Newsletter november 1999
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Newsletter november 1999
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Half-yearly newsletter issued by the Jérôme Quiot Vineyards, November 1999, N° 6 EDITORIAL Dear Clients, As we approach the end of 1999, we take great pleasure in presenting to you the very last grape harvest of the century, a harvest which will certainly distinguish itself in splendor and quality. And so it is finally here, freshly harvested and already so full of promise... but we do not wish to reveal too many secrets. For Jérôme Quiot, with the eloquence and passion that only a truly dedicated wine-maker lives and breathes, has prepared a detailed report on the latest harvest and will present his findings in a special leaflet attached to this newsletter. We would also like to make you acquainted with all the latest news and events taking place in and around our vineyards: the introduction of the 35-hour working week from 1 September; the winding up of the 1998-1999 financial year on 31 August; the wealth of new medals that have been recently awarded to our wines; and the launching of a new wine-trading company under the auspices of "Vignobles Jérôme Quiot Sélection" which is only the beginning of our journey to pastures new, for the coming months are destined to witness major changes sweeping through the Jérôme Quiot Vineyards. But time has to take its course. Meanwhile we wish all our clients enjoyable reading and, of course, much success and prosperity in all their business ventures.
CONTENTS Special Leaflet on the 1999 Harvest by Jérôme Quiot All the harvesting work throughout our domaines was completed
by 10 October.
THE 1998-1999 FINANCIAL YEAR REVIEW AND OUR POLICIES FOR 1999-2000 Our 1998-1999 financial year drew to a close on 31 August 1999. The sales of red Châteauneuf-du-Pape have played a less significant role than in the previous year but we only sold "estate" quality wines and not any second-choice quality this year. It is our objective to prolong the duration of the ageing of the red Châteauneuf-du-Pape and we hope to have achieved an ageing process of 18 months prior to marketing by the year 2001. In order to meet such requirements we plan to expand our cellars' current supplies of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The sales of white Châteauneuf-du-Pape have remained constant. The sales of red Côtes de Provence have doubled and those of the red Côtes du Ventoux have increased by approximately 15%. We plan to uphold our policy of substantially furthering our production of red Côtes de Provence on the Domaine Houchart. As regards the 1998 rosé Côtes de Provence, the entire 1998 harvest is to be sold in bottles as opposed to 30 % of the previous year's harvests which had been sold in bulk. In future it is our intention to continue selling the entire amount of our rosé Côtes de Provence either bottled or by means of the bag in box system. We will supply you with more details on this subject at the beginning of 2000. Our white Côtes de Provence was completely sold out by the end of August. The sales of Syrah-Cabernet vin de pays have dropped as a result of stocks running out very early on in 1998; another event which contributed to the decrease of sales was the fact that the 98 vintage was not brought onto the market in January but in March. Our export markets make up 87 % of our sales and have shown positive developments within all the traditional sales channels.
Today we would like to present to you the more important varietal of the A.O.C. Châteauneuf-du-Pape: the Grenache, black and white. Originating from Spain, this varietal is the principal one in the collection of A.O.C. wines from the South of France (Côtes du Rhône, Languedoc, Roussillon, Provence, Ventoux...) While still fairly young, this varietal can produce extremely profusive blooms. It is also very sensitive to the failure of blooms and when unfavorable climatic conditions prevail, certain grapes show up almost a total absence of berries. However the Grenache varietal is most resistant to arid conditions; but it is unable to produce high amounts of yield as, in such a situation, it would begin to lose all its color. The very strong winds typical of our area present no problem to this varietal. As it is susceptible to wood-related diseases, it is necessary to defoliate the plants to allow the grapes more airy and spacious conditions or to do a green harvest in order to avoid attacks of grey or acid moulds. Certain plants can reach very good ages: at the Châteauneuf on the Domaine du Vieux Lazaret, "La Vigne de Madame" was planted in 1904 and is still thriving most splendidly. On the Domaine Duclaux there are various vines dating from the last century and they still continue to produce quality and quantity. Their berries are rich in sugar and it is this sweetness which bestows upon both the red and white wines the characteristic structure, the wine's length and its impact. Sometimes there is a distinct lack of acidity. Wine produced from the Grenache varietal is sensitive to oxidation processes but if it is well vinified, it does indeed possess aromas characteristic of our French, meridional wines. The black Grenache forms the basis of our three appellations contributing approximately to 70% of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape, to 60% of Ventoux as a result of our new plantations of Syrah varietals and it contributes to 35 % of Provence wine depending on whether it is to be rosé or red. The white Grenache makes up approximately 50% of our white Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
Switch-Over To The 35-Hour Working Week From 1 January 2000 onwards, French companies employing more than 20 members of staff will have to reduce the amount of hours worked per week to a sum of thirty-five. The Vignobles Jérôme Quiot decided to take the initiative in this matter early on. We requested the assistance of the Ernst and Young consultants who for the last few months have been working on the re-organization of our staff's working arrangements. New legislation intends to reduce working hours by 10% but the Vignobles Jérôme Quiot are not prepared to cut the opening hours of their offices or to cut back in any way on the service offered to their clients. After having considered a number of possibilities, we actually
introduced the 35-hour working week on 1 September 1999. We have worked out new
arrangements, most notably the creation of three new jobs, commencing pre 1
March 2000: These persons will be formally introduced to you in our next newsletter. It must also be mentioned that now, thanks to increased flexibility within our organization, our offices will be open longer every week and at certain periods our cellars will be open more often to deal with increased interest and demand.
