“Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not.” – Ursula K. Le Guin​

Before I was a farmer 5 o'clock happened once a day as far as I was concerned  

Well, things change.... For P I'd say the above is still true. 

However time and vines wait for no man especially after the amount of rain we've had.. So I've been pulling the early, pre-school run, shift in an endeavour to get the vines lifted.

Le levage means wrestling the new vine shoots into a more upright position. After the vine starts sprouting from the carefully tied in latte it grows rapidly, and the long shoots start to fall over. In order for the sun to ripen the grapes these shoots need to be stood upright with the aid of the two lifting wires which run down each side of the row and are supported by a lot of agraffes..... c shaped clips. 

Said clips can be found in the pockets of every garment we own and yet there's never enough. They come in metal or biodegradable plastic. 

I'm a fan of the metal clips as they don't suddenly ping off under the strain of heavy vines as the plastic clips can do, threatening life and limb.

I like lifting if its done at the precise moment before they get too long and heavy, and start growing sideways, but are long enough to be caught by the wires as they reach skywards.

I don't like it when its 5.30am and they are covered in heavy dew and I come in after 3 hrs and have to empty my wellies and wring out my socks as a result. 

" Vigne en fleur, ne veut ni vigneron ni seigneur".

-----

"The vine in bloom, wants neither winegrower nor lord"

In other news.....

 
We went off to help a friend with his new plantation. 

Remembering our own efforts and near divorce resulting arguments about what constituted a straight row, I'm not sure we were that keen!

However it turned into one of those fantastically surreal experiences. 

1800 vines, 12 people, and 3 hours later they were all in. Easy really

At one point I was surrounded by opera blaring from a Renault clio's speakers, 3 people to my left shaking their heads at the merits of Opera to plant vines to, and Didier singing along to Lakeme's the flower duet, all in the rain.

I loved it , my back however, did not. 

Our life is fabulous but for those who have ideas about its glamour.... I'm just going to leave this here...


Step back ladies I saw him first...

_________

Peter is wearing this seasons new line in non-waterproof, waterproof jackets with matching hood and elastic cuffs; stylish retro 1950's schoolboy shorts, and kaki wellies with added holes.
This ensemble can be avoided with careful attention to dignity. 


Cesca is mostly just wearing wet clothing.... oh and the vingerons staple favourite, socks with crocs.

Things I have found in the vineyard...

We find all sorts out an about in the vines and this mornings offering was this extraordinarily beautiful beetle....admittedly it was dead but you cant have everything.

A bit of googling tells me its a leaf beetle or tansy beetle.

I sent Ev’s into school with it. Her headmistress nearly had a coronary watching Ev’s pause on the threshold to check it was really dead... it was.

When she came back I asked her how it went...."ok" she said, "but it smells".

Things we have purchased.

Our first cuve has arrived. It was purchased from a vineyard on the banks of the Dordogne near Libourne. It is a 70 hectolitre (7,000 litre) fibre glass vinification cuve, equipped with a floating lid.

The idea of a floating lid is to prevent any oxygen spoiling the wine. Around the edge of the lid is an inflatable tube exactly like a bikes inner tube complete with valve. When the lid is lowered onto the surface of the wine the tube is inflated with a hand pump to create an airtight seal. An attached pressure gauge allows monitoring in case of a slow puncture. 

It was a tight squeeze getting it into and out of the hire van. The real challenges will begin when the stainless steel cuves start to arrive. 

Another purchase this month was a 'pompe a mack' . This is a piece of equipment that receives the grapes from the trailer and by way of a turning helix thread pushes the grapes up into the cuves. 

We bought this from a Montagne-Saint-Émilion vineyard that was ceasing trading. We went to collect it with our little trailer attached to the car, expecting it to fit perfectly. It's not until one tries to lift a 'pompe a mack' that ones realises just how astonishingly heavy they are.
After much hefting and swearing in two languages we just about got it lashed into the trailer.

Apparently a book was opened by the watching vineyard workers on how far we would get before the trailer gave out under the strain. 

Whoever had their money on 10 miles won.

Coming down the hill towards Villefranche the noise from the trailer dramatically changed and we screeched to a halt. A tire on the struggling trailer had not so much punctured as shredded itself . A quick phone call and a ten minute sit by the side of the road and our friend Robin arrived with a van more used to bearing such weight, and now the lump of fine engineering awaits it's first harvest. 

Investment... developments.

The wheels of bureaucracy are turning as fast as possible for the formation of our new company. We have been informed by the new notaire ( the last having proved himself neither motivated or hurried ) that the process should only take around 1-2 months. I have so much more confidence in this chap, who comes from a farming family and seemed impressed with our planning. He did question us on the wisdom of Brexit though, until we politely pointed out it wasn't our decision and neither did we vote for it.
We will be in touch with you individually in the near future with further information.
Until then thanks again for your support. .

In Numbers.

4,000 is the minimum number of vines per hectare in Bergerac