The 2012 Champagne harvest started last week down in the Aube region, but this week work has started around Reims and Epernay. The sun has been shining too, but as I write this in the evening of September 21st the rain has come back and it's getting quite chilly. Autumn is well on it's way.
The rain will be welcome news to the vignerons, mind you, because it will plump up the grapes which are quite small this year.
Strange how vignerons never seem to be entirely satisfied, whatever the weather. After huge amounts of rain in Spring and early summer which threatened to ruin the crop, they were praying for the sun to come back.
Their prayers seemed to have worked, because a few weeks warm and sunny weather in August saved the day and despite the yield this year being well down on a normal year, many people are saying that the quality of the 2012 harvest is outstanding.
Yesterday I visited Jean Milan in Oger, Bertrand Devavry in Champillon and Huré Frères in Ludes, so as to get a good cross section of opinion across the different regions. Below is a short video to show you what they said.
Today I visted Pierre Gimonnet in Cuis and I have many more interviews and videos to share with you in the coming days.
Meanwhile Stay Bubbly, send me your comments and come back to visit soon
Jiles
