The
vegetation started to grow early in mid-march due to a warm
month of January. December was paretically wet .The month
of May being cold slowed the growth of the vines up until
flowering in early June. June was very warm with the Max
temperatures getting up to 34°C .
July
the night time temperatures were very cool as well as keeping
the high acid levels in the grapes it created a few physiological
problems for the vines. As seems to be the case for the
last five years now, the vintage was tarnished by preharvest
rains. August was not only 2° C cooler than the last decade
but also had a rainfall of 100mm in the Dordogne.
The
Micro climate of La Colline only had 82mm! September was
cooler than the norms but dry enough to harvest the white
grape varieties with out major problems even though a little
disappointing. Heavy rains at the end of the month, forced
us to pick the reds off rapidly by machine. |
| Harvest
started with the Sauvignon hand picked on the 24th of September
a very small crop of only 42 hls par hectare but with a good
maturity of 12,5° Bé. The first of our reds the Merlot of
the plateau was harvested at the end of the month of September
with the bulk of the harvest finishing on the 3rd of October.
The sticky however benefited from a short dry period where
the Botrytis worked it’s wonders and the first tri on the
24th of October gave us a magical 27,5° Bé. This is however
to high for alcoholic fermentation so on the second tri on
the 3 rd of November we had to calm down the selection. |
| Due
the monsoon of the month of August paretically the Semillon
swelled up and increased the crop by 20%. This gave us a
crop of medium to high quantities. Any efforts to crop thin
were pointless as it was too late to have a effect on the
quality. We made 50 hls less Rosé this year to satisfy the
demands for more Red. The Confit yields were once again
radically small at 8,1hls/ha. |
| In
all the wines acid levels are higher than the normal. The
whites have more varietal character due to the cooler summer
nights. A move away from the tangerine mandarin complex towards
herbaceous citrus aromas.There is still the depth of flavour
and fullness but better balanced by the acidity.We waited
as long as possible for the reds to achieve full physiological
maturity rather than just high sugar levels.This paid off
as there is great depth of flavour and an opulent body to
the wines. |
go
back |
An
Exceptional Vintage - what a bunch of old rot
The year got of to an early start with a very hot March
and April which literally kick started the vines into action.
The vines went into the flowering season three weeks early
,this caused amazing joy and euphoria amongst the vineyard
owners as for once, we would in theory be harvesting early,
before the statutory, end of year rainfall. However the
flowering was spread out and was very uneven. In early August
we had berries on the same bunch of grapes that were nice
and ripe and others that had not yet gone through verraison.(the
stage when the grapes change colour).
As
per usual the Bordeaux press machine has been at work announcing
for the tenth time this decade, the vintage of the century.
Yes, the harvest is two weeks early, but this is does not
mean necessarily that the wines will be great. Like the
rest of Europe, France has suffered from an exceptionally
wet summer all through May to the end of July. Whilst in
the month of July one normally hears the crickets cricketing(or
what ever they do), this year all that could be heard was
the frogs at the bottom of the garden. |
Due
to the high rainfall, the berries have swollen with the water
and are 25% bigger than in an average year. For making wine,
we are looking for the flavours that come from the area just
beneath the skins of the grapes. This year these flavours
will be diluted by the higher pulp to skin ratio. Even though
the grapes taste physiologically ripe, the sugar levels are
low due to the dilution.
Not only does the heavy rainfall play havoc with the flavours,
but also the vines have been attacked this year by mildew,
black rot, oïdium and botrytis, not forgetting sour rot that
hit the white grapes in Bordeaux vineyards, which was the
real course for their early start to harvesting. Even when
you are walking around the vineyards, you can pick up the
smell of vinegar. French television showed the normal jolly
harvesting figure in Champagne vineyards but also the leaves
attacked by mildew |
My
own appellation, Bergerac, has inconceivably lowered the
minimum alcoholic degree at harvest to 9,5 %. This is the
adverse to any kind of quality, but the grapes are rotting
so fast in their vineyards, and they are most worried about
losing yield. It is incomprehensible and short-sighted to
be protecting large volumes of unsaleable wine that the
market dose not want any longer.
