Open days and pruning lessons at La Clariere

It’s Open Days this weekend at La Clariere, our Bordeaux vineyard. Or 'Portes Ouvertes' as they say here. Henry and I are here to help Clare, Claudy, Helene, Olivier and the others do the visits and pour the wine. Mostly it’s local people. There are no holidaymakers at the end of November! Mostly they’ve lived in and around vineyards all their lives but they still love to come and learn more. And taste more. Especially taste. We get more than most. Maybe it’s that intriguing name they see on road signs but which their French tongues are unable to pronounce; 'Laithwaites' … Lacewhite? Lay-why-at? Lay Waste? 'Tony' is a lot easier. I always assumed they were just very informal here. But was wrong. They are formal but just cannot say my name.

It’s pouring down. Chats and chiens. So that's cut the numbers down. Pity, after all that work arranging the cellar with the work of local stained glass and mosaic artists. Numbers were right down for the 'pique nique'. But I ask you … a picnic in November in the rain!!! Was held in the village hall but was just forty winegrowers tasting each other's wine and eating all the steak.

I think the Cotes de Castillon needs a little marketing help.

Monday was better. It wasn't raining. Henry and I went for pruning lessons with Jean Pierre who sells grapes to Henry and has offered to teach him how to look after a vineyard in traditional Ste Colombe fashion. It’s for Henry's benefit but I go along because with a wife and son who both know how to grow grapes and make wine, I run the risk of becoming the least wine informed in the family. That would never do.

So I get to push the bonfire-wheelbarrow thingy while Henry is instructed how to select next years single branch or 'Aste' and a couple of 'Retours' which I guess might be 'spares'.

JP goes so fast. It’s a blur. I couldn't follow. He carries a small saw in the side of his boot. For the thicker bits. That'd get him arrested in Britain!

Noon we go down to Les Voyageurs for a hearty lunch. Choice is duck legs or choucroute. I have the choucroute which I love. The restaurant is full (it’s Market Day) so Mimi puts us in the back room where the regulars sit at two long tables. You go through the kitchen and salute Monsiuer Marchés who I believe is Mimi's husband, but not sure as he's completely deaf and I don't like to ask her and risk our relationship. Mimi runs the bar and looks like a little Piaf or Juliette Greco. He cooks all on his own. Amazing how he feeds maybe sixty five course meals every day from one big cooker and one big fire. They want to retire I know. But I love this place. I'd have it preserved forever. A monument. To the 'real France' that's almost disappeared.

Didier Grandeau joins us for lunch then drags us off to his homeland; Charente. Where Cognac comes from. We didn't need much dragging come to think of it. About an hour away. We go to meet the new Directeur of the Liboureau cellar. To keep the price down if we can. In face of a general shortage of white wine this year. He's at home today. Distilling! It’s the distilling season. His day off, he helps his family out taking a turn to watch the still. Nice work. You just sit by the warm furnace and watch the white cognac run out of the condenser. We sniff the new cognac but don't risk drinking it as it would probably remove a layer of taste buds at this stage of its life. Be better in ten years. So we drink the new Liboureau Sauvignon, which is very good but in short supply. Take a few publicity shots. Get a good deal.

We celebrate by going off to see Didier's old rugby mate who surprise, surprise is also distilling. Pass a little time with him and more Liboureau. I'm not driving! Then back to Castillon.

A day working in the Chai au Quai then home to Gatwick and Theale.
It’s Christmas. And we are busy. Thank you all. I was getting nervous.

A week in … PORTUGAL!

Spent the annual working weekend with Hugh Johnson at Great Saling. Well, I suppose 'working' is putting it a bit strong. Tasting wine is usually work for me – oh yes it is! – but with the ever generous Hugh and his two enormous and full-to-the-brim cellars ... no, that's not work at all! Fabulous wines from great vintages of legendary estates. You might think I drink such wines all the time. Not so! I drink what my customers drink. Most of the 'priceless' wines I've enjoyed in my life have been, one way or another, thanks to Hugh.

Then we all hopped on a plane to New York to arrive – quite accidentally – on Election Night. New York was wild. Such euphoria. I can remember similar moments in Chile on their day of their first elections in a long while ... and South Africa similarly, Czechoslovakia, Hungary etc when the Wall came down.

Good to be at our new US office in Connecticut where we have just done WSJwine from The Wall Street Journal. We launched on what was Wall Street's worst day. But we got a huge response. Maybe we provided the only good news that day! One result of this venture is that US wines, long under-represented on our list, have been the focus of a lot of our attention and you can expect exciting US deals in the near future.

Then flew to Portugal.

"Must not forget Portugal". I spent the week there apologising. Feel I should apologise to you too. Somehow I keep forgetting Portugual. I have missed the incredible improvements in Portuguese wine. Our buyers have been, and come back frothing with enthusiasm but stupid me kept looking at Argentina, Chile, Italy – all the current 'hot' wine sources. Never really properly noticed little Portugual. That's always been Portugual's problem. Mind you, also its saviour, maybe. The Portuguese say their powerful neighbour was never really keen on taking them over because their little country is just mountains and poor soils and rain: the rain in Spain falls mainly on … Portugal. This is the part of the peninsular Spain didn't want. But makes great wine.

When I first came here it was after their revolution and the place was in turmoil, the roads lethal, the wines – apart from Port – risky too! Strange styles, stranger names. They had their own ways, the Portuguese. But they are the most obliging people in the world it seems to me. They are consideration itself. During the Napleonic wars they allowed us wine-starved Brits to charge into their vineyards and completely change their wines; adding brandy to their good, plain wine to invent something we called 'Port'; a wine we found more palatable.

It seems to me they've now – 200 years later – done something similar by turning so many of their idiosyncratic wines into the sort of wines we adore today. Brackish whites have largely gone and whites now sing like the best Sauvignons and Chardonnays. Many indeed ARE Sauvigons and Chardonnays but with intriguing differences from added Arinto or Fernão Pires or Encruzado grapes. There's a huge list of wild and wonderful grape varieties in Portugal. Far more than in Spain. I want us to try them all. We will! We will!

My long time personal dream of big, dark port-like-but-not-port wines that are for drinking with great roasts are now available – just taste the Quinta do Espirito Santo! When I last came here looking for such things (15 years ago – shame on me) I found only two tanks and Christiano Van Zeller wouldn't sell them to me because he said they were only experiments.

I call on all loyal customers to honour Portugual today with their custom – our Oldest Ally – 305 years of being nice to the Brits (since the Methuen Treaty in 1703) – no-one else has managed to put up with us that long –. Honour Portugual with your custom. Buy our Portuguese wines. You'll love them I promise. This, remember is the man who brought you Black Stump, Bombero, The Forefather, Pillastro etc so I know what you like!!! You will like the Portuguese wines we offer you today. They will add new interest to your life (unless you are one of those who learnt Portuguese drinking quicker than I did).

It's time you came and met my Portuguese friends; Fernando and Carlos and Sandra and Jose … and Sheriff the horse.

The day I got home to the UK, the Portuguese pursued me to the office and got me and our local MP to plant three cork oaks in our home vineyard at Theale. Persistence pays. Our Portuguese chums have persistence and they certainly think long-term; cork oaks need forty years before they produce cork! In the meantime we've a box at New Aquitaine House to collect and recycle used corks. Next time you're over, bring in your corks. And try the Portuguese wines.

The English harvest ... a total miracle!

