Harvest 2008

For Domaines Jaboulet the 2008 Vintage has been THE MOST DEMANDING vintage ever: the weather conditions have compelled us to exercise exceptional precision in vine cultivation, but also great responsiveness.
As the early summer was not very sunny, the ripening of the grapes was held up significantly. In early September, torrential rainfalls disrupted the harvest. We then acted to deal with this highly unusual situation. In order to rescue the healthy, mature grapes, we carried out selective sorting of vineyards. So a large proportion of the harvest was sacrificed.
The harvest began on 10th September with the Croze Hermitage whites in the Sylvia plot. Rigorous sorting was undertaken so as to ensure that only the very best mature and healthy grapes made it into our winery.
As we do each year, we ended this year’s harvest with the Domaine de Saint Pierre (Cornas) grapes, picked on 10th October at the same time as the Domaine de Roure (Crozes Hermitage).
In addition to sorting in the vineyard, at the winery a team of 25 people were arranged around 4 sorting tables. Then, after stemming, two vibrating tables allowed us to eliminate the remaining stalks and pinkish grapes.
The demanding work in the vineyards and the managerial precision required of the wine-making process for this complicated vintage has produced low yields. However, the gustatory goal has been achieved: concentrated and highly-coloured wines with fine, persistent tannins. The density of the vintage resides in its rich, meaty character. Ultimately very non-acidic, these are balanced wines that are surely destined to resemble those of the 2001 vintage.
Caroline Frey

On the vines...Autumn - Winter 2007 - 2008

We experienced a gloomy summer with a great deal of rain and temperatures that were below normal. The work that was carefully done to aerate bunches by crop-thinning and cutting back the leaves ensured that the vines stayed in a very healthy condition. The weather at the beginning of September was ideal. The northern wind dried the soil and concentrated the fruit, while bright sunshine enabled us to complete the maturing process of the grapes. The advance in growth that we saw in the spring was partially lost, but we were still able to harvest the white grapes a week ahead of when we did so in 2006. The reds, however, lost any advance they had made through early growth, but are still very promising. A special mention should be made of our brand new Chateauneuf du Pape, which enjoyed a much milder summer. This property comprises 8 ha, one of which is given over to white grapes and the rest of which are divided between grenache and mourvedre. The harvest began with the white grapes on 4th September and finished on 15th September. These were perfectly mature, with the grenache reaching 14.5° of alcohol and with very high polyphenol levels, particularly in the mourvedre.