These above conditions are true for average generic producers
who go for high yields and low input.-, for example economising
on their spray programmes. The top properties of France
invest up to 8 000F per hectare and have lower yields of
about 40 hectolitres per hectare. I’m sure the these properties
have no rot or any other kind of problems and will this
year make very good wines.(perhaps not great wines)
Since the 8th of September we have an Indian summer:nice
sunny weather 32-34°C that should last yet another week,
so my satellite images on the internet tell me. For those
that have not panicked and have vines in good condition,
or who have taken the steps to ensure quality at the cost
of quantity by cutting out any rotten bunches, the possibilities
are still good of saving the day as we are gaining steadily
one degree potential alcohol per week.
We harvested our Sauvignon Blanc Monday the 2nd of September,
after discovering amazing flavours of Gooseberry, Asparagus
and Green Figs the Friday evening in the grapes. It was
so good, I even decided to make a small lot of barrel fermented
white wine this year.
As for the rest we are in no hurry as long as the weather
holds ,as I write my neighbour has finished his total harvest,
must be that some have different interpretations of full
ripeness than others! The reds are hanging in there and
have surprisingly good flavours of chocolate and plums.
But before these get harvested any thing could happen!
|
go
back |
The
harvest started on the 2nd of September for the second year
in a row. Two pregnant women and two grandmothers helping
us to hand pick the Sauvignon blanc.
This was far earlier than any of my own predictions to the
point that we were not ready in the winery to receive the
grapes. The previous week when I telephoned from Andolucia
on holiday to ask my field walker why and the hell my grapes
were beginning to rot when I had spent so much money on anti-botrytis
sprays he replied ‘because they are very ripe Monsieur’ this
was astounding news as the tests only ten days ago had the
grapes at 7° Baumé.
On returning to France I had to ask the INAO for a “Dérgation”
to be able to pick my grapes 20 days before the official opening
of the band of the vendage and half jokingly I had to ask
him the same day for the same grapes for a second “Dérgation”
for going over the maximum potential alcoholic degree of 13°.
quite ridiculous!
Running up to vintage we had had three months without a drop
of rain in the Dordogne and the Semillon was showing severe
signs of moisture stress with the yellowing of the leaves
and at the pre vintage stage I have never seen semillon with
such small berries. The red had high levels of athrocianies
and phenolic potential? .The expectations were high with the
promise of another 1990 in prospective.
And then the rains came and the weather forecaster announced
a “temps pouris pour le prochaine trios mois” and that is
what we got: rotten weather for the next three months. Every
time we get so close and then the clouds come and the rain
penetrates deep into my soul and it hurts so very much. Damn
the weather. |
The
Sauvignon we did manage to pick before it had rained and if
a little over ripe the potential is there for a extraordinary
wine.This is the first crop off these three year old vines
which managed to achive 47 Hls / Ha
The Semillon characteristically soaked up the rain like sponge
and the grapes doubled in size and started to split the skin
being very fragile this year. We held out from being pushed
into harvesting until the grapes were completely ripe even
if we had to pick between showers. The Semillon yields were
very low which is perhaps there saving grace as the flavours
in tank are very good pear, sherbet, and lemon merangue. This
year due to the very dry summer the best wines will come from
the bottom lands is I call them. These lands are normally
waterlogged and produce very diluted wines but this year the
berries are small and the favours are great. The plateau and
the slopping escarpments being too dry for effective alimentation
of the vines. |
| We
have invested a lot of money in the winery this year purely
with the optic of increasing our quality. The investments
include two new small stainless steal tanks for the small
lots of top quality wine. A mono pump for softer pumping
of the wine and lastly a Vinomatic which is a rotary maceration
tank.
One advantage of the continual rain is that the mushroom
picking on Sunday mornings is graced with Cèpes and Trumpet
de l’amour.