Last week I was up in The Lake District's torrential rain but left Friday and Saturday when the Lakes had most rain ever, we were finally, at long last!, harvesting Barbara and Cherry's Oxfordshire vineyard … in the dry!

If the Bordeaux harvest was a bit of a miracle, the English one was a total miracle!

Those grapes have been out on that exposed hillside through storm after storm, the whole sodden summer. Yet a crop was produced with a quarter of the spraying done last year (seemed no point spending the money protecting grapes that couldn't possibly ripen). And it was extremely healthy at the end – I saw just two mouldy grapes.

Wasn't a big crop. Just over a tonne. Not excessively ripe either but that's OK for making a Sparkler. It was the Chardonnay that saved the day. A good crop. The Pinot crop was tiny. Runty little bunches.

As usual it was a volunteer work group. Thirty kind folk turned up. We started 9.30 and were done by 11.30. Just two hours for over an acre. Whereupon hot soup was served up in the barn with cold meats, fruit cake and cheese. No wine though! Bit severe, that. But Barbara and Cherry expected we'd have to be lashed back to work after lunch and last time that proved difficult after a long liquid lunch.

But this vintage was all done and dusted. All packed in neatly stacked boxes on the lorry for the journey to Mike Robert's Ditchling Winery. The Greatest Living English Sparkling Winemaker was taking in fruit from five vineyards the same day. So it wasn't just us were so late. Mike confirms it’s been a funny year all round. People expecting 8 tonnes only got one tonne. (Theale vineyard was right down due to botrytis but it still tastes very good apparently).

But you've really got to want to do this English Vineyard lark. Barbara and Cherry work incredibly hard. They also get – and need a lot of – free help all year from Laithwaites staff, friends and neighbours (the latter also have to put up with the bird-scarer banging away all day for the last weeks as well!)

Anyway, a nice little crop means about 80 cases of fizz in three years time. Another benefit; we cleared 10 years of accreted rubbish out of the barn and had a lovely Harvest Supper on trestle tables decorated with all the colourful leaves and fruit of the season.

Great party. And tidy barn. Thanks to all helpers.

2008 – Bordeaux's Golden Vintage!

… I just thought I'd coin that phrase before anyone else does! It highlights the fact that 2008 is the latest Bordeaux vintage ever, and for the first time anyone can remember, black grapes were to be seen hanging beneath vine leaves which had turned to gold. Looked stunning.


This phenomenon indicates several things;
1) The weather is crazy. But you probably knew that.
2) Growers here are far more courageous than they ever were, in risking their harvest out there on the vines so very late in the year.
3) Growers have mastered the art – and science – of keeping fruit healthy through the wettest of summers and on until almost November.

A HUGE change. We still have our later-ripening Cabernets to harvest and they will be done on Wednesday, probably after everything else.

The sound of gunfire has now replaced the drone of harvesting machines and so tells me most people have finished already and are on to the next country activity; La Chasse. Walking in the vines has become dangerous. On yesterday's Sunday saunter, a fearful, disembodied red face suddenly appeared before us on our walk; the camouflage clothes and hides are really effective these days and chasseurs do not like walkers. I cannot see what they are shooting at but presumably its the poor palombes who every year must elude the guns if they hope to see their winter quarters in Africa!

We don't shoot. We pass our days plunging and pumping-over. As you shove your plunger or direct your jet of wine through the floating 'cap' of black grapeskins, lovely aromas gush out to overwhelm you. At first it’s buckets of fresh fruit, then it turns to something like strawberry jam as the fermentation kicks in, then this in turn changes to heady aromas of spirity, young wine within just a few days.

I have always found this the most satisfying of jobs; better than shooting and much less strenous than harvesting – and quieter. The harvester's chatter is gone, and so is their thumping boom-box. Its just the quiet of the cellar now, with only the gentle clock-clock of the Manzini on low speed and the gurgle of happy tanks. Wine is being born. Good wine. Very good. Deeply satisfying.

The weather holds good too. Some days are better than anything we saw all summer. Don't want to go home to the UK, but it’s our busy sales time there now. And first there's the little matter of our English vineyard harvest. Now that's going to be really interesting! Do we have ripe grapes or not?

Encouraging news from Bordeaux

The news, here at least, is good! We've had a week of sunshine and warmth. Better than anything in August. So the grapes have continued to ripen. Those who did not thin their crop will have got some benefit but those of us who did the hard groundwork, are harvesting 14 even 15 degree Merlot. It's likely the Cabernet will not be this ripe so we will have a nice average; 13 to 13.5. Amazing result really, when you consider how bleak everything looked at the end of August!


All the time I was crop-thinning those unripe green grapes in August, I was thinking "you're wasting your time; no way is this going to ripen in time". Now some people are saying they are going to make superb wine this year. But that's only the best producers. There'll be a lot of weak stuff around too. A good vintage though, if you buy with care!

But the ripening is coming to an end. In the last 2 days the whole country has turned yellow and red! The trees and the vines, both. Only a few of the better-tended vineyards are still green. It’s the first time I've ever seen ripe black grapes hanging under yellow vines. Black and yellow is a new look. People never used to leave grapes on the vine anywhere like this long. But the keen producers are responding to the customer demand for extra-ripe tasting claret.


I don't have any info on other regions. That's the thing with harvesting, everything focusses on just what's in front of you. And you're going from before dawn (fetch harvesters bread and croissants), picking till noon, stop for 'la soupe', then sorting in the cellar, and cleaning up till supper time, then collapse in bed. No time for the outside world – which, the new arrivals here tell me, is a blessing indeed!

It’s all rather tense in Bordeaux right now …

It’s been so, so, so busy. That's my excuse for lack of diary output. Our new CEO is somewhat dynamic and has the whole Company rushing around as never before. Even including yours truly! One day I must catch you up with all the myriad things we are doing. But there's no time to write.

Anyway it’s a relief to get out here to Bordeaux for what is probably the latest-ripening vintage in memory. It’s been such a cold year. Unlike last year, the vines budded late and the cold, wet weather kept everything behind schedule all summer. And though the September weather has miraculously saved the day, it’s not been hot enough for ripening to catch up.

This makes it all rather tense here now. A few more days of sun like today and many of us believe we'll make lovely red wines. If the rain comes back hard, well, we won't make poor wine, just not top-notch.

One thing for sure; there won't be a lot of wine.

The whites are mostly in now and we have for example only about half the Sauvignon we need. But it’s lovely stuff. By and large it’s the same story elsewhere. Burgundy had the same miraculous September escape and are pretty pleased and relieved – as their harvest is about all gathered-in now.

Results here will be mixed. This is very much a 'Millesime de Vigneron' – a vintage where success – or failure – is down to each grower's skills and energy. Not luck. A year like this, if you don't do anything you'll now be harvesting acidic grapes at 9%. But those who really look after their vines, thin down their crop to only what can fully ripen, then sort out only the best grapes at the cellar, they'll be getting 13-14% nice, dark mellow juice. It'll have big 'fruit intensity' because the one advantage of cold summers is the grapes never get overcooked.

So here we are. Waiting. I have a couple of days to slow up, calm down, and catch up on the old diary, before we crash into harvest. Busy, busy it will still be, but a different kind of busy.


From our little hill I can see pickers and picking-machines out in the vineyards. And the machines, I can hear. A constant motor drone that will hardly stop – even at night – for another two weeks. Across the yard I can hear Henry and Tom banging and shouting, washing down the vats in Le Presbytere. They are wood vats. Need a lot of cleaning and wetting so the wood expands back to being watertight. They stay empty and dry all year. Two vats are a bit inaccessible and the boys aren't as slim as they were. Hence the yells I guess.

