Raisin blanc

Here are some photos of grapes that I took a few days ago in the Renaudière vineyard outside Saint-Aignan. The parcel where they are planted is just north of our house, on land that slopes down toward a small area of woods. The vines are protected by electrified fences designed to keep out the deer that live in the woods.

The grapes planted down that slope are probably the prettiest, best-developed, plumpest bunches that I'm seeing out in the vineyard this year. There are 8 or 10 long rows of these "white" (green) grapes at the bottom of the slope, and above them 8 or 10 rows of "black" (red) grapes.

I'm 99.99% sure that I know what the varietal or cépage of these grapes is because I've been given that information by two different people from that winery that tends and harvests the grapes. It's Chardonnay.

Anyway, just enjoy the pictures and think about how good the wine made from these bunches of grapes will be when it is released next spring.

Above is a closeup of a bunch of these same grapes. In French, this is une grappe de raisin — raisin is often used as a collective noun, in the singular, and grappe means "bunch." It's sort of like the word "corn" in American English — an ear of corn, a corn kernel. C'est du bon raisin, you might say, meaning "These are nice grapes." What we call "a grape" in English is un grain de raisin in French.

 

Finally, the photo above shows some of the leaves of this same grape variety. I like the way the edges of the leaves turn white before they dry out and turn brown.