A grape’s progress

This week, the first batch of grapes arrived from Château Corneilla in Roussillon to London’s first winery – London Cru in Earls Court.

The London Cru team have given db exclusive access to images tracking the grapes’ progress, from vine to vat.

The brainchild of Cliff Roberson, founder of independent wine merchant Roberson, senior buyer and Master of Wine student Mark Andrew has been tasked with sourcing the grapes from select growers in Bordeaux, the Languedoc and Roussillon.

London Cru aims for all of its grapes to reach the winery within 36 hours.

Australian-born winemaker Gavin Monery, who has previously worked at Cullen, Moss Wood and Jean-Louis Chave, will oversee the entire winemaking process, from grape deliveries through to bottling.

The first bottling is expected to go on sale next summer. Doors open to the public in November, with London Cru offering wine tastings and tours.

London Cru’s winemaker, Gavin Monery, oversees the harvest. This year, the winery will import 22 tonnes of grapes from three different producers – Cabernet Sauvignon from Jeff Coutelou, Chardonnay and Syrah from William Jonquères d’Oriola, and Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc from Jacques Lurton.

Pickers busy at work at Château Corneilla hand-harvesting the Syrah grapes

Rich pickings: a vineyard worker beams with delight having finished the harvest, passing the grapes to Monery

Monery loads the Syrah into shallow crates, to protect the fruit in transit

Syrah grapes fly into a crate in preparation for their journey to London

Château Corneilla’s owner, William Jonquères d’Oriola, bids farewell to his fruit

The grapes arrive in London via refrigerated truck early on Thursday morning and are unloaded at London Cru by Monery on a forklift

The grapes are sorted on the triage table by a band of volunteers. Next year the winery will invite the public to get involved in the sorting.

After sorting, the Syrah is poured into a destemmer

And finally… the grapes dive into the tanks, where they’ll rest before being pressed and aged in barrels for London Cru’s first vintage.