Mille Roses, at the heart of a Médoc on the move. Traditions, wine, food and the big dates in the calendar, festive ones as well as working ones.
A land of great wines, marshes, estuary and authentic food, the Médoc lives to the rhythm of the vine all year round. Each season brings its share of traditions, wine events, food gatherings and sporting or cultural occasions. At Mille Roses, we make the most of them.
January: the winegrowers' winter
At Mille Roses, pruning starts at the end of November and finishes in January. There is plenty left to do over the winter, so we prefer to start early. We are already preparing the coming vintage.
Winter markets put local produce in the spotlight: oysters from the Arcachon basin, poultry from the South West, Bazas beef and charcuterie specialities.
February: rural traditions and gastronomy
The villages of the Médoc still celebrate rural traditions through their local festivals and their brotherhood dinners. It is also the ideal season to discover how the great reds of the Médoc pair with the region's slow-cooked dishes.
In the vineyard, we carry on with the winter work: shredding the prunings and repairing the trellising, what we call sécaillage here. Take the chance to try Bazas fattened beef with an older Mille Roses. There is no reason to get gloomy just because it is cold and raining all the time.
March: the vineyard wakes up
With the first buds, the vine comes back to life. On the estates, wine tourism visits pick up as spring approaches, particularly with the Printemps des Châteaux. Professional tastings ahead of the primeurs start to appear. You can feel everyone waking up and wanting to talk about what they have in their barrels.
It is a slightly quieter month for us. We still have to bring organic fertiliser to our plots to help them produce the new vintage. Every single input we use is certified organic, that goes without saying: an unwavering and audited commitment. For the past two years we have had early budbreak in the last days of March. Crazy.
April: the primeurs period
This is our bottling. 18 months after the harvest, the long sleep in bottle finally awaits our wines, the ones we have been worried about and reassured about in turn for far too long. The die is cast. The Renfort team comes to do the bottling at our place, and the wines are stored in cases of 600 bottles, kept sheltered from the weather in our climate-controlled cellar.
April is traditionally marked by the famous Bordeaux primeurs week: professionals from all over the world come to discover the latest vintages of the great growths. The Médoc then becomes the centre of attention for the wine world. For how much longer? The question is open. Is this the end of a tradition, or will only a few great growths and a few must-have names keep that privilege?
At Mille Roses we have not sold en primeur for 10 years. We would rather sell our customers a finished wine than a promise. It is also a way of avoiding very different prices coexisting on the markets, which to our mind creates confusion.
The first treatments in the vineyard, 100% organic of course, take place. The preceding days are spent preparing and checking the equipment, which will be used a great deal over the next four months.
May: between vineyard and estuary
Sophie and I take an active part, since we provide the music at a different château each year with our band, the Oneshot.
Our son Jean is on alto sax, Sophie on piano and backing vocals, I am on guitar and lead vocals, Philippe on guitar too! James on tenor sax, Julien on bass and Aurélien on drums, vocals and atmosphere!
June: Bordeaux celebrates wine
June is dominated by the unmissable Bordeaux Fête le Vin. For several days, the Bordeaux quays host the appellations of the vineyard, tastings, cultural events and a chance to discover regional food products.
It is the busiest month in the vineyard. We run everywhere and grit our teeth in the face of disease risk, often at its most intense. For a few years now, it has to be said, our oceanic climate has been turning tropical. Sometimes we play with the band for birthdays, or as we did this year for a village fete in Ludon.
July: the tourist season
Summer brings many visitors to the châteaux of the Médoc. Open-air tastings, winegrowers' picnics and evenings at the estates multiply.
At Mille Roses, you can feel the final stretch, particularly intense on the disease-risk side. Trimming and hand weeding, to keep the vineyard from suffering too much from drought. We do not let anything slip.
The food markets showcase local specialities: grenier médocain, entrecôte à la bordelaise, lamprey, oysters and regional cheeses.
August: local festivals and heritage
August is the month of village festivals and summer events across the Médoc. Visitors enjoy the ocean beaches, the architectural heritage of the châteaux and water sports on the estuary. Concerts and festivals in the Bordeaux area round out what is on offer.
And Mille Roses? Holidays. We need them. That does not stop us keeping an eye on the weather, fingers crossed that August does a good job. As we say here: "August makes the must".
September: harvest and the Marathon du Médoc
September is probably the most symbolic month in the Médoc. The harvest is in full swing across the estates.
When does the harvest take place in the Médoc?
The bulk of the harvest takes place in September, and can run into early October depending on the vintage and the grape variety. Merlot, which ripens earlier, is picked first, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot, which ripen later.
It is also the time of the famous Marathon du Médoc, often described as "the most festive marathon in the world". Some even say "the longest in the world", since the paths are no longer very straight for a few of the runners. The route crosses the most prestigious Médoc vineyards and mixes sport, tastings and food. Thousands of participants from around the world take part every year.
At Mille Roses, we clean the vats, prepare the harvesting equipment, and I go into the vines every other day to taste the grapes and run a few analyses. Christophe Coupez, my oenologist and friend, comes with me. We watch the health of the grapes to keep Botrytis, grey rot, from settling too heavily on the crop. That mainly concerns Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon, which ripen later. No panic: a few whiskers of mycelium do not ruin a harvest. But you have to stay alert.
October: the harvest festivals
After picking, several communes celebrate the end of the harvest with traditional meals, tastings and cultural events. In Burgundy they call it a paulée. Here in the Médoc it is the jarbode. The estates open their doors to show the year's work and share first impressions of the new vintage.
In the cellar, we work hard after the fermentation and maceration phase, taking the wines straight down into barrel by way of pressing. This is the moment when we cross over with the previous vintage, which comes out of a year's ageing in barrel to be blended in vat.
November: autumn flavours
Autumn is the season of mushrooms, game and slow-cooked dishes. From October on, cep pickers are on the lookout. At Mille Roses we are lucky enough to have a few woods that produce them.
Our band, the Oneshot, plays the Bordeaux half marathon again: in the middle of the road that leads to the Chaban-Delmas bridge, we play numbers to cheer the runners on. One year I nearly played guitar with gloves on. It was freezing while we were setting up the instruments with the lads. I think Julien, our bass player, did the whole gig in fingerless mitts. The view over the bridge and the Chartrons district was magnificent.
December: traditions and the art of living
The end-of-year celebrations bring out the great classics of local cooking: foie gras, festive poultry, oysters, fine fish and traditional desserts.
Mille Roses wines naturally accompany these meals. This period is intense on the sales side, along with November, and we are not the only ones. Since we are talking about good meals, two suggestions.
With a Château Mille Roses Haut-Médoc: pan-fried grenier médocain and pommes sarladaises
An emblematic Médoc speciality, grenier médocain is a traditional charcuterie made from seasoned pork stomach. Its melting texture and spicy flavours go perfectly with the structure, the silky tannins and the black fruit notes of a Mille Roses Haut-Médoc.
With a Château Mille Roses Margaux: fillet of Bazas beef with ceps
The finesse and elegance of a Margaux find an ideal partner in a fillet of Bazas beef served with seasonal ceps. The delicacy of the meat brings out the complexity of the wine, while the woodland aromas of the mushrooms converse with the floral and spicy notes of the Margaux. That said, for this dish you have to wait for the following year's fattened beef.
And it all starts over again.