The happy news is one of the pregnant women happens to be
Gerrita my wife. |
| In
all the wines acid levels are higher than the normal. The
whites have more varietal character due to the cooler summer
nights. A move away from the tangerine mandarin complex towards
herbaceous citrus aromas.There is still the depth of flavour
and fullness but better balanced by the acidity.We waited
as long as possible for the reds to achieve full physiological
maturity rather than just high sugar levels.This paid off
as there is great depth of flavour and an opulent body to
the wines. |
go
back |
What
a year !Very Wet !! Followed by a vintage from Hell!!! but
surprisingly the wines are very all right!!! must be the French
touch or Terroir !!!
As this string of bad vintages « OK I mean not perfect » repeats
I am amazed at the vines of La Colline’s improving performance
to be able to each year carry through to complete ripeness.
The vineyard is now set up and ready to cope with these difficult
end of seasons; this is not the case of the winemakers soul.
Each time a front passes over La Colline I fell the poten-tial
quality slipping away and know that perfection is no longer
possible this year
So if any of you who read this have a direct contact with
those above in control, I am looking for an other 1990! Please.
The autumn was as normal wet and a little colder than an average
year with the winter being warm especially in January. December
and January were uncharacteristically dry but this did not
last with a very wet February.
The spring time was 2°C milder than an average year which
encouraged an early bud burst and regular shoot growth up
to flowering, which was marked by a very wet month of April
with over 100 mls
The year was characterised by a very long wet summer even
if the rainfall was not heavy, it was constant with rain every
few days. This created many physiological problems in the
plant. Not to mention the ever present risk of Mildew, Odium
and Botrytis. By the end of the season where we normally spend
36000 Frs on sprays, this year, to keep up the protection,
we spent 64000Frs on fungicides and 12 sprayings instead of
the normal 8. Even though a lot of this investment was washed
away, when I look at some of the vineyards in the region,
that before veraison which only had 25% of the leaves left
on the vines due to mildew, crop levels over twice the normal
and acid rot setting in, I think it was money well spent.
As well as the investment in the chemicals we went through
the vineyard twice the first time just before veraison cutting
out any excess bunches or over hanging bunches and the second
time, a day or so before the harvesting machine to cut out
any sign of botrytis. The actual volume of bunches cut out
was relatively low |
This
last vintage of the century we started to harvest the best
Sauvignon Blanc in the world on the 7th of September at four
o’clock in the morning with the help of a big blue Braud harvesting
machine.
We used the machine this year as I was fed up with the fiddling
around by hand that we had done the previous year. With the
machine you deal with good mechanisable lots of grapes that
fill up the press which avoids oxidation.
I had to ask yet again the INAO for a “Dérégation” to be able
to pick my grapes 20 days before the official opening of the
band of the vendage.
The Cabernet Sauvignon was once again picked before the Merlot
at the inverse of the norm.
We held out from being pushed into harvesting the Merlot until
the grapes were completely ripe on the 11 October with some
of the grapes coming in at 12,7°Bé and we even managed 13,7°
for the Carminé harvested on the 13th of October by hand,
even if we had to pick between showers.
For the confit we had a fantastic dry end of season and picked
it in good condition over three tris the first on the 17th
of October the second on the 24th of October and the third
on the Friday the 12 of November |
| After
last years tiny vintage for us of only 770 hls this year
we are up to nearly 1000 hls which will make a number of
you very happy .
Most of the increase comes from the very good flowering
and then the crop swelling of the Semillon.
Once again we made no Rosé but a record volume of Red wine
as further young plantations come on stream.
Confit is our biggest production ever this was a right decision
in hindsight as the way the year turned out. The block that
was destined to make Calista didn’t make it, because just
as the grapes were coming really ripe and I had programmed
to hand harvest them in a few days time, virtually over
night the botrysis set in through out the block, which I
then reallocated to make lot more Confit. |
At
harvest the main concern was not the relatively low sugar
levels but the staggering high acid levels; but having the
vineyard in shape and not an ex-cessive crop on the vines
meant that we could hold on and wait for full physiological
ripeness.
