Sébastien Vincenti, owner of Domaine de Fondrèche, gave an update on the grape harvests for his white and rosé wines.

Sébastien Vincenti: "This year, we picked the grapes for our white and rosé wines very early, at the end of August. It is 2 to 3 weeks before the other wines estates. We made the choice to pick relatively early in order to preserve the freshness we like with a low PH and a beautiful acidity. Freshness, which is the print of the estate, was our guide to determine the right time to harvest. Our grapes were ripe with that typical minerality from Domaine de Fondrèche."

Sébastien Vincenti: "This year is surprising because, at the end, we are close to ideal conditions while we feared to suffer from water stress, in fact to be in the 2003 situation because of the lack of water in July / August. But surprisingly, vines have not suffered this summer. We now know that this is partly because yields are much smaller than expected, which is a general trend in the region. This explains that the vines have not suffered, and our organic treatments and soil tillage – being extremely respectful to Nature –also allowed the vines to develop despite the high temperatures. Finally, the rain we had 15 days ago has unblocked the situation and it was followed by cool nights at 10 degrees celsius with the Mistral wind. We are prepared for a great harvest regarding red grapes, that will begin this weekend. The first white and rosé juices we taste are very aromatic. This 2012 vintage starts with a lot of promises!"

Please drink moderately. (Contact the writer at info@vitabella.fr)