Frédéric Despujols, owner of Château Prieuré Marquet
“After an early season rather difficult, we had the chance to catch the sunlight of September and thanks to this weather, we have harvested on the 7th of October, one day earlier than last year, that is to say some Merlots are between 13° and 14° degrees when some were between 12° and 13° the year before.
But mostly because of a constant monitoring of maturity, we have started the harvest on an optimal date in only one day, just before the heavy rain comes.
It is obviously easier to harvest a small surface rather than a big one, which is also why we can guarantee uniformity of the product.
The volume is substantially the same as last year, despite a green harvest in August; thinning out the leaves also helped to harvest later.