The Champagne harvest officially started today, Monday, 20 August. The secateurs were out in a number of villages, in the Côte des Bars region, including Buxeuil, Polisot and Polisy, where all three varieties may be harvested. The isolated cru of Montgueux, due east of the city of Troyes, renown for its super charged, ripe Chardonnay, that is set to start on Wednesday, will be cutting Meunier and Pinot Noir from tomorrow (21 August).
Further north in the Marne department the dates for all varieties are largely set for later in the week. The premier cru of Cumières, that’s often one of the earliest crus to pick, begins on 24 August. Top Chardonnay villages like Avize, Chouilly, Cramant, Oger and Le Mesnil may all begin on 27 August. While in the Montagne de Reims, Bouzy and Ambonnay are on Thursday (23 August), Aÿ on Friday (24 August) and even on the usually cooler northern slopes of Verzy and Verzenay the picture is similar –24 and 23 August respectively.
Nearly all 318 crus can start picking before the end of the month, there’s only a handful that are expected to wait until 1 September, and that’s the latest start date in any single village, bar Grauves which begins on 2 September.