Both shows are chock-full of awesome behind-the-scenes insights about Champagne that are well worth listening to. As I mentioned in my post SpitBucket on Social Media , the purpose of my Geek Notes features are to highlight valuable resources for wine students pursuing various certifications.
However, most people are actually a mix of multiple learning styles so the best approach is to also incorporate kinesthetic hands-on learning as well.
When I come across a podcast with useful information, I go back to listen to it a second time. This time, I take notes. You spend class time actually listening to the instructor and absorbing the material first without distracting scribbling and note taking. But then you solidify the material in your mind by going back to the recorded lecture for notes. You can get more out of these Geek Notes by checking out the podcasts for yourself after reading these posts.
They provide you with an entire library of wine knowledge that you can digest one entry at a time. This is the first day that grapes can be legally harvested. Now there are multiple ban des vendanges based not only on the village but also on the individual grape variety.
And apparently rootstock in some cases too. For instance, in the Grand Cru village of Mailly for the vintage they were allowed to start picking Pinot Meunier on August 25th. However, for Chardonnay and Pinot noir which the village is most noted for , growers had to wait till August 27th. BTW, August start dates were historically unusual in Champagne but are now becoming much more commonplace.