In all the wines acid levels are higher than the normal. The
whites have more varietal character due to the cooler summer
nights. The Sauvignon has enough fruit to take on Cloudy Bay
any day. The Semillon is in the register of the citrus herbaceous
aro-mas with however the fullness you have become accustomed
to of La Colline whites.
The reds have ample colour and typical to this vintage, sweet
tannins and opulent full bodies. |
If
last year we could console our bro-ken souls by picking Cepes
this year it was even too wet for them.
Even though the vintage was not the easiest I managed to stay
calm thanks to the help of two good stagiers in the winery
this year: one from South Af-rica and the other from Holland.
This year we invested in insulation for the barrel chai this
will help the ageing of the reds but the day they came to
install it, of cause was the hottest day of the year with
over 38°C with all the doors open it did not have the desired
effect.
I made a good deal on a big mother of a pump 360 hls/hour
this helped us greatly with the extraction of the reds this
year. We also invested in having the vineyard soils to be
mapped using the BRDA HERODY method which maps and analyses
the soils, so that we fertilise for the soils and no longer
for the vines.
As a result of this soil mapping, during the rainy days of
the vintage, I got one of the stagiers to map the flavours
from the juice of the grape sample that we have taken through
out every vintage since 1994 when I started at La Colline.
Much to my surprise the different « Terroirs » of La Colline
don’t have scientifically significant differences in flavours.
But I need to research this finer or in a different way perhaps.
This year we also did a cork trial using 9 kinds of cork in
exactly the same wine and tasting five cases of each at 3
months, 6 months and 9 months after bottling. The results
here however were very conclusive: you get what you pay for!!! |
go
back |
Well
this is going to be a change, I can be positive about this
vintage not my normal condescending self.
Yes we had a good, OK GREAT VINTAGE
One of those vintages when the grapes can hang on the vines
and one thinks to oneself “we should have harvested these
all ready” but the weather forecast is good for the next two
weeks so let them hang and we will go into unknown territory.
Like with the Calista, which reached a staggering 16,2 Bé
without any botrytis.
If from the previous vintages we talked about Cepes and mushrooms
this was the year of excellent ripe figs, fennel and wild
mint.
This year the vintage gave me the time to fine tune La Colline
further by keeping back the best parts of blocks for Micro
vinification apart for the Calista Carminé & Confit range.
With every year that goes past I discover !
The autumn was relatively dry and colder than normal with
the winter being dry with the exception of a very wet December
along with February. This cycle continued into March April
and May with a sequence of rainfall every few days along with
high temperatures. This created the ideal environment for
Mildew.
From June and July onwards the rainfall dropped well bellow
the average but the pressure of the mildew was ever present.
August and September were just supper with above average temperatures
and bellow average rainfalls.
|
Vintage
started with harvest the best Sauvignon Blanc in the world
on the 11th of September after following the evolution of
fruit flavours twice a day we picked just at their maximum.
The Semillon had a very strong natural physiological resistance
to botrytis this year coupled with the good weather meant
that we could pick and choose flavour combinations rather
than picking to botrytis levels.
For the reds the situation was a little more delicate with
technological ripeness being obtained very early, a long time
before real phenological and flavour ripeness.
The Cabernet Sauvignon produced the most bright varietial
characters we have seen in many years, as normal we
pick the Cabernets on their fruit, as we are not looking for
those hard tannins.
Merlot we held out from being pushed into harvesting until
the grapes were completely ripe and this we harvested just
before a week of very heavy rain. |
When
the rains came they came heavy and stayed for three months.
The year 2000 wont go down in history as a great year
for the Liquoreaux wines. As I said earlier a good year
for figs, bad year for mushrooms. We managed to get a
quite successful first Tri off after a fairly rainless
week on the 29/10 then with the majority of the crop still
on the 1,2 hectares we had to wait until the 14th of December
for a second attempt where we harvested for a whole day
at 8 people to get off only 2,3 hectolitres (i.e. one
barrel pre 1,2hectares).
