Monday 19th May to Friday 23rd May
Monday 19th May
Author: Jack
With the ‘pamprage’ now finished I can take a breather from the vineyard and catch up on a few other things. First though I have to go and buy the 600 bamboo canes from a company that specialises in wooden stakes (piquets) in St Foy – big business round here.
My day is spent catching up with paperwork - not very exciting but has to be do be done.
Our new vineyard helper arrives at six. He insists on calling me Madame Jacky! I tried to explain that Jacky or Jack was fine but seems he prefers Madame!!! Not sure about this. Anyway off towards the patch of Sauvignon Blanc in the Treyti parcel to start attaching the vines to their new supports. I can’t stay out too long as Beck is indoors and although she comes out to see what we are up to is in no mood to stay out with us. So we go back indoors and leave our new helper to carry on. He works on for about two hours and when he returns he provides me with a further request - some stretchy elastic tie stuff for tying the vines to the canes. So – more shopping tomorrow!
Tuesday 20th May
Author: Jack
A bitty day today. Start with the shopping list but am unable to buy enough canes. There are only 200 left and they won’t be getting any more until winter! I leave with samples of other types of stake that are available. Not sure which ones will be best so decide to discuss this with our new assistant who has far more vineyard experience than I am ever likely to have.
Then in to St Foy town to take out insurance against hail damage in the vineyard. Not cheap but I guess since there is a real risk that most of the crop can be wiped out it’s essential to protect our income.
Next stop the Cooperative who are going to take our grapes at harvest time. Although I have already been there and discussed all this with them they need to see proof of our ownership of the vineyard. Am only there five minutes. Much easier than I had expected.
Although the weather is none too good I decide that I should go and do some work in the vineyard. I spend about two hours attaching the vines to their stakes but am forced to give up eventually by the continual downpours.
This isn’t too bad, as I have to be at Berticot at 4.30. It seems that once a week there is a meeting for all the viticulteurs who are with the cooperative at the cooperative’s winery, Berticot, in Duras. Am not sure what to expected and am certainly more than a little daunted by attending such a meeting, being not only a new vineyard owner, but also being English and female! Joel told me about the meetings last week. He was surprised that I didn’t know about them but am not sure who would have told me really. I should have gone last week but I chickened out at the last minute. However can’t keep on being a chicken so off I went. There were only about eight people there plus two people form Terre de Sud!!! Vested interest. They supply everyone with their sprays and fertilisers. In fact the people there were in fact all Terre de Sud customers – the other qualifying criteria it seemed. Was I a stranger in their midst? Probably not. They probably all knew exactly who I was – news travels fast round here. Of course I had no idea who they were except for the man from Terre du Sud who sold me all the chemicals. He at least nodded and smiled at me! And of course Joel was there. He made the mistake of asking me if the pool was OK! I explained what had happened and he said he’d be round straight after the meeting. He must be fed up with me by now.
The meeting was actually both extremely interesting and useful. Whilst I didn’t understand everything that was said I got the general drift of most of it. The weather was discussed in great detail and we were all given a sheet detailing various aspects of the weather over the past few weeks as well as the forecast for the coming week. This of course has a huge bearing on what sprays should be used and when. Advice on spraying was also covered in great detail. Finally some samples of vine leaves suffering from Black Spot were handed round as well as a sample of botrytis on the grape bunches pre-flowering.
After the meeting I popped in to Duras to the Citroen garage to ask them to replace my rear sidelight, which had gone. I did try to replace it myself but couldn’t remove the cover. As I have a habit of burring every screw I touch I thought it advisable not to try too hard, hence my visit to the garage. He seemed quite amused that I couldn’t do it myself but then discovered it wasn’t too easy for him either! So very politely he changed it for me, and when I offered him 5€ for the new bulb and his help he suddenly seemed extremely pleased to have helped me!
