4 years ago when I started my conversion from financial journalist to winemaker I didn’t know the Tarn at all. At the time I envisaged that I would base myself in the Loire where I have my roots and where I spent a year studying viticulture at the Lycée d’Amboise. I first visited the Tarn in 2017. On the advice of a friend who is a Parisian caviste I came to complete my training by working for the harvest and winemaking at Pey
The more I learn about growing grapes the more I appreciate how much is actually in the hands of Fate. The most experienced and diligent grape grower can be completely out manouverd by the weather and often there is very little that can be done to change the course of events. Sometimes the catastrophy unfolds in slow motion like damage done by a drought or the terrible silent spread of mould in muggy conditions. Other disaster
Finally, the penny has dropped. My “problem” with natural wine is me – my own defensiveness & prejudice. It’s taken me a while to get here but I feel much better now! Why defensive and prejudiced? Happily these are not emotions that I often identify in my reactions to things and perhaps that’s why it’s taken me a while to have this breakthrough. My initial negative reaction is the implication that i
What is veraison? Vines in the northern hemisphere have an active growing cycle from roughly April to October – bud burst to harvest – depending on the grape variety, the exact location and the weather conditions in each year. During this period one of the key milestones in the development of the grapes is veraison which generally occurs for us in late July or early August. The photo is of our Syrah Cahuzac parcel
Early August and we’re starting to gear up for this year’s harvest. After a tricky start to the growing season we can now begin to predict the volume of wine that each of our parcels of vines is going to produce assuming of course that things go smoothly from here to harvest. That’s actually quite a big assumption given the havoc the weather can cause in August & September but we’ll cross that bridg
Its officially Spring! Winter 2015/16 here in south west France was a memorable game of 2 halves. We kicked off with a glorious crisp sunny December and January followed by rain, rain and more soul sapping rain in February and March. I’ve sported every type of kit while pruning – from suntan cream and sunglasses to a balaclava! Tomorrow we’ll finish the mammoth job of pruning and tying down our 30,000 vines a
First a big happy New Year and very best wishes from me and Jack for a wonderful 2016. I love the winter months here in rural France. It’s quiet with just us locals going about daily life. The pruning gives us grape growers a rhythm to our working days and a way to measure the passing of time. More than at any other period during the year the vineyards are visibly busy, dotted with little white vans and their owners bowed over
Its 4th January 2015, dusk is falling and the mood here is the same as it used to be on the last Sunday of school holidays. Having done sterling work over the festive period eating foie gras for France and mince pies for England Jack & I are metaphorically sewing our name tags into our gym knickers and getting our pencil cases ready for the new “term”. At some point this evening there’ll be a stiff drink
Yesterday we took our last 2 tanks of red wine, made from Braucol & Duras grapes, off their skins and so our 3rd harvest here at clos rocailluex is at an end. On 1 October we kicked off the vintage by hand-picking Mauzac for our white wine. Its been pretty non-stop since then. Thanks to glorious dry, sunny weather in September and October the fruit was beautifully ripe and healthy. Its been a pleasure to work in the winery