once or twice a day we take pigeage sticks (imagine a toilet plunger) and push through the caps until we hit the juice. Pigeage helps to extract tannins from the fruit cap; producing both astringency and bitterness to the mouth feel of the wine. Before fermentation pigeage helps the extract softer tannins and after fermentation begins heavier tannins are extracted. Other than pigeage, we also do “pump-overs” where we take the juice from the bottom of the tank and pour it back over the top to help extract that lovely dark burgundy color ;)

After taking the densities Geraldine then tastes each juice to determine the progression of the tastes. It is basically like drinking grape juice….until the fermentation starts. Based on smell and a bubbly mouth feel, you can tell the presence of yeast and know that the fermentation has begun! Based on the Geraldine’s experience and VAST knowledge of wine, she can read the density and taste and tell us whether each cuve needs 0,1 or 2 pigeages and whether or not it needs a pump-over.





“Let’s go Lucy!” Alex screams to me as I’m stomping these grapes. Haha I feel like Lucy from that episode she’s in Italy and ends up wrestling an Italian mama in a vat of grapes. Other than our cuverie ipod (playing anything from the Beatles to Cake to Neil Young) there is no horseplay allowed. [I must contain the Lucy inside of me and save it for the foosball games with the rowdy Belgium Bikers after hours at the Bar du Square. Umm too bad I didn’t have my camera with me last night…]

Up and Running

I have a new respect for bloggers. It's hard work! But so is Harvest~ Blogging + Harvest = no-can-do. We worked long, 15-16 hour days, usually starting around 6:30am and ending around 10pm (add another 1.5 hrs for dinner and you can see how we were at the winery for almost literally 2 weeks straight). So I took notes for the past two weeks and here's what I've got. It's lengthy but I've put in plenty of pictures! Don't hesitate to leave any comments, I'd love to hear from my readers (click on "comments" at the end of the posting). Thanks for being patient. I'll write more often starting this week!

WEEK ONE (Sept 7-13):
What a week it has been! St. Vincent (patron saint of the vineyards) has granted us a smooth beginning to our harvest thus far. Everyone’s back in Beaune and there’s such a buzz in the air – this time of year is what this town lives and breathes for. Tuesday night I could feel the anticipation in the air.
Monday: Prep Day
Every piece of equipment needed to be brought out, put in its place, scrubbed down and hosed. The cuverie floor got a good washin’, needless to say. Gav, Jane and I picked up those raclettes (squeegee, en Français) for the first time. It was a long day, lots of water, lots of racletting – slowly building the muscles and learning the techniques of efficiency. We also got a lesson on how to clean the caisses de vendange (grape cases). We have probably around 200 cases and we wash them all at least once, sometimes twice a day.

Tuesday: Let the Games Begin…please?!
We arrived at 7:30 and got straight to work. We prepared the cuverie for the grapes to arrive and waited.. impatiently. About 9:00 the trucks start rollin’ in, white grapes only for the first couple of days. Here’s the deal: We unload the crates of grapes from the trucks and place (pull, tug, struggle) them onto palates 5x5x5. They are lifted by diesel-powered forklift up to the doors of the cuverie and situated until sorting. The grapes are then poured into a machine that throws them into the press. We call this guy snuffalaffagus, l’elephante or Tutu. He is massive, strapping and tall. As he’s crankin’ along, I stand á la gauche and pick out the leaves and ill-looking bunches.


I had a bit of a physical burp today – with the combination of new work boots, little sleep, lots of time on my feet and the hike on Sunday, I pushed my body a little too far. Last semester (due to flat shoes and high arches) I got achilles tendonitis and had a pinched sciatic nerve for 6 weeks. It was like déja vu and the idea of being out of the count on the first day gave me significant anxiety. The pain started with my feet, moving into my achilles and nerve. The nerve pain moved up my leg pretty quickly and went into my lower back, immobilizing me on Alex’s office floor for 2.5 hours. I ended up taking a pousse de roupoillon (catnap) and woke up, feeling 85% better, just in time for the kick-off diner.


