Lamé Delisle Boucard: Wines
As you might imagine from the methodology thus far described, this is a domaine where machine-picking is the norm. Philippe Boucard and his teams prepare the vines in advance, after which the machine follows through to take the fruit from the vines. On picking by machine, Philippe has this to say:
“To pick by hand is very complicated; some of our neighbours use an outside company who send in teams of Bulgarians to pick, but it is very difficult to do. It can be hard to predict the date of picking. The machine is more flexible and adaptable, and if necessary we can begin with five or six hectares and then stop if necessary. The new machines are spectacular, and they cope with the slight inclines in our vineyards without difficulty. They are not so good for white grapes as we need the stems when pressing, but for the reds it is fine for the fruit to be destemmed. It usually takes three weeks for picking, but in vintages when rot appears, thanks to the machine we can have it all picked within a week.”
The freshly picked grapes are delivered to a doorway on the upper level of the cellars, which were built in 1974. Here the berries are sorted over a traditional table de tri. Any grapes that have been picked by hand, such as from parcels of very old vines where Philippe does not use his harvesting machine, are destemmed.
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