A sleek helicopter just circled low. Probably Christian Moueix checking out who's harvesting too soon! We won't start until Friday I think. Bit of a risk – the Meteo is unstable – but we want ripe flavours as well as ripe sugar-levels.

At the weekend we had a large crew out from Laithwaites. Something we do a few times each year. Visiting the village where it all began, Chateaux, La Clariere, the Chai au Quai and chilling out. BBQ here, before getting back to work. They took lots of pictures. Here's a selection; this is what we look like; 'Laithwaites at Work and Play'.

Come and join us, two customers did, Saturday, nice to have them join in. Anyway, the weather's better here. And here, at this time of year, come what may in the big world outside, nobody talks about anything but grapes!

Did you watch that disturbing TV programme on Monday?

The disturbing TV programme about wine. I thought we'd be flooded with worried calls. But apparently we only got one! And he went away totally reassured.

Maybe you didn't worry because you have actually read my words. You know we don't ever do any BIG BRAND wines. Heaven forbid! We only like family-run wineries and co-operatives. I started by working in a co-op winery. I like co-ops a lot; they allow the small growers to keep their beloved traditions but also compete worldwide.

We do offer some well-known brand Champagnes but that's only because some customers insist on them. And some are really very good. And we must listen to customers. But actually we always recommend small producer and village co-operative Champagnes as a better bet. For me, in wine, small is always better. I see no reason to make an exception in Champagne.

As for this Champagne thing about strewing Parisian rubbish as fertiliser, I confess I never did understand that. I remember it starting in the 70's. It looked awful and still does, although it's mostly gone now. But the growers told me it was more or less imposed on them by the local council. Some sort of ecological thing. I accepted that. I mean, local councils can do dotty things. You have to accept them. I don't think my grower friends were ever keen on it but, you know, who dares say no to recycling?

As for the Italian making wine from just sugar and acids! It beggars belief. But the crazy ones are always with us. Luckily only one or two. I remember a big case years ago where they were using banana skins! Doesn't bear thinking about!

All these revelations confirm my belief that we here at Laithwaites must never cease to travel to source our wines. Travel, travel, travel. Meet the growers, poke round the cellars, ask around, check up, verify, taste and taste again ... all the time taste, check. Takes time. Costs money. But must be done.

Order here with total confidence.

Fingers crossed for an Indian Summer

UK vineyards have not enjoyed this summer any more than we have. Incessant rain is not what you need to ripen grapes. The foliage copes well – in fact it goes berserk – but grapes need more sun.

Barbara and I came home from France just as her vineyard partner Cherry was going away after a summer fighting their rampant vine growth. Had she not won that battle they'd have a vineyard resembling the Matto Grosso – probably with Cherry trapped in the middle!

We went for a look as soon as we got home. Bit of a shock contrast with our Bordeaux vineyards where all the grapes are now black (even though the season is very, very late.) In South Oxfordshire the grapes are all still bright green. Very worrying. Last year though, was worse. Last year they got no crop at all. Tiny green berries that could hardly be called grapes.

This year the Chardonnay bunches look like they might ripen … if the sun comes out and stays for an Indian Summer. But the Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier don't not look they are going to ripen even under ideal conditions.

So that means that after three years production at Wyfold, the ladies will have had one good year, one total write-off and (with luck) one year of less than half a crop.

So you see it’s a tough life being a wine producer. The hours of work put in! Repeated passes up and down all 47 long rows; to prune, to tie down, to de-bud, to remove suckers, to weed, to tuck-in, to trim, to rotovate, to spray, to net ( see previous diary entries ) ... It’s never-ending. And then at the end … maybe nothing! You have to be mad. Or just in love with the plants, the fresh air, the working with nature's most special of plants.

OK, so it’s no kind of way to run a business but I admit I do see why they do it. And why I – after a lifetime in wine spent avoiding the hard work in the vines – now do my bit. And why a whole bunch of Laithwaites staff turn up once a month, after work, to put in a couple of hours before dark in return only for hot soup, a couple of sausages/chicken legs, salad, cheese, chocolate and a glass of wine or so!

But standing around the fire (of vine cuttings) as the light fades chomping a hot sausage and admiring our now neat rows, it does feel worthwhile.

We ARE indeed mad. But quite happy.
If we are also lucky the Chardonnay will be picked end October. And if miracles still happen the pinots will be in November. But I think this may be a Blanc de Blanc vintage.

Had a little inaugural dinner at Le Chai au Quai night before last

Had a little inaugural dinner at Le Chai au Quai night before last. Small because in August the wine trade here shuts down and they all go off to eat oysters in Arcachon. However Hugh (Johnson) was over, so some dozen or so made the effort to meet and feast with the great man. Long table, white cloth, gleaming silver, cool wines and cooler waiters. Don't think this place has ever seen anything like it in its 152 years.

We did very well on the deal. The 'traiteur' – a friend – only charged us €40-something/head but the old bottles our guests brought must have been worth way, way more. Finished on Quinta da Noval '66! What's that worth at Christies? Sincere thanks go to Christophe Reboul Salze; the top Bordeaux merchant, only able to come because his yacht just broke down in Alaska!!!

Alexandre de Malet Roquefort, of Chateau La Gaffeliere and Ch. Armens; a family that goes back 500 years here, Antoine Darquey – top negociant/proprietaire – owns Teyssier in Montagne' 'Manu'; Emmanuel Villega – consultant at Cheval Blanc, the younger of the Arpins from Pomerol, Jonathan Maltus, that energetic Brit who's been buying vineyards in St Emilion for 15 years, Eric Getten, runs Lafite and all the other Rothschild estates, Francois de Ligneris, ex Ch. Southard now making wacky wines on a collection of new estates, also has the best wine bar in Bordeaux, Philippe Bourlon – Guibot La Fourvielle; known him since he were a little lad. And Jean- Pierre Appelghem; my ex-employer, thanks to whom we have this lovely building. All great friends of ours.

Us? We fielded Jean-Marc or course, just loving it all, Dan our new Buying Director, Clare who runs Le Chai, young Mark, Barbara and I.

Probably forgot some.

Our hit wines of the evening were Mark's lovely 'GG' Grenache Gris white (which is also Decanter magazine's Wine of the Month this month). And Dan really liked Le Grand Chai Pomerol.

The Laithwaites Champagne (in magnums) was much admired.

Our cellar really does look lovely with the lights lowered, candles all over and sweet arrangements of wild flowers by our Brigitte. I was hoping a 'Keyholder' or two might happen by and be blown away. But no luck.

However.... in the last three weeks since Keyholder was launched we've already had forty visits with another twenty booked. Mark has had no time for work. He's not complaining.

I've met quite a few and as always it’s a real pleasure to show off. So come on over y'all.

The English rain has arrived in Bordeaux.

The English rain has arrived in Bordeaux. Our dear visitors brought it with them. The vines certainly needed it. But personally we didn't! However it means I have a day to write some sort of diary. Listening to the pit-pattering.

You will be panting to know prospects of the coming 2008 vintage? Can't really help. We do at least have grapes. Not many. Some are now red, some still green. Depends where you look. We've spent ten days looking very closely and titivating them.

That doesn't sound serious enough a word for what is a screamingly hard job especially if you are no longer young and bendy. A small Scottish person in our party came up with the word 'de-fankling' to describe what we do. (Apparently an old word for the tangled wool often founds in turf-roofed crofts of old; such wool was 'fankled').

