Early muscat, late clairette

In contrast to the white clairette, which is harvested relatively late, the muscat is an early variety that requires a great deal of care. This is because the extremely tight bunches are particularly sensitive to diseases.  The harvest begins at the end of the summer.  It lasts from four to six weeks, and can sometimes continue right up to the beginning of October.  There is a gap of around a fortnight between the harvests in upper and lower Diois, and this is the main reason for the long duration of the harvest.  In the vines, the men fill their buckets with the grapes that they harvest using a tool known as a "vendangette", a small pair of secateurs.