Monday 9th June to Sunday 15th June
Monday 9th June
Author: Jack
Had planned to get to the Vide Grenier at 8.30 and didn’t do too badly to arrive at 8.45 given that the girls hadn’t gone to bed until midnight! When we arrived it wasn’t too busy. It seemed that all the dealers had been and gone and the public were about to arrive. It started at around five and Paul and Sarah were there with their torches looking in peoples vans as they unloaded. Paul is an antique mirror restorer and he goes to lots of fairs buying mirrors and doing them up for sale in the UK. He also buys assorted other items for which he knows there is a market in the UK. There were about two hundred stalls and we started wandering round. We weren’t dressed very sensibly for the heat and it didn’t take long before Beck began to wilt, probably mostly due to tiredness. So I had a quicker than I would have liked look round the stalls, bought only a couple of things (probably just as well) and we then stopped for refreshments. By eleven the place was packed and it was boiling hot. Eventually everyone decided they had had enough. Paul and Sarah very kindly offered to have Beck for the afternoon so she went off with them and I returned home…
…to two guinea pigs!!! Hope they enjoyed their party.
At last a free afternoon. Decided I needed to catch with paperwork so spent the afternoon trying to get myself a bit more organised.
And then it was off to Anthony and Jane’s for a BBQ. We had a lovely evening. Other guests were Paul, Sarah and Grace, Annie, a very close friend of Jane and a couple who own one of the other houses that Anthony and Jane rent out. Sarah and Paul are currently staying in Jane and Anthony’s studio waiting for completion on the house they have bought in Savignac, just six minutes from here. We had a lovely evening. Beck was going to stay with Grace for the night but we decided they were both just too tired, so under some duress, I managed to tear her away.
Tuesday 10th June
Author: Jack
Beck slept in late this morning. No school today, strike again! And yesterday was a bank holiday. And with no school tomorrow as per usual I am finding it impossible to do anything in the vineyard. However at least we can have a quiet day together. We spent the day pottering around the house. I even ventured to clean the pool after having phoned the pool company who told me not to worry about the water; they would come and sort it out at the end of the season, and just to carry on using it as normal. Not as terminal as I had feared then!
After lunch the man from Euralis who is likely to be our oenologist arrives to discuss our plans for the cuverie. We spend two hours discussing the layout, equipment requirements, vinification methods etc. He is very useful and comes up with a number of pertinent and useful alterations. Fortunately, although he is French, his English is very good so at least I can be sure of what is being said.
We have had two ladies working in the vineyard all day lifting up the leaf wires. At around six Jose arrives to check on their progress and quality of work. He seems pleased and we sit and chat over a glass of white wine for about an hour.
In the evening Beck and I picked a basket of cherries. We have about eight cherry trees and a mountain of cherries. They are gorgeous. Sadly most will probably go to the birds as I just don’t have enough time to pick them but at least we managed to get one basket full. Plan to make some cherry sauce for ice cream and to give some away of course!
Wednesday 11th June
Author: Jack
Ladies back in the vineyard today.
Car in for service today at the local Citroen garage. I drove the car to the garage and the garage owner then brought me back home! How’s that for service. He had also managed to mend my punctured tractor tyre.
So with the tyre refitted I begin to mow the grass. This will take a long time as I haven’t mown the grass since returning from England. Beck is going to play with Grace for the day so my plan is to spend all day in the garden, making it all neat and tidy for Iain. Doubt he’ll be wanting to do any mowing. Anyway I’ve got plenty of other jobs lined up for him!!! I spend the entire day mowing and gardening.
In the middle of the afternoon a salesman calls from a local tractor shop. He has heard that we may be interested in a tractor. I think Joel mentioned it to him! Anyway I enter into a lengthy discussion on tractors and associated items of machinery, which rekindles our earlier enthusiasm. However most pieces of equipment leave me cold but I try to be interested and not to seem too ignorant. No doubt my efforts were very transparent. After an hour he leaves with a very long list and a promise of a quote soon! Also there is a possibility of a second hand tractor, about 7,500 hours. It’s a Lamborghini! Could be our only chance ever to own such a famous marque. Top speed? Probably 20km!!! Hardly a Monte Carlo racer. Anyway I may go and check it out – even though I haven’t a clue what to look for. I’ll just have to go on the amount of rust!
