Picking has started a couple of days ago in Champagne. According to the village and the geographically defined zones, the authorities had fixed the begin of harvesting on Thursday, September 11^th. AfterFirst tastings and grape analysis w e decided to wait some more days before starting harvest for our Champagne Paul Lebrun and Hubert Soreau. Meanwhile, we offer you a first retrospective of what has happened in the vineyards earlier this year…

Like in many French wine regions, the vines seemed to be in a hurry this year: early bud burst and fast plant growing lead to early but regular flowering. Homogeneous and “grouped” flowering is a good point indeed, usually leading to regular grape size and maturity.

During summer, it has not always been easy to anticipate weather conditions. Freshness and some rainy periods were favouring the development of mildew, which compelled alertness and an increased presence in the vineyards. Above and beyond the protection of the fruits, keeping leafs in good shape is primordial to guarantee their ripening. No hail for us this year! and due to our healthy grapes we are facing harvest with quite a bit of serenity, while waiting for optimal maturity. Berry tastings last weekend showed a serious gain of taste and flavours in our Chardonnays, due to the gorgeous weather conditions those last days.

We finally started picking on Monday September 15^th (5 days after the official opening) in our most precocious vineyards of the Côtes des Blancs and the more southern vineyards of Sézanne.