The Chefs' Harvest
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Château d'Hugues, winemaker Bernard...
Hand Made
For three short weeks, the Domaine de l’Angueiroun lives to the rhythm of the grape harvest. Short nights and intense labor comprise the daily routine for Eric Dumon and his team.
By Jean-Dominique Dalloz - Photos José Nicolas - October 12, 2011
The alarm clock has just gone off. It’s two in the morning. Eric Dumon gets up, slips on a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, and throws back a cup of coffee. A few minutes later, he is at the foot of the mechanical vine harvester, that big mechanical grasshopper. The noise of the diesel engine resonates off the walls of the still sleeping buildings. Upon the arrival of a half-dozen workers, Eric resumes the day’s program; two plots are chosen, toward which the men and their vehicles immediately converge. A grape
picker steps over the first row of vines and starts the harvest. The leaves tremble, then the bunches are sucked up in to the depths of the engine. Further on, a tractor and its trailer wait for the first load of the grapes, before taking off towards the cellar. There, at the reception point, the precious cargo is destalked before being crushed.
Throughout the harvest, Eric is obsessed with the cold. Indeed, night harvesting allows the grapes to be picked at the coolest hours of the day, in order to fully preserve their rich aromas.
Mechanical harvesting also permits the winemaker to harvest the berries at perfect maturity and in a shortened time frame. This quality control allows Eric to develop exceptional wines, like the vintage Enkhelis rosé, which is fermented in new barrels for seven months.
Despite these advantages, traditional harvesting has not entirely disappeared at Angueiroun. Eric, his wife, the team and a few friends handpick the younger vines and the red grapes in this fashion. In a festive atmosphere, the pruning shears pass from hand to hand; bunches are dumped into buckets that are then carried to the trailer. At nightfall, everyone returns home, exhausted. But on the last day of harvest, a dinner brings everyone together in the purest respect for tradition. On the menu are dishes from Provence , wines from the estate and lasting friendship.
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Domaine de l’Angueiroun
1077 chemin de l’Angueiroun
Bormes-les-Mimosas
Tél. : 0494711139
www.angueiroun.fr