This
year saw crop levels at a good average level, even though
we carried out crop thinning during veraison cutting out
any late developing or over hanging bunches. The actual
volume of bunches cut out was relatively low
Crop levels from one block of the vineyard to the next
varying greatly mainly due to berry size. The young
Merlot planted at 8000 vines par hectare produced a mass
of tiny berries and made excellent fruit quality.
The quantities of Confit de La Colline will be radically
low which will be a big loss of income for us but it is
the risk that one takes with this esoteric winemaking.
Last year we made great Confit and this year was a wash
out
|
Extremely
good, every year we progress even if the climate has the over
hand effect.
The dry white wines this year are a great expression of what
Semillon can do when the grapes are really ripe (fig, ripe
peach and apricot). They will be less acid than last year
but have a full honeyed balance.
The reds are some of the best fruit driven wines I have ever
made with the Cabernets in the register of small berry fruit
and the Merlots plump plumy and presumptuous.
The Confit does not taste so good at the moment but that is
normal botrytis wines need time.
Harvesting a good vintage with good help is a shear pleasure.
This year Sebastian Beaumont from the Beaumont Estate South
Africa was particularly helpful along with Danielle. |
We
are certainly more and more in touch with the vineyard in
a metaphysical and at the same time a technical analytical
respect. The soil maps and analysis was as good start. Now
we are trying to ascertain what in the soils of La Colline
makes quality. I can see/feel it my self but analytically
what is it I don’t know.
Every year we spend more and more money on so called sophisticated
spray chemicals. The new wonder molecules have less and less
of the desired effect but the shareholders of the large Chemical
companies are very happy.
How is it that at the end of vintage in a bunch of grapes
attacked 100% by botrytis there is one perfect green healthy
grape sitting in the middle of that bunch. There must be some
extremely powerful natural enzyme or something protecting
it. This is where the research needs to be carried out.
Next year in no way to become some kind of biological wonder
nut, we shall be doing a trial on one hectare of the property
with a spray program where the active ingredients is derived
from the plants that naturally grow in vineyards. At this
first stage the aim will be to control the Mildew. We are
not looking for any kind of biological label or handle for
this or shall we be filling our cow horns with manure when
the moon is in the seventh hour but the nature is very powerful.
Along the lines of going alternative we started this year
by encouraging the passriage of the grapes by sniping the
stalks joining the bunches of grape with some electricians
wire snipers.
For the Merlot this year I bought a swimming pool! One meter
high by three meters in diameter. The idea being fast extremely
well extracted due to the thin punched down cap, warm fermentations
and then straight into barrel for Malolactic fermentation.
The results were amazing I think I may buy five more for next
year.
On some land I bought last year that touches La Colline we
have planted some more Merlot vines at 8000 vines par hectare.
This was after removing the 64 truckloads of stone that were
in the soil before hand. |
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back |
Odd!
very odd this whole year but finished with some surprisingly
good wines that I am very upbeat about. If we have the quality
we certainly don’t have the quantity our red yield is down
too 38 hls/ha, which must now give us Grand Cru status (and
the prices?).
The vintage was a bit like a game of poker not knowing weather
to go for it or not. But gladly as you all know, you cannot
bluff me so easily, we held back from picking too early and
the gods kept the rain at bay.
From before flowering to the vintage I was not completely
at ease with vegative growth of the vines, this was due to
the roots being asphyxiated from the springtime until early
summer due to the heavy rainfall.
Walking through the vineyard this summer the frais du bois
were flavourless and the figs did not come ripe until September,
with these bad omens I only ordered the bear minimum of new
barriques for the vintage.
In late vintage we had some aromats in and around the vineyard
with the baragon (wild onion) growing profusely between the
rows of vines and wild fennel around the hedgerows.
The weather was very uneven throughout the year. After a mild,
wet winter the soils did not start to dry up until May (See
results of trails at La Colline)
June July were hot and sunny that continued into an Indian
summer until October this of cause not forgetting the odd
thunderstorm. |
Harvest
began at La Colline on 21st of September, later than normal
and to a certain extent unavoidably as the botrytis had started
to show signs in the Sauvignon Blanc. We picked across a range
of potential alcohols from 11,1 to 12,5.
