Burgundians favor low hanging fruit

In Burgundy, the fruit hangs low.

This is a First Growth (premier cru) vineyard just above the village of Gevrey Chambertin, the namesake of the largest appellation in Burgundy Cote de Nuits.

This is that same First Growth vineyard above Gevrey Chambertin. The vines stand just above the hips of that good looking Latvian-American, who at 5'7" and shrinking, is no giant.

On the plus side, growing the fruit so low to the ground allows the rocky soil to give off ripening heat during the cool nights.

On the negative side, moist soil could provide the perfect culture for grape diseases and rot.

With the fruit hanging so low, harvesting is no easy task in this Village Level vineyard just outside of Gevrey Chambertin. Notice the pickers in the foreground stooped over and on their knees. They are so relieved to stand up to dump their grapes into the carrier's bin.

The variety of characters seen during harvest in Givrey Chambertin provide visual entertainment.

For the most part, in 2012, the rain and moisture held off long enough so that the fungal spores did not get a chance to develop until after harvest. So low hanging fruit was a plus.