Man from Citroen garage returns my car to the door! Brilliant.
Jose calls again to check on the progress in the vineyard. He then stops by for a glass of white wine and a chat. This time we go over the plans for the cuverie and he too makes some useful comments. Whilst Jose is here Beck enjoys herself in the pool. At least it can now be used!
Thursday 12th June
Author: Jack
Beck finally back at school today. She hasn’t been since last Friday! Have some mowing to finish and then need to strim everywhere. Decide on the mowing first, which takes about an hour to complete. And then on to the strimming. Even though it’s very hot I have to don trousers, long sleeved top, facemask and gloves to undertake this. I then spend the next three hours dripping my way around the garden. Unfortunately I am foiled once again. The plastic in the strimmer head disappears and I can’t work out how to get some more out. Fortunately I recently bought a pair of garden shears so I finish off the garden with these. Finish at around 1.30 p.m. Must say everywhere is looking very tidy. I’d like to do more but it’s certainly not bad.
Have a quick lunch and whiz off to Leclerc in Marmande to do a proper shop for a change. We generally exist on bits and pieces from the local shoppi but I think it’s time to strock up. Whilst there as well as food, including some ‘Blonde Aquitaine’ for Iain!, I buy
• assorted toys for the swimming pool, including two long thin
polystyrene floats that spend their entire time falling out of my trolley
(or am I off mine?). These items are a must now that we seem to have
finally reached the point where, despite water lurking behind the liner,
we can actually use the pool. I might even go in myself!
• a fan for the house, although as I sit here typing it seems
to be more effective at re-circulating warm air than blowing cold air!
Still better with it than without.
• A new iron. We have borrowed lots of things from La Vitaille
but as the rental season approaches we need to return them. I have brought
a lot of things from Offham for that reason. We can do without most
things but some things I am just going to have to buy, and this is one
of them. Was worried that I might have to buy another washing machine,
we already have two, one in Offham and one here. But fortunately Jane
thinks she might be able to borrow one from someone else who has two!
Thank goodness.
• Loads of water and perhaps just a little wine!
Once again we have had two ladies working in the vineyard. Jose calls to check and whilst he is here Joel arrives to start cutting the grass in the alleys and trimming the vines. However there is still a hectare or so to finish. So the ladies agree to work on in to the evening and then by the end of tomorrow they should be finished. Joel agrees to starting work today and finishing off tomorrow evening. Phew just going to make it once again. Am still busy cleaning the pool again when Jose comes to chat to me. No time for a drink tonight – need to be organised for Iain tomorrow! Jose is very keen to meet Iain so we agree on 5 p.m. tomorrow. It’s going to be a busy evening for Iain. We have Jose at 5, the Architect at 6 to discuss the cuverie plans and Paul, Grace and Sarah at 7.30!!! Hope he can stay awake!
Friday 13th June
Author: Iain
I can’t believe how badly I’ve timed this trip to France. The day before flying out I’m at a team ‘awayday’ in Newbury which makes the normally early start to get to Gatwick into a nightmarish 4:30am wake-up call after finishing ‘team building’ at 12:30am. However, it has been six weeks since I last saw the vineyard and the anticipation of the changes to the place sustains me through the journey.
This time my weekend bag contains hardly any clothing - only a single shirt – I think/hope I’ve left pretty much all I need at the vineyard. However my bag does contain the normal eclectic mixture of items to be exported to my estranged family. This time this includes an electric pump (apparently to pump up all the swimming pool ‘equipment’ – I thought it was all work out there), lots of neurofen and lemsips (ominous), a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc for Jose (who has been a great help in the vineyard) and a pot of baking soda!!! Happily, for the second time running I avoid an embarrassing search of my bags before I board.
