After a year's hard work, full of risk, fear and hope, the moment to pick the grapes finally arrives. There is nothing more to be done, or almost nothing. « August makes the must », goes the saying, and this year it did its job well - the important balances needed in the constitution of the grapes are all in place. Some suspense remains, however, as during the final days, a vintage which is « only » good still has the chance of becoming a great one; the last throw of the dice can sometimes win the jackpot.

First the date has to be chosen; grapes are examined, analysed, squeezed between fingers, felt in hands and on tongues for the softness of the pulp and the firmness of the tannins. Any dark clouds that roll across the sky are promptly ignored. We stretch our nerves almost beyond their limits as we wait a few days more to let the Cabernet Sauvignon at last reach that level of ripeness which we had almost given up believing we could get. Meanwhile, our two hundred pickers have been divided into five teams, each one made up of vineyard workers and a majority of young students, who make up for their lack of experience with generous helpings of willingness and good humour. Here they are, hard at work in our vines, firstly in a Merlot plot, always the first variety to ripen, followed by the Cabernet Franc, and finally the Cabernet Sauvignon and then the Petit Verdot, which is always the last.

The picking proceeds fairly quickly, as very ripe grapes are prone to rot, but enough time is always allowed to sort carefully through the bunches and even the berries. The crop thinning operation during the summer had of course already discarded any unwanted bunches, but a last strict sorting has to be done. The responsibility for this job is with each picker and then with a more specialized team, posted at tables at the end of the rows of vines. Sometimes rain interrupts this happy scene; everybody then stops and leaves their plot to find warmth in each other's company, having coffee in the harvest dining room. In a short while, it has to be decided whether to go back to the vines or to wait longer, but for the time being, we forget about our worries and enjoy the warmth of the atmosphere which, whatever may happen, always makes harvest-time an almost timeless celebration.