Grapes get fankled too. Boy, do they! You'd think a vine after millions of years evolution would be able to grow its grapes neatly and unaided. Not a bit of it! Daft things can get really confused! We didn't bother in the old days. We'd just throw away the festering great lumps of mould formed where several bunches had just got all fankled.

Trouble is mould spreads. You can end up with it everywhere. Best it never starts. Hence this fankling work. Which must be done in august. When the staff are all away. So you must do it yourself. Can going out at eight a.m. (should be six a.m. ideally, but never managed that) for 2/3 hours back-breaking, lunch, siesta, then out again at six p.m. be in any way considered a 'holiday'? But the wife says we must so we must.

Going slowly through our vineyards disentangling, dropping bunches where there are so many they'll never ripen anyway, removing the lower leaves. Basically doing the stupid vine's thinking for it. Leaving a neat arrangement of free hanging bunches through and around which the drying breezes may waft. That way your bunches stay healthy. Blokes understand this concept well.
Talking of which I have a suggestion for any gardeners who have to do lots of bending or squatting or sitting on hard earth. Purchase a cheap plastic football and a string bag. Ball goes in bag which is tied loosely around waist so ball hangs just below your bum. You win no prizes for elegance, you create much mirth. However you do have the pleasure of this nice little soft seat that moves with you and takes away muscle-strain. Would-be manufacturers should contact the inventor; Madame Bernadette Pallaro of these parts.

Anyway we've done what we can. The bumball is packed away till the real harvest. Now what those grapes turn into depends purely on the weather from now 'till October. That's here in Bordeaux. Down in Roussillon they've already started bringing in the Muscat but that's what they do down there. Vintage gets earlier every year. They'll be harvesting at Easter soon. Here, it certainly won't be early. It will be mid October I reckon. We shall see. We'll send our dear visitors home, so the sun returns and all will be well.

The waxed bat, 2 nights in a bus, a loose goose called marco and a crash in the vineyards at 2000ft.

I am on hols in my bordeaux vines, so rather than writing about 'effeuillage', 'vendange verte' and the joys of six o'clock starts to beat the heat, it might be more fun for you to read what Thomas has been up to in Argentina and Chile this month.


Argentina
Boom and bust is back - if it ever went away. With inflation rising at c.30% prices have risen steeply and a crash is expected in the economy within two years. So Argentina no longer offers rock bottom pricing.

However for sheer excitement in the glass in wines below six quid there is little to beat it. An outstanding example of how argentina can delight, surprise and astound is the new Waxed Bat from Andean Vineyards.

The pet project of winemaker 'Opi' Sadler who won the only Malbec Trophy in this years wines of Argentina awards. Opi has visited Australia and tasted our Black Stump. He wanted to make a really great DARK red just for us. Full of flavour but with the natural ripeness that Argentina achieves so effortlessly, balanced by the altitude of the vineyards which keeps the wine fresh in a way the Aussies can only dream about.

Like Black Stump its a unique blend of grapes - Shiraz based but a chunk of Petit Verdot. Why did he call it The Waxed Bat? It goes back to childhood visits to his grandfathers cobweb strewn wine cellar and memories of bats and waxed bottles and candles. The image has stuck in his mind and this is the result. Our most exciting dark red find this year. My highlight from Mendoza and it's just perfect with beef.

Good tasting at Trivento in Mendoza where we doubled our Bastiana Pinot allocation (still not enough but an improvement). The best rosé I tasted in Argentina too - Parra Alta Malbec 08 - vivid colour and fruit.

Then by overnight bus to distant Famatina Valley - 8 hours on the bus followed by 2.5 more in a car. Here the shy but talented Rodolfo Griguol was very very pleased with the quality this year.

The exceptionally cold winter was just perfect for the vines. He showed me around the Finca Federada fairtrade vineyards where there are a special breed of goats trained to eat grass but not grapes. Not sure how !

All organic vineyards but they don't certify as too expensive. This is a very poor area yet the potential is huge. Rodolfo is King of the Torrontes grape and is making whites which are fresher and more elegant than ever. He also has new premium parcels of Malbec, Pinot and Tannat.

Back in the bus for the overnight return.


To Trapiche who are still holding the last few cases of the Olivé single vineyard Gold medal winning Malbec for us. New 06s looked great and all from the Uco Valley this time.

More Malbec at Cru Classé-like Fabre Montmayou including a tasty new Malbec Reserva 07. At well below ten quid, it's extraordinary value. The barrel cellar wouldn’t look out of place in the Médoc ...

Chile
From blue sky, sunny, dry Argentina and over the Andes to cold, drizzly misty Chile. More like Bordeaux.

We will take our first ever Tarapaca rosé this year – it’s a beautiful Cabernet Syrah. Also at Tarapaca was Vicki’s top new red find from this trip – a Reserva Syrah 07, tasting more like a great Crozes Hermitage.

Down to Luis Felipe Edwards in the Colchagua Valley for our crash in the vineyards at 2000 feet. It had been raining but Luis was determined to take us to see his pride and joy vineyards in the sky. They are extremely impressive and we tasted the very first crop which were full of bright, vivid fruit and incredibly concentrated with huge colour.

On the way down however Luis was struggling for control of his 4x4 down a steep slope and we crashed into some vine posts denting the rear wing. His 6 year old son sat in the back, wide eyed throughout this adventure.

Final highlight was at Cono Sur where Vicki has sourced her new Loose Goose Chardonnay. Inspired by a goose called Marco who is one of a small flock which the winery lets roam the vineyards to keep it bug free.

Its an exciting Chardonnay – no oak but bags of flavour in the fresh modern style and very pure. Vicki’s top new white find was also at Cono Sur – a parcel of Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc 08 which includes fruit from winemaker Adolfo Hurtado’s family vineyards.




Conclusion
We have already achieved a great deal with these two countries and are way ahead of the market for range and sales. Argentina is now 5% of our mix and Chile 10%. This compares with 1.5% and 8% for the rest of the market. A fantastic result. Its not going to be so easy with the price increases (especially Argentina) but there are some strong new wines coming over very soon to keep customers excited.


Thomas Woolrych

The Bubbles from Berkshire … gives 'House Wine' a whole new meaning!

Last week we had the ITV News cameras in our little vineyard at New Aquitaine House. Our MP; Martin Salter has been telling everyone in the Houses of Parliament about our home vineyard sparkling wine; Theale Vineyard – the 'Bubbles from Berkshire’ – which is selling (unsurprisingly!) well in the Commons Bar.

So … ITV heard the noise and sent the lovely Sally down to find out more about our patch of 700 vines that make these 700 bottles of Champagne-level fizz that keeps coming out Top in all surveys and competitions. I missed the news item, but it seems to have gone down well. Click here if you'd like to see the recording.

The 2003 vintage is, alas, all gone. But the (in my view even better) 2004 is due for release in early November. If in a hurry, try our 'South Ridge' from vineyards on the South Downs.

'Comparisons' night at our Theale store

A couple of weeks ago, Jean-Marc and I did a tasting for customers of the New Aquitaine House, Theale shop. J-MS – usual dramatic entrance "just flown in from Rioja" – where he has his own 'little' winery (10x bigger than my little winery!)It was a 'Comparisons' night.

I opened with my Laithwaites Champagne which I've been getting from the same cellar in Avize since the '70's when J-MS was still at school. This chardonnay-rich, creamy Premier Cru delight has won many, many friends. And did again. (There is now also the Blanc de Blancs available (poured at Henry's wedding last weekend!). You should also try the pink version and the überclassy Extra Brut which pulls off the difficult stunt of being drier but still smooth and delicious. Greatest of all apéritifs).