Back at the house Joel had already managed to solve the pool problem. It seems that when hoovering the pool I don’t need to close any of the pipes, just turn the filter off. I had once again managed to put the pump under strain by making it work without water! One day I’ll get it right. Anyway as a result something in the filter had become dislodged. Joel replaced it for me and showed me how I should have been operating the pump to hoover the pool. I had written down everything I had been told before and drawn a diagram but it seemed that my notes were not quite right! So I have now corrected them so that hopefully I won’t get it wrong next time. Finally managed to hoover the pool and to get the filter going again. Wonder what will happen next time I try to do something.
Wednesday 21st May
Author: Jack
Time to attack the garden. For various reasons I haven’t mown it for over two weeks and the grass is very long. However as it is still quite wet I decided to do some strimming as damp grass tends to block the mower. However I hadn’t touched the strimmer since Iain left after Easter and was extremely worried that I wouldn’t be able to get it going. Miraculously with very little effort I managed to get it to work and spent an hour or so clearing some of the long grass. Quite a messy job this; I seemed to have turned green with grass trimmings!
Unfortunately I didn’t have time to finish the job as we had
to be in Bergerac at two to visit a cuverie manufacturer. And before
that we just had to go to McDonalds for lunch!
We spent about an hour at the cuverie manufacturers who furnished us
with outline prices for the equipment we would need to ferment and possibly
store the wine. However they were not able to help us with the construction
of the cuverie which is unfortunate. However at least we do have some
price comparisons.
And back to start mowing the grass! It was still quite wet but nevertheless I managed to mow all the grass on one side of the house. Will finish it all tomorrow hopefully. I need to get it all tidy before we leave for England on Friday.
Thursday 22nd May
Author: Jack
The most important job today is to tie all the vines to the stakes that have been put in. My work in the vineyard has generally to be done when Beck is at school, mostly because she doesn’t like me being out there but also because most of it involves me being too far from the house when she’s there. Have generally failed miserably in persuading her that she should be outside with me.
After five hours working in the hot sun I decide that I should really finish mowing the grass, as it will probably be dry now even though I haven’t quite finished attaching all the vines. Will have to finish tomorrow.
Mowing is much easier today, well until I manage to get a metal chain wrapped round one of the mower blades. For some reason I am not surprised that something else has gone wrong. Seems at the moment that it is to be expected. After all, our brand new mower has already got a slow puncture. Fortunately I can inflate the tyre with the bicycle pump so that it lasts long enough to make mowing possible. However will have to tackle how to get it mended before I mow the grass again! Lucky me.
And once again luck is on my side. As I am struggling to try and undo the chain from the mower blade who should turn up but Joel. How lucky for me and unfortunate for him! Anyway once again he comes to my rescue and within five minutes the chain has been removed and I’m back in business. Joel remembers that the chain had been used to tie their dog up. He had only used it once and forgotten it was there. The grass was so long I didn’t see it! Anyway all was well and thanks to him I was able to finish mowing. He went off to do the second spraying for us. Next time I expect he’ll make sure I am out before he turns up in case I’ve managed to wreck something else! I certainly wouldn’t blame him.
Friday 23rd May
Author: Jack
We’re off back to England after school today so the day is spent in preparation. I am never sure how to explain this really. We are going back to England but is it home? Are we going home? Is home in France? I’m not sure that Iain feels that the house in England is home either. I don’t think anywhere will truly be home until we are all together again.
Anyway….I have to finish my current job in the vineyard. I drop Beck off early at school just to give me a little extra time and head straight out. It takes me about two hours to finish.
And then back to give the house a good clean. I can’t bear to come home to an untidy house unfortunately so most of the rest of the day is spent cleaning and doing those last minute jobs that should have been done before but somehow always got left!. Mind you cleaning isn’t something I do very often these days, as I am always too busy outside. So a good clean today won’t hurt. Packing doesn’t take very long as there is little to take back – just a few clothes and some wine for Granddad and my sister.
Given all that I have done today it was amazing that I was only ten minutes late to collect Beck. Well I wasn’t even late really since although school finishes at 4.30 the school bus doesn’t collect the children till nearly five and the teacher never seems in a hurry to leave. I collected her from her school and not from the garderie as it was en route and so that we could leave a little earlier. We expect to arrive tomorrow afternoon after an overnight stop, probably in Tours. Can’t wait.