The Semillon we started to pick in earnest from the 2nd of
October. Once again the Semillon was fairly resistant to botrytis
we were not under pressure to pick but even so we got the
crop for the dry white off in four days, as the flavours were
good.
As to the reds we picked first the young vines for the new
cuvee then on the 12th of October we took the rest off. Cabernet
Sauvignon was very slow in ripening and was not harvested
until the 17th of October. |
| |
BlancSec |
Rouge
|
Rosé |
Carminé |
Calista |
Confit |
| Hls |
435 |
173 |
45 |
60 |
30 |
22 |
| Hectares |
8,47 |
4,5 |
1 |
1,56 |
,68 |
1,18 |
| Hls/ha |
51 |
38 |
45 |
38 |
44 |
19 |
| Bottles |
58000 |
23067 |
6000 |
8000 |
4000 |
5867 |
|
Overall
the vintage is a bit like 1986 the Semillons are particularly
aromatic, with Bé° ranging from 11,6 to 12,7. Acidities tend
to be higher than the previous 4-5 years for all the wines.
The reds the potential alcohol of the Merlot rocketed up to
14 to 14,8 in no time, packed with red fruit aromas and less
tannic than 2000.
The Cabernets Sauvignon was very slow to come to full fruit
and in some cases in this appellation I am certain never did.
After 2000 it was good to have another good year for the stickys.
An even development of the botrytis due to some rainy spells
and alternate sunny dry spells, with enough time to get the
grapes off concentrated and not diluted by rain.
Considering my apprehension before harvest the final result
is vastly better than I expected. |
For
a small company we do actually spend 10% of our turn over
on R&D this year we did some field trials.
The objective was to compare two soils that by all analytical
characteristics are the same; one was at La Tour Monestier
the other in our main block of Merlot at La Colline. For the
technique we used 3 tension meters and thermometers at 30
and 100cm deep in the soil.
The results showed that at La Tour remained more humid and
did not reach the critical 100cbars at the surface and at
70 deep thus the vegetative growth did not stop before harvest
were as at La Colline this was obtained in mid august.
As to our trial on one hectare of the property with a spray
program where the active ingredients is derived from the plants
that naturally grow in vineyards. Went well in the first part
of the year with no signs of Mildew (there may be something
in the fact the natural pressure of mildew was very low during
this period.) But as soon as I saw the first signs on my vines
I quickly became very un-biological and we treated them with
a normal spray program.
The winery saw the arrival of 7 small tanks of 22 &17
Hls to be able to treat the small batches of quality wines
better. This year I finally made the plunge and bought a Pera
40hls pneumatic press. When I started in 1994 at La Colline
I had to sell my red drop top MBG to buy the crusher destemer
so this investment must be equivalent to sacrificing a Ferrari
Testarosa.
The most important event of the year was the birth of our
daughter Josephine on the 6 of June.
On the home front we moved into our new house in the heart
of the best part of La Colline just before the vintage. It
is not entirely finished so if you know how to use a paintbrush
I could do with a hand. |
go
back |
This
will be the first ever vintage when I whished it would have
rained during the harvest! It was so dry that the grapes stopped
ripening and they shrivelled on the vines.
The overall quality seems very concentrated due to the small
crops and the dry weather. Even though wines are the most
Italian styled wines La Colline has produced.
The summer was one of the greyest and coolest for along time
and yet it remained dry. The well on the property has never
been dry for fifteen years but this year it was dry for five
months. From December 2001 to August we had very little rainfall,
well below the averages. (as the graph below) With these extreme
conditions I would like bear a thought for my friends and
colleagues in the South East, who on the 8th of September
were experiencing extreme weather of another kind with heavy
flooding and the crop rotting on the vines. It shows just
how much of our happiness and fortunes are out of our control.