CLONAL SELECTION by Jérôme Quiot he quality of a wine depends on the varietal which has been planted but one must not forget that the quality is also dependent on the actual type of vine. Not all the Grenache plants are the same. Every plant, just like a human being, has its own individual background and its own blessing of good health. Certain plants of the same varietal can produce up to 4 times as much yield as other similar ones; a small yield per hectare can guarantee quality only if the plant is capable of producing standard output but not, of course, if viruses are allowed to attack its growth. Two methods of selecting quality plants are possible: the massal selection and the clonal selection procedure (which has no connection with cloning). The massal selection consists of taking shoots from wine-growing land showing all the right signs of an attractive appearance, of promising quality and of sound health. It is however impossible for the plants selected to come with any sort of survival guarantee for they can degenerate very rapidly: one can be lucky and produce excellent plants, but it is just as possible that very weak, bad plants result. The clonal selection method consists of selecting a plant, then checking that it is free of any virus or pest (Elisa Test); the chosen plant must possess certain characteristics (maturity, colour, fragrance, resistance to drying-out etc.) which have to be well entrenched in the plant's genetic history. The first clonal selections were carried out with a view to improved productivity. Today we have at our disposal excellent methods of clonal selection which enable the quality of varietals to reach such levels of excellence that they can go on to produce good yields. It is necessary to plant several clones of the same varietal if one wishes to set up a vineyard with the aim of preserving all the varieties and also of further improving the complexity of the products. The Vignobles Jérôme Quiot employs a certain method of selecting different clones after having performed a number of tests to ascertain the best clonal selection technique: moreover, for the past three or four years, we have been carrying out our own selections and we also visit our nurseries twice a year in order to monitor the quality of plants supplied to our vineyards. Prior to every planting, we perform a through analysis of the roots to check for the presence of any viruses or pests and thus do our utmost to ensure a trouble-free future for our vines. It is possible for a vine to grow for 100 years (such examples are to be found on our domaine) providing that it does not become afflicted by any sort of disease. In order to avoid such a situation, we have just completed laying waste a piece of ground where vines have been cultivated for the last 25 years because the quality of the land no longer complied with our standards. The actual planting of vines can be possibly
regarded as one of the most significant undertakings in the life of a
vine-grower as, during this process, he has the power to influence and even
control both the quality and the profitability of the plant in his hands. These
sentiments are reflected in the old Provençal proverb:
The rules and regulations of our new wine-trading company were fixed on 4 October 1999: JEROME QUIOT SELECTION, set up in the French business form of an E.U.R.L. with Jérôme Quiot as its managing director. This company fundamentally authorises the sale of additional appellations of those wines which are currently on offer from the Vignobles Jérôme Quiot. The wines included in the range handled by this company will be marketed under the Jérôme Quiot brand name. We will be choosing the wines of 1998 in accordance with a most strict and selective register and we have a dedicated interest in carrying out thorough research until we find wines of only the highest quality. When it comes to the wines of 1999, we intend to use the same meticulous care as we do for our selections and indeed we shall be taking charge of the various élevage operations of these particular wines ourselves. We have picked out one of Jérôme Quiot's cellars which is not in use at the moment for this very purpose. The cellar in question is located in the heart of the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape: "La Filature". Operating from here and hopefully within a period of 2 years, we would like to buy grapes and begin producing our own brand of wine. Consequently we hope that by the beginning of 2000 we will even be in a position to offer you a 1998 Côtes du Rhône Villages and a 1999 vintage which would still be undergoing élevage processes. We would also like to offer you another Côtes du Rhône appellation (red), a cru, Saint-Joseph, Cornas or Crozes-Hermitage. With this newly-formed company we will be able also to answer to ponctual demands of our customers for specifc offers. We shall be able to provide you with more information on this subject by the end of the year.
Since last April our wines have been awarded the following
prizes:
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