It’s my Vineyard

The quality grapes that had travelled up the tapis and tumbled effortlessly into the cuves began, if you remember, their fermentation process almost straight away, encouraged by the addition of yeasts and sugar. The deliciously developing juices had been tasted regularly, the first, an exciting moment as we had all felt so close to this […]

Up at 6.30am monday 3rd sept. The Turkish team of grape pickers would be arriving at 7.30 and all the paperwork must be filled and faxed to the Social Security Centre in Lyon before anyone starts work. The identity and health insurance cards photocopied. Unfamiliar names and complex spellings and worn numbers difficult to read […]

These days I wake up to the Regnie Durette church clock striking six or seven and already there are sounds of activity in the vines around us. The humming, whining, droning of tractors that is pleasantly soporific. It is imperative at this time that the dreaded ‘liseron’ does not take a hold and strangle the […]

We visited the Bel Air Lycee,just outside Belleville. It was their open weekend when students have the opportunity to advertise the courses on offer here and show off wines made as a result of their studies in viticulture and vinification. The surrounding vines are the practical learning ground where all aspects of vine cultivation are […]

Each vine will produce enough grapes to give us three quarters of a bottle of the delicious substance. In the weeks and months to come we will be at the mercy of the weather. The climate here can be quite extreme. Last year we had hugely high winds, hail storms that were so local that […]

While we continue to follow up and organise delivery of our latest orders, to Cambridge university cellars, Holland and Barnsley Rugby club, the vines need some attention too. The pruning or ‘taille’ of the vines must be completed by the beginning of April. It can start as early as after the grape picking in September […]