Priorat 2022 Harvest by Franck Massard
7 September · Day 9 ! 2 days away from the end of the harvest in the Priorat.This year is marked by its precocity. We never picked so early starting with our Syrah on 25th August. We luckily had some spells of water at the right time and the vines seemed to have programmed themselves on survival mode. Growing a small canopy to maintain its precious reserve of water, bearing fewer and smaller bunches per vine but almost perfectly distributed. We could feel the pressure of the heat as we were harvesting and the vines being thankful for being liberated of their fruits. A perfect time for a smooth delivery of beautiful berries.Another point for 2022 is the incredible quality of the fruit. I felt no need to go through the grapes on the sorting table, it was immaculate.
But on 31st August came a storm. and 27 liters of water fell over in 45 minutes. It never hails in our vineyard but this time when I arrived in our parcel of Garnacha, I witnessed a small damage. A few berries were split by the storm. In addition, the water diluted a little the sugar concentration…I was puzzled and worried about the potential rot. After some deliberations we decided to continue and picked our red garnacha which later rewarded us with a 13,9% alc. I could start to relax again…
Our best Carignan was showing great and tasty, and we decided to give it a 4 days break to complete its maturity and picked it yesterday and today. About 6000 kilos of delicious berries.Tomorrow we will attend our oldest parcel of vines that celebrated over 106 years of good service. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel ….Thank you for reading and to my team that was so helpful this year. Franck
De wijnen van Franck - Les vins de Franck
