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This is a critical time in the winemaker’s year, and the only time when the vineyards and cellars seem really busy - choosing when to pick is such an important decision - too early and the grapes may not have reached optimum maturity - too late and the weather
Over in Alsace, the harvest at Hugel et fils is due to start on Monday 10 September 2007. Despite a generally poor summer, a good Spring and some decent weather in recent weeks has led to a promising early vintage.
Alsace is known as the “wine merchant’s wine” as they get to taste it and rave about it, but it tends not to sell as well as it should. But get beyond the Germanic names and bottle style, and these can be some of the finest dry white wines in the world, especially Riesling. There is no real entry-level wine to serve as a good introduction, but choose a good producer and you’ll not be disappointed with these elegant, dry and rich wines.

One of the best names in Alsace is Hugel et Fils, and to get winelovers involved with the harvest their website is running a daily diary of this year’s harvest in the form of a blog. This will give readers an opportunity to ask questions and make comments in a very interactive way.

Our 2007 harvest will begin on Monday 10 September and we have just posted our first comments on-line. These will be regularly updated and can be accessed directly at http://blog.hugel.com/en/

Hecules Wine Warehouse in Sandwich, Kent stocks some of the Hugel wines in the UK/