September is vendange time

September is vendange time when the winemakers of France gather the fruits of their labours. It’s a time of warm weather and long days in the vineyards. Everything depends on these frantic few weeks.

Photo: For vineyard owners everything depends on a few weeks' harvest in September

It’s often less expensive to harvest grapes using mechanical harvesters. They don’t get tired or have families which claim their attention. With operators working in relays, these monsters don’t stop for lunch. For human beings in France, the midday meal isn’t just a legal requirement. It’s practically a religious observance.

There’s a downside though. Machines need large relatively flat areas to work efficiently with high-yielding vines which produce a lot of grapes. It’s vines like these which produce large quantities of everyday wines.

The harvesters can be brutal on vines and fruit alike. Then there’s the trip to the cave in a large trailer where the weight of the last grapes loaded crushes those underneath. Before reaching the fermentation vats, the juice is already oxidised, making for an inferior wine.

Ironically, it’s low-yielding vines which concentrate flavour to produce the best wines. They tend to come from poor, stony soils where their roots are forced to dig deep in search of water. Many of these are in small vineyards or on rocky hillsides which don’t suit mechanical pickers.

So good wines come from hand-picked grapes, like those belonging to Natalie and Jesus Martinez in the Minervois.

These grapes are the Sancerre variety from vines up to 100 years old. They’re still here because they have a rich and sweet fruity taste which makes a delicious Minervois.

The grapes are tempting and it’s hard not to munch a few along the way. This is what supermarkets call “shrinkage”.

The venerable age of the vines has given them a rigid woody stem. A mechanical harvester would simply rip them to shreds, breaking some of the branches. So Natalie and Jesus pick by hand. Natalie says that this is more respectful to the vines.


Photo: For Natalie Martinez, hand picking shows respect for her vines



Vineyard owners speak of their vines as if they were members of the family.

Photo: Georges Taillefaire is a vendange regular at the Martinez' vineyard


In a way they’re right. As properties pass down through the family, the vineyard owner is but a custodian, looking after the vines for future generations.

Investments in new vines today may not bear fruit until the current owner’s retired and the children are running the show.

Vines are to be raised like children, cared for rather than cultivated. They have personalities and will repay that love and care in the future with better quality grapes.

As with many things in the south, grape picking here is a Mediterranean affair.

There are workers here from France, Italy, Portugal and Morocco. The same people come every year so there's a regular team who are used to working together.

Photo: Jilul from Morocco is the porter who carries the grapes to a waiting trailer



Photo: Minervoise by adoption, Judith originates from Portugal

Decades ago, complete teams of pickers from Portugal and Spain followed the fruit seasons. They'd pass through here for the vendange before continuing north for the apple season. Many decided to stay and today there's a particularly strong Portugese community in the Minervois.

Picking starts early, around 07:00 AM, and finishes at about 16:30, but there's a three hour break at lunchtime when workers avoid the midday heat.

All this went into the bottle of wine that you bought today. . .