So this is what seeing life through rosé-coloured glasses is all about! June brought us lots of things – mostly scowling skies and cool climes, it has to be said – but also a trio of brand new wines. We don't do things by halves here, we do them in twos or threes, and first and foremost amongst them, our new duo of double bubbles:

Vintage Rose is a Crémant de Limoux rosé, made of chardonnay, chenin blanc and a splash of pinot. It is fresh, lively, summery, and just what the doctor ordered to put us in the pink. Vintage Rose is partnered by the new Rives-Blanques Blanc de Blancs – quite a mouthful, so to speak, and no mistaking that this sparkler is a white one. So now we have three in total: two new Crémants, and one old Blanquette (which of course predates even Champagne by over a century), and that puts a lot of bounce into our bubble.

The third new wine to come our way is Sauvageon, which was safely bottled this month, and gives a whole new face to the name of a sauvignon. Although not yet officially released, we see from customers in our tasting room that this one really hits the spot. Unusually, it was fermented and aged in oak barrels, and we wait with interest to see how it will develop further in the bottle. One comment we've heard often is “it's unmistakably Rives-Blanques ” … and you can take that to mean what you may.

Otherwise, the great drama of June passed by quietly and almost unremarked: the flowering of the vines was an effortless, unimpeded affair and the grapes are already pea-sized. The vines themselves have grown taller than us (and some of us are over 2m tall) and have been cut down to size. There's no going back now, the harvest will soon be upon us.

That other measure of the passing of time, like Christmas or the growth of other people's children, also came and went: Vinexpo, the world's Grande Dame of wine fairs in Bordeaux . We were there as visitors, not exhibitors, and picked up a copy of Andreas Larsson's new Wine Guide, published especially for the event. He is The World's Best Sommelier, and included in his choice of the best twenty-two white Vins de Pays d'Oc - our own Chardonnay du Domaine.

The weather has been dire to the point of desperate, but now we've been hit by a heatwave… We'll be back again this time next month unless we melt, or unless you click on takemeoff@rives-blanques.com