The premises to which the grape crop is taken are spotlessly clean, and there is very little that is rustic about them. Indeed, everything – soil, the sugar in grape juice, and so on – that is brought in from the vineyard on the soles of shoes attracts all sorts of insects and bacteria that are definitely not welcome in the fermentation room.

What is brought in from the vineyard is the fruit of and the reward for the monumental work put in throughout the year tending the vine stock and working the soil, it is the end product of days and days spent in the vineyards. So it is easy to understand the loving care and attention given to the contents of these trailers, which represent, as it were, the wine grower’s treasure and the promise of wine to come.

Thus the grapes are brought in by trailer, and are immediately put into vats. A worm screw draws them into a vat called a “maceration” vat for the first fermentation. The temperature of the vat is maintained at 10ºC (50° F), in order to delay the start of the fermentation process. Juice from grapes harvested during a heat wave tends to begin fermenting immediately, so its ardour has to be cooled – so to speak – by bringing its temperature down.

The work down in the vineyards has been completed and the last trailer-load of grapes is being put into the vat. The grape harvest is over as regards the Champs Cloux 2006 vintage – the yield was 30 to 35 hectolitres per hectare. Jean-Claude is happy: the grapes are in. The Premier Cru Rouge is beginning its new life as wine.

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