Jean Marc then had to follow with his sparkling creation; our 'PS'; Petillant de Syrah, pink semi-sparkler from Brignolles in Provence. Thinks; "Not a chance"! But, well, must admit it stood up very well indeed to the champagne despite being a fraction of the Champagne price. Its a classy drink ... several in the audience admitted to being dedicated fans. It is VERY popular which explains its unfortunate tendency to run out every time the sun shines! Goes well with a deckchair.

Then two Sauvignons to compare; the Laithwaites versus the new 'JMS'.

Jean-Marc makes both of course, and the Laithwaites Sauvignon is our best-selling white. So it should win. It’s a wine that loves its new screw-cap; extra flavour-retention and a touch of "pssst" when opened. 2007; best Laithwaites Sauvignon for about 4 years, I'd say. The perfect apéritif.

But I thought it only fair, as Jean-Marc has made this wine for about 14 years whilst I have taken all the credit, to let him get his name on a bottle. So he has now made, and offered for comparison his 'JMS' Sauvignon. As he explained, it’s made from the same grapes, from the same fields and in the same cellar; our 'Chai au Quai'.

But manages to be totally different. For 'JMS' he leaves the grapes longer on the vine for a less zingy, riper, mellower style. He ferments it very slowly, not in steel tanks but in oak barriques – some new – and on its 'lees' (fine sediment) which he stirs up all the time so its yeasty flavours get added to the basic fruit flavours. (Our barrels are stacked on racking called 'oxoline'. The barrels rest on castors and can easily be rotated. That's how he keeps the wine and sediment mixing – like stirring the teapot for a stronger brew). The net result is a wine more like a big Chablis than Sauvignon. A weightier, more 'serieux' food wine for, say, roast chicken or pork.

The vote went 50/50 but everyone agreed it would be 'horses for courses' except our Frenchman who was perplexed by this expression. Then we compared two further creations from 'Le Chai'. Two 'Unmentionables'. This term always gets a laugh from those over 50 and puzzlement from those under. We use the term, not in its pre-1960's lingerie sense but for wines which we cannot name! Not on the label anyway. They are wines we really want to make, but which Appellation Controlée rules forbid.

'V.C.' is a super white, made by combining very aromatic Viognier from the cool vineyards of the Ardèche where this grape has always been successful, with some big, fat Chardonnay from down on the Aude. It’s such a logical blend. But French rules mean if you blend regions you lose the right to put any information on the label. (They have announced a change to the rules which WILL allow it – whenever the bureaucrats get round to it).

Lined up against 'V.C.' was 'G.G.' (an excellent wine for Ascot Week as one wag could not help saying).This is Grenache Gris; a rare – almost extinct – varietal I mentioned last Diary piece, which is only to be found scattered around old vineyards of the much more common Grenache Noir down near the Med. It’s a pinky sort of grape, makes a 'dark-white' wine which is very Mediterranean in style; quite severe at first. Mellowing quickly to flavours of minerals, thyme, rosemary and – over time – lots of other things too. It’s a big wine. The voting was split but I think the VC had it. Be other way round in a year, I reckon.

After rapidly shovelling down the nibbly things we resumed with the reds. My 'Presbytere' from very old vines around and the tiny winery in, our French house, and his Pomerol made at Le Chai from fruit sourced right in the heart of that most prized of all Bordeaux regions. Again a fairly even split on the votes, maybe the Presby won, but again, next year I would guess the Pomerol would have grown more in power and interest.

Finally the 'sweeties' came out.

The excellent Sauternes that J-MS blends most years and raises at Le Chai, was trumped by La Font del Bosc – a Vin Doux from Maury (see last diary). Both in half bottles only. Both due to do very well this Christmas, judging by their reception.

Great night, great wines, lovely customers and ... for the first time filmed ... so click on any of the links above and see it all happening!

PS We really missed Mr Hammersley at the tasting. He's never missed one before. That Brummie accent very noticeably absent at the event. Get well soon.

Tony Laithwaite Career Change Reversal!

Got a job trial in Gordon Ramsay’s new Butchers Block kitchen at The Maze … grilling some amazing Japanese beef worth a fortune and asking if it’s meant to flare up like that. The Glaswegian chef‘s reply is unprintable and the job ended 30 seconds later. … I will stick to choosing the wine to go with ...

What would I drink with very expensive beef? I'd drink my favourite wine, which is of course my own wine! It has to be, doesn't it?!


We don't have any mature Château La Clarière Laithwaite left (apart from the 'archive stock' at the Château and I'm not allowed to touch that). But we do have some 2003 of our 'Super-La Clarière' called 'Le Presbytere', made the old way (no machines) just hands – and feet – in the 12th century bit of our French house which was the Presbytery for the village priest.

It has a lovely little cellar Barbara and I have restored. It’s where we ourselves pick, sort, process, ferment and barrel with our own hands (with a bit of help from family and friends, notably son Henry the Winemaker).

If you are paying £130 (that's what they told me!) for a super-steak then £20 for a super-wine seems very reasonable. (If B and I added up all the time we've put into 'our' wine then we'd be selling well below cost. I've been up at 3a.m. tending this stuff as it ferments!)

So the big, extra-mellow 'Presby ‘03’ (hottest-ever summer = ultra-ripe wine, remember) would be my top tip for top steak. Though we've more in France (call-in at the La Clarière office) there are today only 384 bottles in the UK. Grab some while you can!

The pinks are booming.

Today's Daily Telegraph devotes half a page to rosé wine; not bad coverage with all that's going on around. But I expect they felt they needed to add something cheerful. And what's more cheerful than the idea of a nice glass of chilled pink.

I've been telling people for years that France now drinks more rosé than white wine. I wrote an intro to a wine book solely on pinks. I even risked being interviewed on telly about pinks. Anyway, still, no-one believed me.
I thought.

But now it’s in the Telegraph, so it must be true. And we British are, at last, it seems, joining-in; with sales of pinks from Provence up some 40% in the first quarter of this year! Note; jan, feb, march! So not just a summer tipple then?

Sound sense has prevailed. When I was a lad in the trade customers always declined rosé, saying "it’s neither one thing nor the other". What they really meant was that to be seen drinking rosé was social death. It meant you didn't understand wine.

That stigma now seems to have gone. And the wines have improved beyond belief.

But actually that only means we are back to 'normal'! It is very normal that wine should come out pink. In the Middle Ages most wine was some shade of pink; Bordeaux made only 'Clairet' which was a very light red. There were vast - now vanished - vineyards across northern France that made only pinks. And of course the Mediterranean vineyards - notably Provence - the very first vineyards of France (2,600 years old) made, and still make, mostly rosé....the best of all in my view.

40 years ago I sat at the back of wine classes (tough times, yes) with a lad called Remy Ott. Holidays, he drove me (I've yet to meet a madder driver) back home to his family's estate; Chateau de Selle, of famed Domaines Ott; the unquestioned No. 1 Provence rosé ... then. Today, I'd dare to say - maybe not to his face - our Saint Tropez Rosé might just pip old Remy's wine.

Our pages have plenty of pinks to choose from but I have to say the old St. Trop is what I drink now. (Until I go to Bordeaux in August when I switch to our very own Clairet made at La Clariere by my own fair hand (with help).
The St Trop is the current favourite, however.