Our chefs Stacia and Henri are a wonderfully bubbly couple from the States. Henri, savory; Stacia, sweet. They’re a well-oiled machine and certainly have the experience and knowledge of cooking for hungry harvesters. Henri retired from dentistry and took a chef training course and can cook up fabulous and aesthetic dinner delights. Stacia is probably one of the best bakers I’ve ever encountered, next to my sister, Ruth Shore, of course!

At dinner Alex gave his annual “sermon on the mount” speech about expectations, rules and the purpose and meaning of our work with him. “When you have nothing else to do, grab a raclette!” he exclaimed surprisingly seriously. (Little did I know that this was my future go-to post in the cuverie).
We also started the traditional dinner guessing game. Essentially, every night a person at the table brings wine and it is cleverly hidden in one of Cara’s handmade bags designed for this game. They start out by asking: Old World or New World? European wines are considered old world and new world can be from a variety of different places (US, NZ, Australia, S. America…etc) but are usually fruitier, and done up with chemicals, sulfur, enzymes and the works. Henri, like myself, find it particularly hard to guess more than this step. So, every night they refer to Henri and he shouts the answer “Old World!” (Seeing as we’re in Burgundy and there are over 200 different wines in this one region, they’re usually burgundian old world wines.) Then the question is raised: Côte de Beaune or Côte de Nuit? From there we guess which Appellation, year and winemaker! It is truly fascinating for me to watch! Every person at the table has their own opinion based singularly on the taste of the wine!








Wednesday: Iced, Stretched and Ready To GO!
Arriving again at 7:30 it was coffee and croissants for breakfast. Coffee, bread and water are a very large and serious part of every year’s budget. I’ve taken to stretching my achilles at least four times a day and icing it each night. More white grapes came in today:
Puligny-Montrachet and Bourgogne Chardonnay Les Grands Terres grapes mostly. Prepare for grapes, get grapes, sort grapes, press grapes, clean, transfer grapes to tank, clean, get more grapes, sort…..etc.

Everyday post-déjeuner (lunch) we have a warm baked snack. Today was chocolate chip cookies :) Tonight the dinner was Italian themed. Henri and Stacia started with a fresh, Gambal-grown, tomato salade then served delicious RABBIT bolognese. Ummmm humm!
It was a late night because the press didn’t get going until around 10pm. It takes about two hours to press the grapes fully. Gav, Jane and I left at 11:30 because we live across town; the crew staying on the domaine stayed in the cuverie til 1:30am!

Thursday: Le Poulet Smackdown!
Much of the same stuff: we received Maltroie and Chassagne Blanchots white grapes and, hey! Somethin’ different: Volany Chevret red grapes.

The process for red grapes is a tad bit different and a-lotta bit tedious. For this process we must bust out even more equipment: a sorting table and a destemer.










The process is much more picky because the red grapes go straight into the tank and not through a press. I can’t help but marvel at the fact that my supervision is key to this wine.









Little unripe grapes have too much acidity and rotten grapes too much sugar. The odium, petritius and other diseases/molds produce flavors that you can taste years and years after the wine is made.


Tonight was the Battail Du Poulet: The Poulet Smackdown! John and Denis (both close friends of Alex’s and own the houses in the courtyard connected to the winery) decided they wanted to have a chicken (poulet) cook-off to see if they could tell the difference between Bresse chicken and regular store bought chicken. Bresse chicken is one of France’s traditional chicken breeds, known for it spectacular taste and pricey pricey cost (essentially free range). They were both cooked with rosemary and in the oven for the same amount of time. The game was for the eaters: which chicken was what?! AND there were prizes! The prizes were to those with the most creative description of the chicken. We were given official judge sheets.Jane and I tied for first; Jane’s read: Poulet A tastes like chicken. Poulet B tastes like REALLY GOOD chicken, 5x better than A :)







Mine read: Poluet A: I can imagine this chicken running freely, eating what he likes and he died happy! Chewy, lean. Poulet B: softer, melts in my mouth. Less tastey, more pleasurable to toss around on my tongue;





Cara came in close second with her IPB index: Poulet A dense texture, persistent flavor, greater Intensity Per Bite!

