The 2014 harvest at Domaine du Petit Clocher
Laure and Cadeau with the grolleau
Chardonnay picked to case for the cremant
Porter Steve Baker carrying the hotte!
Saturday 27 September 2014
Saturday 13 November 2010
Oak.....
7 steres waiting in the driveway
The oak stacked ready for next year...
At the last the wood has arrived! As it was a Bank Holiday here in France on Thursday, most people made "the bridge" (le pont) and make a continuous holiday that includes the weekend. Hence Michel suggested we collect this years wood that we had cut in the forest earlier this year.
Since we arrived in France nearly 7 years ago, we have become used to the annual purchase of pre-cut oak logs to fire the wood stoves that most use for heating. The rural communities have no piped gas option, central heating usually means lots of electric heaters around the house, hence the relatively cheap and green option is to use wood stoves. "Inserts" or built in wood stoves are efficient and usually heat several rooms by means of ducting that relays the heat around the house. The average house needs 10 to 12 cubic metres of wood to cover the winter season.
Michel my neighbour has been cutting oak for heating for at least twenty years in a nearby private oak forest belonging to a retired French Admiral. Last year I asked if it was possible to join in with he and Pascal, our other neighbour. The Admiral agreed, and I began logging with them in January. As experienced woodsmen, Michel and Pascal did the actual tree felling - and this is something definitely not to be left to the uninitiated. As my chainsaws are small and medium size only, my job is to cut off the branches and and log the top end of the tree into 50cm lengths. The boys in turn, cut the larger base of the trunk and then we all set to splitting with and wedge and sledgehammer. Once it is all reduced to the right size, it is stacked in multiples of 1 cubic metre ( a "stere"), 3 steres then makes a "corde". The unit of sale is the corde and normally if you have to buy in from a supplier, you will pay around 180 euros per corde. The stacked wood then has the summer to start drying out.
The 100 hectare oak forest
If you have access to a forest to cut as we do, the costs are around 50 euros per corde, however it costs in time instead of money. In Michel's case it has cost a little more. I had only been cutting with them a short while this year, in fact it was my third Saturday with them when the catastrophe happened. A particularly awkward forked tree split while Michel was cutting it, twisting and tearing in two the tree knocked him down and caught his foot. Eight broken bones in his foot and subsequent circulation difficulties have kept Michel off work since mid February. If all goes well he may be back at work in the new year, I hope so for his sake, he is an active man and does not like the loneliness of his enforced rest.
Anyway, yesterday with two tractors and large trailers we hauled our precious load home. Today we stacked it and will leave for another year to dry out sufficiently for use!
Pascal and Michel with recently stacked wood
Meanwhile, once the sap has stopped and the leaves have fallen - it is back to the forest........
Sunday 7 November 2010
Chardonnay is always the first to ripen, so at the opening of the vendange (grape harvest) on the 20th September, 24 vendengeurs descended upon “Brulons” to commence the 2010 harvest, which promises to be a most successful vintage.
This is now our 6th vintage in France, since we left Mears Ashby in early in 2004. We began as novices, trying to keep to the pace of our French colleagues, and without scattering loose grapes on the ground. For us, simultaneously talking and picking were impossible, you can do one or the other we thought. Not so for Francoise, Gabby, Georgette and the other “Parents” as they are known. “Les Parents” are those who are very experienced and generally older than most, age commands respect here. Not only are they retired by several years, they are faster and more accurate than ”les jeunes” – they can gossip full tilt at the same time!
However since we have been here, each year sees a change of roll-call for the vendangeurs. Simon, Moneau, and Polo and many others have decided to take retirement more seriously and retire! Hence we have rapidly become to be among the most experienced and relied upon members of the team, sometimes guiding our newer colleagues in the right direction. The British telling the French what to do – who would have thought it! No it’s not really like that, it is about teamwork and pulling together, and at the end of it all satisfaction and ultimately enjoying the fruits of our labours.
The vendange is the most frantic and pressured of all the seasonal tasks when working in the vines. Weather plays an extremely important part – as with any agricultural activity. The development, quality and quantity are generally all dictated by factors beyond the control of the viticulteurs, making the harvest a tense time. Too little rain leading up to the harvest can be equally as damaging as a deluge during the picking.
A lot of harvesting is done by machine these days – but the more quality conscious are using teams of hand-pickers to gather the more critical grapes ensuring the best possible quality in the finished wine. Therefore after manual picking of the Chardonnay comes the Sauvignon Blanc, followed by Grolleau and Gamay for the rosé wines, the Cabernets – both Sauvignon and Franc and finally the most revered grape of the Anjou – Chenin Blanc. The latter producing some of the most serious and long lived sweet wines of France.
The Anjou region is relatively unknown in the UK in respect of her wines, but I can promise you wines of excellent quality and amazing value for money when compared to those more familiar regions which command ever increasing prices.
This is now our 6th vintage in France, since we left Mears Ashby in early in 2004. We began as novices, trying to keep to the pace of our French colleagues, and without scattering loose grapes on the ground. For us, simultaneously talking and picking were impossible, you can do one or the other we thought. Not so for Francoise, Gabby, Georgette and the other “Parents” as they are known. “Les Parents” are those who are very experienced and generally older than most, age commands respect here. Not only are they retired by several years, they are faster and more accurate than ”les jeunes” – they can gossip full tilt at the same time!
However since we have been here, each year sees a change of roll-call for the vendangeurs. Simon, Moneau, and Polo and many others have decided to take retirement more seriously and retire! Hence we have rapidly become to be among the most experienced and relied upon members of the team, sometimes guiding our newer colleagues in the right direction. The British telling the French what to do – who would have thought it! No it’s not really like that, it is about teamwork and pulling together, and at the end of it all satisfaction and ultimately enjoying the fruits of our labours.
The vendange is the most frantic and pressured of all the seasonal tasks when working in the vines. Weather plays an extremely important part – as with any agricultural activity. The development, quality and quantity are generally all dictated by factors beyond the control of the viticulteurs, making the harvest a tense time. Too little rain leading up to the harvest can be equally as damaging as a deluge during the picking.
A lot of harvesting is done by machine these days – but the more quality conscious are using teams of hand-pickers to gather the more critical grapes ensuring the best possible quality in the finished wine. Therefore after manual picking of the Chardonnay comes the Sauvignon Blanc, followed by Grolleau and Gamay for the rosé wines, the Cabernets – both Sauvignon and Franc and finally the most revered grape of the Anjou – Chenin Blanc. The latter producing some of the most serious and long lived sweet wines of France.
The Anjou region is relatively unknown in the UK in respect of her wines, but I can promise you wines of excellent quality and amazing value for money when compared to those more familiar regions which command ever increasing prices.
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