Autumn leaves Belles Feuilles style
Autumn in the Champagne region can be an incredibly bombardement of all our senses.
Not all years allow us to enjoy the changing colours of the vineyards for weeks. Well, this year sure does: 2022 finishes the season off in the grand manner of the growth of the year.
Believe it or not: this plot in the commune of Soulieres goes by the name of Belles Feuilles - the pretty leaves - and it is never more true than this time of year.
The vision of the autumn leaves is a symphony of reds, yellows, browns and anything in between.
The smell of wet soil hangs heavily in our nostrils.
The sound of tiny drops dripping from wires. The leaves that let go and leave the branches gradually. Soon there is no trace of them left. The last few grapes of the second generations of buds that are eaten by migrating birds that will visit plots in big flocks that circle around one moment above our heads, the next they dive deep down to noisily feast on the left-overs.
The feeling of the wet grass under our feet and the way our rubber boots sink slightly into the softened soil. The sudden freshness of the moist air against our skin that has come with the rain.
Autumn is around. After comes the great calm of winter, another time, a different tale.
The plot of les Crochettes to show the autumnal face of the Chardonnays.As you see their colour range changes from green and into various yellows and browns.