In late August, the weather changed and became warm, bright
days with cool, clear nights. |
The
vines got off to a good start with bud burst the same time
as last year in mid April.
The flowering started early at the end of May but lingered
and suffered from a cold spell in early June. This stuffed
up the growth of the merlot, which didn’t go through véraison
until early august.
Vintage started as usual with the Sauvignon Blanc, at 5am
on the 21st of September later than estimated due to the slow
ripening. Seven days later we started the Semillon and continued
every day until the 4th of October. The Merlot came off on
the Monday 7th of October after a weekend when the figs finally
turned ripe and the sugar levels jumped from low 11’s to 14
plus. (the moon must have changed or something) Once again
we watched the weather closely and avoided the reds being
washed away by a storm. |
| |
BlancSec |
Rouge |
Carminé |
Calista |
Confit |
| Hls |
457 |
261 |
80 |
32 |
11 |
| Hectares |
8,77 |
5,4 |
2,29 |
0,98 |
,58 |
| Hls/ha |
52 |
48 |
35 |
32 |
19 |
| Bottles |
60867 |
34800 |
10667 |
4200 |
1467 |
|
The
Sauvignon Blanc was not as great as I would have liked it
to be but we can put this down to moisture stress. The Semillons
are classic Colline but more minty, citrus and mineraly than
usual. Some of the grapes were harvested on the herbacious
side and the best blocks went all the way through to passerillage.
All the whites have spot on acidities and the pH values mean
the wines will be very stable.
The reds have fantastic depth of colour as you have come used
to from La Colline. The level of tannins seems to be in abundance
particularly in the Cabernet Sauvignon. The acidities of the
reds are high and the pHs are relatively low, that makes me
think of Italian red wines. |
As
to our trial on one hectare of the property with a spray program
where the active ingredients are derived from the plants that
naturally grow in vineyards. For a second year it went well
in the first part of the year with no signs of Mildew. But
as soon as flowering started we saw the first signs so once
again we treated them with a normal spray program.
A first this year, we actually did some crop thinning for
the Carminé with the aim of making something quite exceptional.
At flowering we removed bunches in excess of one per vertical
shoot. The remaining bunches where then individually thinned
themselves by cutting off the two top lobules off each bunch.
Making them cylindrical shape rather than triangular which
guarantees even ripening within the bunch.
The viticultural practices that I put in place to diminish
vigour when I first started here at the Colline have never
changed. Our Sauvignon Blanc that should be the best in the
world still isn’t, which has made me ask a few questions.
In June this year I did a complete vineyard audit with the
help of my soil scientist and an oenologist. The protocol
was to taste all La Colline wines horizontally back to 1994.
Then we physically went into each block of the vineyard, with
our scientific knowledge and a fair amount of feeling, to
decide what style of wine each block should be making as well
as how to achieve it.
Investments have been limited this year to 6 new swimming
pools as the technique works so well. But apart from the period
of fermentations, it means that I have swimming pools to rent.
During vintage my right hand man Ramón slipped on a ladder
and broke his ankle. He is still off work, which partly explains
why I am rarely in the Office. Vintage went extremely well
however in part thanks to Ruth our stagier from South Africa
who worked hard and who I could have entire confidence in.
For my first daughter Marguerite we made a barrel of port
that is ageing until she is 21. For the second daughter Josephine
this harvest we picked the Ugni Blanc or Trebiano and hung
the individual bunches on strings in a barn to dry out to
make Vinsanto del Collino.
For those of you who have clicked on La-Colline.com and gone
nowhere! Our web site will shortly be on line.
Our family dog Monty who had a fetish for chicken legs of
the neighbour got in to trouble with the police one time to
many and had to be given away. The penultimate time however
I was supposed to go to court and was going to be charged
a 2000€ fine and given a criminal record for my dogs liking
of KFC. One of the oddities of living in France is that my
dog Monty got a presidential amnesty, as Chirac was re-elected.
Of cause to thank president Chirac we sent him a bottle of
our Couilles du Chien. |
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