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Harvest in Bordeaux
Despite the challenge of a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in France, Bordeaux has brought in its 2020 harvest. Leading vintners report the wines are promising, delivering a high note at the end of a chaotic growing season.
Harvest in Bordeaux is normally a time of celebration, the climax of a growing season of hard work. Everyone on the château team joins harvesters and out-of-town guests in the vineyard to pick, often stopping for a lunch of good food and wine.
This year, in the Bordeaux region, hand gel and face masks are ubiquitous, and the wine trade has quickly adapted. Most winemakers developed real concerns about establishing protocols for guaranteeing the safety of the work force and the timely picking of the harvest at optimal ripeness. Normally they hire their own pickers; this year they relied on a subcontractor, who had more flexibility to assemble small units and keep them separate.
The winemaker Giscours counted on 180 pickers; international students, interns, and even a village in Poland that has sent a group every year for 18 years. “They come in one big bus. We have a wonderful campsite for them,” said at Giscours. “We were very worried we would have a border blockage between Germany and France, and then of course the Polish would not be able to come. But they made it just in time.”
Other groups are housed on the property. “We had to put together certain protocols for them; masks, washing their hands, and we keep them in specific groups,” said at Giscours.