There is only one cellar in St Tropez itself; the old co-operative cellar. A bit run-down it was. Years ago we managed with the help of a very influential friend, to get a 'Flying Winemaker' in there. The fruit they harvest is stunning.

Because the ancient peninsular vineyards are protected by all the 'stars' and tycoons who's properties nestle amongst them. They can never be touched or uprooted. All that this great fruit needs is a 'star' winemaker. And the last two years it’s been Adam Hooper chief winemaker at Red Heads in Australia most of the year. He takes his hols in St. Trop whilst making the stunning, fruitbowl-flavoured orange-grey-rather-than-pink, dry-yet-succulent wine I love.

Do what I do; visit St Tropez by wine this summer and save a fortune on petrol and avoid that appalling traffic jam.

Roussillon 37 years later.

I may have started my wine career in and fallen in love with Bordeaux but when 'maverick' Bordeaux wine producer Henri Bourlon sent me off down to the Midi in '71 (I'll faut absolument le voir) the stunning scenery and enormous untouched potential of this much misunderstood but ancient wine region caused me to switch affections immediately. The Midi soon became our major source of supply, and remained such for many years - at least half our existence. Bordeaux Direct (our first name) should really have been 'Midi Direct'.

Then along came Australia and other countries with exciting labels - the 'critter' wines - with handy hints written on the back (in English!) and most of the Midi wines fell out of favour. Only the -ever-popular XV and similar wines stayed the course.

But times change and customers are searching out 'new' wines, so I thought I should look again at my old love. Easyjet from Bristol to Toulouse is good. If you don't get put in category B! What did I do?

We stayed Sunday night with an old friend who chucked in being a UK lawyer to run four nice 'gites' in the peaceful countryside at Labastide d'Anjounear Castelnaudary www.enrouger.com and likes an excuse to get in his unique takeaway; huge bowls of the most delicious Cassoulet in the world from a nearby restaurant.

Set off past the Cité of Carcassonne, so stunning from the outside - getting a bit Disneyish inside. Though the Cathar Castle is worth a visit.

Its nice to leave the French motorways behind. They are so good - quite addictive. But I do love to be reminded of what it was like to drive here before they existed.

So we went 'direct', except that the winding, 'chemins tordus' from Limoux across to the Agly Valley are anything but direct. Lots of hairpins and one bit where the road loops totally round and under itself. So leave plenty of time, put the top down and admire the towering crags, deep gorges, forests, flowers and unspoilt rural charm. And let someone else drive. I did - and went one better - with one old mate from school to drive (because he's a boy-racer and won't let anyone else touch his precious BMW) and another who despite all evidence thinks he can map-read!

It's the weekend, we have no rush and so start ticking off the Cathar castles. 2; Puilaurens in dark forests and steep crags is awesome and frightening and a very steep climb for old chaps. It needs repair - so do the old chaps as it happens. But worth the pain. As you descend the Agly valley the forests give way to vines and the aspect widens and you enter the most spectacularly beautiful wine valley in France. This is what I once fell in love with.

The high and jagged, almost-vertical, white rock walls either side enclose a flat but rolling floor still covered in vineyards but with very few houses. Hereabouts habitation is huddled together against both the violent winds and even more violent invaders. The villages St. Paul, Maury, Estagel, Baixas etc ... I loved them and this valley on first sight in 1971 when I came over the pass from Cucugnan in the Languedoc and saw all this beauty and wished I'd landed here rather than Bordeaux. But then I was hugely disappointed to find the whole valley was dedicated to Vin Doux Naturel - sweet wine like port - and refused to countenance going back to making the (less profitable) 'Vin Sec', as they call it here. There was a craze for the sweet stuff - only dating hereabouts from the 1930's - but the craze has gone now, so for the last few years they have made dry red wines again and we can now get our XV du President from here. And it is superb stuff. If you like XV (and most do, it seems) watch out ... we currently have ageing in our cellars some even more amazing stuff that comes from the steepest, driest blackest schiste soils. This is the pet project our our Mark Hoddy; winemaker at Le Chai au Quai.

Though still young, Mark lived several years in Maury whilst ressurrecting some ancient, vertiginous vineyards. Here he met Elsa who comes from the village next to us in Bordeaux but who also came here to buy inexpensive vineyards and bring them back to glory.

When I tell them I wish I'd also moved here they say it would have been a mistake. Mark says he was here 18 months before anyone in the Maury bar spoke to him! And Mark, I can assure you is a notoriously 'sociable' chap! Elsa, who is gorgeous and lively, says absolutely nothing happens here. They both now come down here to tend their vines and top up their barrels. But they don't stay any more. The villages are depopulated. Lots of old people. The young like modern bungalows but it seems they don't allow much new building here. Which is good for the beauty of the place but not too good for its life.

Mark and Elsa also say its still incredibly hard to make wine pay here. The old (very) vines produce so little. And on these slopes everything is by hand and so costs more. And there's been five years of drought to reduce yields much further. Which concentrates the wine still further of course, and pushes up the strength. Many in Britain think the higher strength wines they now see are a cunning marketing ploy when in fact its largely just a result of global warming.

But at least the vines are still here. You can see most of the hardest to cultivate vineyards on the steepest slopes have been pulled - which is a pity because these have the best fruit, but hard-pressed growers find it hard to resist the cash the government offers for grubbing up and logically its the least profitable vines that go, even if they are the best.

In 1971 - and long after - the co-operative village wineries were virtually the only act in town, making 90%+ of the total production, from hundreds of small farmers. Now there are a growing number of big estates, some of them very marketing-savvy. Robert Parker has dished out a lot of points round here, recently. As a result a few of the smarter producers are now making good money. But only a few. Often guys from Bordeaux. Whilst the remaining smallholders still struggle to make ends meet. But this area will be OK, I think. It will survive and prosper. But life here will be very different. The wines will get better still.

Maury already has a Michelin star restaurant - over-fancy, it has to be said. The sort of place where waiters can easily get quite cross and stamp their little feet if you fail to pay attention. I preferred the place where a stubbly old guy with an unlit gitane stuck to his lip, unceremoniously ladled out lumps of steaming wild-boar 'avec frites'. He's probably now been locked up by health and safety.

Went to the co-op cellar to try the XV. Up top, walking across the vats opening the trapdoors to drop the little steel cup-thingy on its string into the inky black stuff and hauling out glassfuls of that heady, spicy fruity aroma-y delight. Its very, very good this year.

Then we went over the pass to Cucugnan to stay at the Auberge Vigneron. Basic but friendly. Barbara and I stayed in Cucugnan in '76 or thereabouts. We spent two days exploring the little ravines and sunning ourselves by cool creeks ... 'till something - as usual - went wrong at the office and we had to get home fast. I really must bring her back for longer soon.

We sold the wine of Cucugnan back then. Basically - because no-one had ever heard of it - on just a photo of the lonely little place and a translation of Alphonse Daudet's short story 'Le Curé de Cucugnan'. I forget the story about the priest's sermon, but it sure sold a lot of wine! Now the village has its own Vin de Pays it'd be nice to do it again.

Following morning the Tramontane was blowing hard and rattling the shutters. Probaly not the best day to climb to Cathar Castle 3; Quéribus which stands precariously high on a single pinnacle of rock. Hanging on for dear life, we were, but an amazing vertiginous view to the sea and the Pyrenees. Young Elsa revived us with a tasting of her wines at her Domaine Eternel - also high-perched on the southern valley wall. And she and Mark rustled up a lovely lunch before they shut up house put out two weeks catfood for Victor and the other cat, and headed back to Bordeaux and civilisation. Whilst we went and climbed up to 4; Peyrepertuse to conclude our castle bagging.
Following day we drove due south on very minor roads winding in and out of valley after valley each with its vines and co-op. Caramany, Rasiguères etc. I have bought wine here but there's still a load of undiscovered stuff around. Its remote; vines and wineries on the brink of extinction. That might be saved. Need to be quick though.

