Véraison: when the grapes come alive

Veraison is complete

There is a beautiful moment in every vineyard when the grapes begin to change.

It is called veraison, the stage when the berries move from growth into ripening. For red grapes, the hard green berries gradually soften and take on shades of deep red and purple, while sugars begin to build and acidity starts to fall.

A sign of harvest ahead

At Château Canon Chaigneau, veraison finished a few weeks ago. Across the vineyard, the grapes have taken on their colour and are slowly ripening on the vine.

From here, every day matters. The vines will continue concentrating sugars, developing flavour and allowing the tannins and aromas to reach the balance we are looking for. As a rule of thumb, harvest follows around 45 days after mid-veraison, which points to the beginning of September for us.

No two years are ever the same

A few weeks ago, we were telling ourselves something quite different.

The heat had been so intense that, for the first time in decades, we seriously wondered whether we might be picking in August. It would have been unheard of here. But veraison came later than the heat suggested, and that changed the picture entirely.

This is the part of the job that never gets old. You plan, you calculate, you compare with previous vintages, and the vineyard still does what it wants.

From vine to wine

Veraison is one of the stages we watch most closely, because it means harvest is getting closer. But there is still work to be done. The grapes need time, care and the right conditions before they are ready to be picked at their peak.

Soon, the vineyard will trade its quiet summer rhythm for the energy of harvest, and another vintage of Château Canon Chaigneau will begin its journey from vine to wine. It is this patience and attention to detail that shapes what ends up in the bottle.

For now, we wait, we watch, and we let the vines do their work.