The Baie-par-Baie Harvest

In the coming weeks, I will have the pleasure of participating in and reporting from the harvest at Domaine Garcia in Nuits-Saint-Georges (formerly Moron-Garcia).

The harvest at this estate is different from most of the rest of Burgundy, as the time-consuming baie-par-baie (hand-destemmed) vinification is one its of main techniques.

Explaining baie-par-baie 

Pierre-Olivier Garcia employs this special technique, where approximately a third of the berries in the cuvee are removed from the stems by hand, grape-by-grape with a pair of scissors, to ensure whole, undamaged berries for vinification. 

The method is extremely time-consuming, and requires a special geeky dedication. For me, this is exciting stuff.

The baie-par-baie grapes are then vinified together with whole-cluster bunches and machine-destemmed berries. They are arranged in layers in the tank: whole cluster on the bottom, then baie-par-baie, and on top machine-destemmed berries.

The baie-par-baie method is extremely unusual and demanding; however, the resulting wines are of both high and exciting quality.

In my opinion, this technique maximises exciting aromas and ensures vivid fragrancy and complexity not found in most wines. Wait, and smell the roses.

Complex planning for harvest

It is, however, not only the vinification that’s influenced by the baie-par-baie approach. It’s also the harvest itself, with added complexity in the planning.

In essence, it’s baie-par-baie that determines the maximum speed of the harvest. Despite the picked grapes being chilled in containers, they must nonetheless be processed relatively rapidly (48-62 hours max). There’s therefore there is a limit as to how much one can harvest quantity-wise if the hand-destemming is to keep pace.

I’ll write more about the details of vinification later, when we reach the vats in the winery.