By the evening we were approaching the coast; the Cote Vermeil; Collioure, Port Vendres and Banyuls. On the skyline appeared this vision of a solitary,tall white gothic mansion and much to our amazement it turned out we were to stay in its attic. Mark had said to visit Chateau de Valmy and his friend Valerie's new cellar (which we have bought from) and that they did B & B. So I just booked. Without checking. Its not your usual B&B! Four-star luxe rooms all modern design and technology ... and a great marble pool. Far from cheap! But we could hardly back out after the copious tasting. And Valerie and husband also run the best restaurant in Banyuls La Littorine (+hotel 'Les Elmes') which sits on its own little beach and does the freshest fish. We met up with Andree Ferrandiz who has sourced most of our Midi wines for us since 1980-something! (See her video on our website talking about the XV) and she drove so we indulged - with her (the best wine guide in the Midi) - taking us through the wine list. Wines here improve every time I visit.

Next day we did a sobering walk along the coast. I think those old, terraced vineyards just look so great perched above the blue Med. - would guess they were the first vineyards in France.

Drove back to Toulouse roughly the same way. Flew home. Still category B!

Our humble Theale Vineyard fizz is rated in the ‘World Top Ten’!

Today, wandered round the back of HQ in Theale to check on Laithwaites own English vineyard. It's less than an acre; tiny, but is currently amazing us.

At the big 'Effervescents du Monde' competition in Burgundy, the 2003 vintage of our allotment-vineyard ended up in the 'World Top Ten'! This competition is the 'Open' of the sparkling wine world. It is a competition which pits all-comers against each other. Our wine beat a whole bunch of Champagnes to achieve the best score of any English wine and come in at 8th overall ... not bad!

Most of the credit must of course go to the winemaker; the amazing Mike Roberts. Mike is 'Mr. English Sparkling'. I may have been banging on for thirty years that English winemakers – an eccentric bunch, as pioneers always are – were barking up the wrong tree with their German whacko-hybrid grapes and strange prunings. I might have said to all who would listen that the answer was to just copy Champagne. "Don't try and be cleverer just copy the French exactly". But it was Mike who actually did something about it. Setting up a well-equipped Champagne-style winery in Sussex, learning how to do it, and starting production of excellent fizz - like the South Ridge we have been happily selling for fifteen years now.

They'll put up a statue to Mike one day. A large one on the white cliffs of Dover ... when the south-facing slopes of the Downs – from the Isle of Wight to Berkshire –and the Chilterns are covered in neat green stripes and the whole world is celebrating with the lovely fizz from our 'white fields'; or 'champs agne' in the old French.

Mike had several winners in this competition, some from his own vineyards. He must wonder how come our tiny plot usually seems to come out best. Of course there's its secret; the rather unusual subsoil. I don't tell everyone this but our vineyard is actually a pile of rubble! When we moved into the new New Aquitaine House in Theale (from the old New Aquitaine House in Caversham) we discovered the builders had – as builders do – left the rubble of the previous building on site. We faced a hefty bill to have it carted away until some bright spark suggested we leave it where it was, cover it with earth and plant wines on the side facing the sun. Which we did.

The north side which faces the building and the truck yard was planted with ground cover stuff, fruit trees went in at either end and we got some French chums from Burgundy and Champagne to come over and plant it with us. They did it by the book. Low, ground hugging vines, post and wire, classic Champagne. And it grew. Seemed to thrive, in fact!
A few early cultivation mistakes maybe, but all sorted and is now one of the most immaculately tended vineyards you'll ever come across, tended by a local father and son team who take immense pride in their work.

I can see today that the vines are at least two weeks ahead of my wife Barbara and her friend Cherry's vines – only a few miles away but on the top of the Chilterns. That proved crucial last year when the Theale vines had flowered and been pollinated well before the appalling summer struck. Whereas the girls’ vine flowering was just rained-off and nothing managed to ripen.
Worrying about frost though. Vulnerable, tender shoots. But maybe the close presence of three heated warehouses to the west, north and east gives our little plot a favoured micro-climate.
How much do we make? Approx 900 bottles each year. Just enough, the first vintage, to give a souvenir bottle for each of the staff at Laithwaites. It’s £22.99. OK not the cheapest but this is a very hand-crafted micro cuvée. And it is the eighth best fizz in the world!

The 2003 is all but sold now, but if you have the chance to pop into our Theale shop, you may be lucky enough to find a bottle or two. Just tell Eddie – the manager – I sent you. If it is all gone, he's sure to recommend the South Ridge – a very good buy … they’re practically cousins, after all.

You might also find it at our wine bar, Red Heads, in Theale High Street.
And our Theale Vineyard fizz is even served at the bars in the Houses of Parliament!
My old Chum Bruno Paillard, President of the Champagne Growers Association let me know his organisation are not taking the threat seriously. But I swear he glares at our patch every time he visits.

Bruno has about the most sensitive palate I know ...certainly when it comes to sparklers. My dream is to slip him a glass of this and have him ask which 'Maison' - Rheims or Epernay - produced it. That'll be a good day. Might be my last though.

The Wine Year Starts! Saturday 5th April.

This morning. Two hours of pruning and tying-down in Barbara (the Missus) and Cherry's English vineyard at Wyfold. Started sunny but ended up grey and very cold. I think snow is coming. The vineyard year has started because the sap is clearly rising. The vines 'bleed' when cut.

If we had tried this tying-down earlier when the vines were still dormant they would have snapped. Some of the little darlings really fight being bent and tied to the wire. But at least the buds have not yet started swelling. They will with the next fine weather. Try doing this then, with sprouting buds everywhere, all big, and soft, and you'll risk accidentally knocking them off the vine. No bud = no shoot = no grapes. So we have this period of just a few weeks to get the three acres done.

Which is how come I get drafted in when it was clearly understood, when this venture started six years ago, that this was strictly Barbara’s thing. I work at wine all week and many a weekend . Did not want my free weekends full of vineyard work which as we in the trade know is much the hardest bit. But, Barbara’s powers of persuasion show no signs of weakening. So here I am.

Actually I have begun to see the therapeutic side of it. The vineyard is this high, gently sloping field of stones with wide horizons. You're out there for hours under a big sky, just mewling red kites and cawing crows above and the bare silent vines around. It calms you. Unlike the office.

Takes two of us an hour to do a row. Barbara does the skilled bit; selecting the best cane for fruiting this year, the spur for next year's fruit and trimming the rest. I come behind with this strange tape-and-staple gun, tying the cane down to the fruiting wire.

The old way was with willow shoots. Still used in places. You'll see willow growing still around vineyards. Just stumps of trees. Which sprout a mass of bright, yellow shoots every year. Which are cut, bundled and placed in streams or ponds to soak and get supple before being strapped to some old vigneron’s side and used as string to hold down those wilful vines.
Anyway that's 14 rows of Block One done. 11 rows of Block Two to go. Block 3, 22 rows, is only two years old so doesn't need tying yet.

