July presented itself on our doorstep wearing an inscrutable face: do you read sunny weather in it, or something scowly and stormy? Either seems possible; both seem probable. However, the growth of the grapes tells us that we are pretty much marching to the tune of 2010, the coolest vintage in a decade for us […]
June is a huge milestone in the cycle of the vine: it is when it flowers. If flowering goes well, then all is well. If it doesn’t, well, then it isn’t … and you may as well get out your fishing rod and go fishing. So that is the important event of this month. Also […]
Tuesday 2 May Going Dutch A pretty good start to the month when the doyen of Dutch wine-writers chooses our new blend, Le Limoux, as one of his ‘discoveries’ of the month. Hubrecht Duijker actually is the most published wine-writer in the world – more than Jancis Robinson, Robert Parker Jr. or any of their […]
Sunday April 1 No April Fool Second on the left, front row: our neighbour – a retired grape grower who keeps bees. A very nice man, an old-world Languedocien. He has a field that for historic reasons lies in, but on the edge, of our vineyard, right between our two top chardonnay fields. He is […]
We asked for winter last month, and promptly got snowed in. Now we are almost afraid to ask for rain, because heaven knows what we’ll get – but we do need it. What we don’t need is this string of balmy, bright blue days pulling the vines joyfully into springtime … when, as everyone knows, […]