In the end Poulet A was the Bresse chicken – everyone could tell. But when we voted for favorite, the table was split right down the middle. The first place price was the feet of the chicken. We were told to hold out our hands and close our eyes- have you ever held a chicken leg before?! It’s definitely not what I expected.

WEEK TWO (Sept 14-20):

Monday: Work, Work, Work, Stretch






















































The stagieres also got to do some picking at Volnay (?). At one point I realized that I'd missed a bunch so I completely stretched out on the ground on my side to retrive it. Lying there, I took a moment; the earth was perfectly moist. I was deep in the vines, like being surounded by mini corn stalks. The soil was only damp from the morning dew and was sturdy and significant enough to not be mushy or muddy under my weight. I lied there and looked at the sky. There were those big French clouds again. Not a tought passed through my mind. My body was so exhausted from the physical work and little sleep that in that moment it was as if I had suddenly opened my eyes in the middle of a deep meditation. The muscle pain was gone, my thoughts erased and I was surrounded by grape vines.

That night at dinner Gav contributed a Pesquera "Janis" 1994 Ribera del Duero for the blind tasting game. John took the idea, ran down to his cellar, and raised him a Pesquera 1989! Everyone was surprised to hear that that bottle was my vintage birthday year. The next morning, Henry had kindly gone through the effort of saving the label for me. What a gift.

By now my hands are swollen from the picking, triage and heavy lifting. haha and by now, with all of this delicious food, I feel as if my whole body is swollen. :)

Tuesday: The day with Alex

Today Alex asked us to be at work promptly at 7. Today is the day that winemakers and negotiants line up for some of Rapet Pere et Fils’ sweet juice. The first year, Alex only got one barrel; he remembers asking the others “didn’t you learn how to share in elementary school?!” Alex has been persistent and now talks and is good buddies with Rapet’s son. He’s sure to be the first in line each year – arriving at 7:45 no later. We showed up ten minutes late and were second in line.



Actually, a lot of people grow their own grapes and process their own juice. Then, like at Rapet’s, sell the juice to winemakers to work their magic and call it their own. Rapet even gave us a bottle of wine; “now that’s what I call customer satisfaction!” Jane exclaimed.

After a van exchange with Matt and Will, we were off to Clos Vougeot to check on our grapes. They were beautiful ~ we ended up with about 40 caisses des raisins!














We also went by the Boisset cuverie so that Alex could talk about the grapes he was getting from them. In 1961, at the age of 18, Jean-Claude Boisset started buying his first appellations and reselling them to aquantances. Boisset cleverly skirted around government size and tax regualtions by joining a family of close aquantances, all making wine under one roof. He developed a kind of wine autarky and now owns is the biggest wine operation in Burgundy.








Wednesday-Friday: It’s all about the same for the end of the week. The weather turned: cold, rainy and clouds. It was usually just overnight rain which ended up being alright for the grapes and because it wasn’t hot and humid, there was less rot than expected. Alex wanted to have all of the grapes in by Friday but the pickers at St. Aubin Dent de Chien (Premiere Cru) were tired and slow (couldn’t blame them, 2.5 wks of pure picking would get to me too). The other three stagaires, “student interns,” Jane, Gav, Jonathon (il es fraçais), and I were sent to pick the remaining Dent de Chien Saturday afternoon. Four hours and 16 caisses later and we’re finally done. Boy does that do a number on your lower back so I often kneeled or sat.















Friday night we had our petit parlée, the end of the harvest celebration. Denis had fireworks for the occasion and recruited Gav to help him shoot them out his laundry room window. Maybe 7 of 13 made it into the air, while the other 6 went all which ways, including the side of his house and the work van! John had us down to his lovely cellar post fireworks for some exquisite wines.

























That's a lot to process for now. Another to come tomorrow! I'm finally well rested and able to get to the computer. More to come on the weekend and the beginning of WEEK THREE here at Chez Alex Gambal