Its hard work is a vineyard. Occasionally even Barbara and Cherry - two tough ladies - have felt overwhelmed. But they now have wonderful help from me! Actually they seem to prefer the volunteer teams from Laithwaites that come for an evening about once a month when it’s light enough, and plough through a mass of work. Thursday we had the first team of the year up here. About 15. Eddie from the shop, Will, Antonella, Scott and others off the phone, my PA Max, Jane the computer genius, lovely Amy who runs our tastings round the country, Alison a web designer, Lyn and Tim from Marketing. Two hours very hard work. All the cuttings cleared and burnt. Then me cooking sausages, doing hot dogs and wine. Standing, chatting, out there by the fire, as the light fades. Yes, nice after a hard day at the office.

It's good if your life revolves around wine, to get right up close to it. Feel it, smell it. After an hour one of our volunteers asked "So how many times do you have to prune like this?"
Well, this is the second pass. The first was to do the first, rough pruning, before the sap rises. Then we do this; untangling and pulling off all but two or three canes. Then, tying down the chosen cane, then de-budding, then the first tucking in of new shoots, then a 2 or 3 more trims to keep the growth compact, then leaf-stripping to let the sun and air at the bunches, then thinning out a load of bunches, then fitting the anti-bird netting. And finally harvesting. This is not counting the tractor passes; the spraying, hoeing and rotovating. Quite a few of those.

"All that"! Yep! For about a bottle or two per vine!

They are impressed.

Then I remind them we did all that last year and then there was no crop; it failed to ripen in the appalling summer! And we're told to expect another just the same!

You do have to be a bit mad to do this. Or really, really love your vineyard.

Adelaide

On to Adelaide, Monday. Rent a car and on to Red Heads; our own little winery and our home from home in McLaren Vale. The place is looking smarter. There's a car-park! And a garden of herbs. But the famous sign had a run-in with a tractor and is lying on the ground. So be warned if you are planning an imminent visit. There’s no sign. Though there is an old red tractor sitting on the junction of Kangarilla and Foggo roads. That's it, the new sign?


You can view it on Google Maps.
See two red roofs; that's Red Heads. Justin says he'll get on the roofs and paint 'Red' and ‘Heads’ so it'll be visible from space!

Here, in South Australia, it hasn't rained at all. It’s a burnt and worried land. There is a serious water shortage. You can have water to irrigate your vines. But it costs a lot of money. Some can't afford to. Some can. Some cheat and pinch water. We went to visit the Mouth of the River Murray. Where it flows into the sea. Except it doesn't anymore. There's no mouth.

There's a great deal of interest in vine varieties that don't need so much water. Like "Sangiovaysee, Mate"; (Justin's speciality). And Grenache ('Hoop's' speciality). Spent days rough driving our hire car (it looked like Hell when we returned it) through vineyards and back tracks seeing what was available in the way of unusual old fruit. Old vineyards that have somehow survived the regular bouts of uprooting and re-planting and which now could represent a sort of national treasure. There are these old Touriga, Bastardo and Tinta Negra Mole vineyards at the top end of Barossa, just round the back of the huge new Wolf Blass plant. Portuguese grapes … probably just what's needed for drought conditions. How did they survive? Well, Justin's on the case and we saw how they are being re-pruned (lower yields) re-wired and posted. Justin wants to call the resulting wine when it arrives; 'Night of the Living Red'. The wines that came back from the dead, you see. Very Justin, that.

Now, about Hoops; (Adam Hooper); Chief Winemaker at Red Heads as Justin travels the world selling the wines. Hoop's own brand is 'La Curio', which is now available on the front-of-plane

Quantas wine list as well as trendy bars and us. Hoops was named South Australian Winemaker of the Year by Decanter magazine. He's grown his hair and 'Musketeers' style facial hair since his stint for us, Flying Winemaking in St Tropez last summer. St Tropez has that effect on people. So he looks sort of ... Wicked! But he isn't really. Humble and modest he still drives - and possibly lives in - a beat-up old green camper van; hippy-fashion. Am watching him dart about the tub fermenters as the harvest starts to arrive. He has Mitch from a wine shop in Calgary and Kurt, his agent in Queensland as this years cellar-rats. Spouting poetry as he goes, and always trying something new, this boy is an artist. He just described how he chilled his juice so hard in an attempt to keep more fruit flavour. "Basically, I make a one ton sorbet and try to ferment it'" That's our Hoops!

There's more fruit from the Barossa this year as they seem to have had an exceptionally good vintage. Fruit (you don't say 'grapes' if you are a winemaker) is more expensive than last year due to last year's shortages. But there are hopes that this year's (relative) abundance could cause prices to drop towards the end of harvest. We have a presentation from Justin on how things are going. Very well, with booming sales in the USA and now Australia. But it seems I haven’t been telling his story enough in the UK … “you’re lagging behind, mate!” The long saga of trying to get a bar licence is in its fourth year. But we are now down to just replacing some broken flooring. So maybe by next year! They laid on a dinner to show just what they will be able to do. A fantastic evening. We also ate extremely well at the new Saltbush Bistro on the seafront at Aldinga Beach, as well as old favourites; the Star of Greece, Fino (in Willunga), the Victory Inn and Market 190 in McLaren Vale High Street. You are spoilt for choice here. And it’s getting better. We just missed being taken to the Salopian Inn by Nat McMurtrie (Pikkara Wines) who was born there - in the Inn!Saturday, Rod Stewart did a concert on the property next door. Advertised as 'On the Green' it was more like 'In the Dust' what with the drought.

Visited lots of wineries. Outstanding was Chapel Hill – the winery of the even more award-bedecked Michael Fragos. He used to be head winemaker at Tatachilla and made us so many wonderful wines until it was sold and production ceased in McLaren Vale. He has class does Michael; polished wines of great class.

Also Scarpantoni, in McLaren Flat, all cock-a-hoop at winning the Oz wine equivalent of the FA Cup; the 'Jimmy Watson Trophy'. The brothers grow all their own grapes, and it’s still a family-owned, mid-sized winery of the type which was becoming a rarity when the mega-groups were going round buying them all up. That unfortunate trend now seems over and there is the happy sight of quite a few new independent wineries opening up. The boys do a great unoaked chard but their white specialty is Sauv Blanc. We tried the sensational fermenting juice/wine; all milky white. Its something the consumer never sees unless he goes to one of the 'Heureige' winery-bars around Vienna in October, or risks exploding his insides with the ' Bourru' of Bordeaux.

I always wished I could give customers a taste of this dangerous delight but how can you bottle something that's fermenting like crazy? Michael and Fillippo Scarpantoni always joked about winning the Jimmy Watson when they and their parents started up back in the early 80's. They went so far as to tempt fate by naming their first vineyard; 'J.W. (Jimmy Watson) Brothers Block'! 20 years later, they actually earned the right! (The late Jimmy Watson had a wine bar in Carlton, Victoria and put up this trophy for the Best One Year Old Red in Australia).

Also visited Lou – and daughters – Miranda's place in Barossa. The Miranda Brothers were almost our earliest suppliers in Oz. Then they too got bought out. But they - or the next generation Miranda's - are starting up again. Good to see. The old guys can still do it.

Postscript.

The last four days we were there the temperature shot up to 38 C. And stayed there. We've been home in the UK 10 days now. And apparently its still 38 in the Vale. Longest heatwave ever. And its supposed to be Autumn there. The latest fruit to come in had a potential alcohol over 20%!!! I don't think anyone ever got a wine to ferment out that strong. It’d make good port though.

But as we seem to be saying all the time now; what is happening to the world?