We had planned a trip to some of our favourite, good value, vineyards on the way home to make a smash and grab purchases of their 2000 vintage (excellent year). But by the time I arrive it is too close to the lunchtime dead zone so, instead, we visit Ikea in Bordeaux to acquire more home furnishing ‘essentials’, hmmm.
Get back to the vineyard around 4pm. Jack surprises me with the addition of a breakfast bar in the kitchen that she and Rebecca have fitted. Another Ikea purchase, it looks really good, not only that but it has been installed without any apparent damage elsewhere – remarkable. Some of the furniture from England is now in use in the house and, even though the place still feels like a holiday home, it makes a definite improvement.
Vines have grown an amazing amount since I left. The grapes are already the size of small peas (they hadn’t even flowered last time I was there). Not only that, but everywhere looks really well tended. Grass between rows has been mown and vine leaves are tidily trimmed. Impressive.
I pick Becks up from the ‘garderie’ at 5pm. She runs from the far end of the playing area for a hug. Great stuff.
On the way home Jack mentions that we’ve got some visitors tonight. Having been up since 4:30, I do my very best to make encouraging sounds – I think she sees through this. Actually we’ve three different sets of visitors. I think I actually went white at this point.
The heat is incredible. Mid-thirties. How anyone can work outside in this kind of environment beats me.
When I return with Beck, Jose has arrived. We (well actually, he and Jack – I’m too busy translating to even attempt speech) have a conversation about the health of the vineyard. We also get invited for a personal tour of another Duras vineyard on Sunday to see some different techniques for vine training trellising – we naturally jump at the opportunity (how sad is that). While we’re talking the next visitors arrive. It’s the man from Agrifoy (company that supplies equipment for the winery), the architect who is designing the winery and another person who seems to be a junior architect. We need to start moving the plans forward so they are here to discuss any changes to their proposals that we feel are needed. We’re pretty much finished when I ask if 5m at the end of the new winery was enough for the bottling lorry to turn into. Oh. Not really. This prompts some very serious chat about changing the whole layout. We go on for a bit – well quite a bit actually but eventually they leave with a promise to do some proper design work and email us with a new proposal. In spite of this small setback we still feel confident that these guys can build the winery of our dreams……meanwhile, our next visitors have arrived. Paul, Sarah and, most importantly, Grace (5) are from England and are about to move into the neighbourhood. Grace and Becks make maximum use of the pool and the rest of us make maximum use of chilled white wine. I bravely enter into conversation but it must be so dull by this time that I’m not sure they’ll come to see us again.
Everyone is a bit peckish so we have a quick BBQ and watch the ‘patio mouse’ (every evening at about the same time it seems to have a strange need to scurry across the patio) – it eyes us cautiously and eventually gives up in disgust. Paul rescues a toad from the swimming pool, the kids are much amused when it pisses on him. Paul seems to handle it well.
After a good evening, everyone leaves around 10:30, Rebecca thinks it would be a great idea to push me, fully (well shorts and shirt) clothed, into the pool. I resist initially but J and R join forces and the inevitable happens – in I go. After the heat of the day the pool is actually really good. I take off my sodden shirt and Beck joins me for a late night swim. We fail miserably to persuade Jack to join us.
Finally as we decide to pack up for the night Jack realises a tree-frog (these things are everywhere and they really are very cute) has got into the house. I spend 10 minutes slipping around getting pretty much the whole house wet before catching the damn thing and throwing it outside.
Sleep like a log.
Saturday 14th June
Author: Iain
Think I could have slept for the whole day but around 8:30 Beck wakes us up. As she is spending tonight and tomorrow with Sarah, Paul and Grace, today is nominated Father’s Day. I gleefully open my presents which are; a bright orange pair of swimming trunks, a super-soaker water pistol, a box of chocs and best of all something that Beck has made for me that entails a card with a mountain and sun drawn on it and a switch connected to a battery and a bulb in the middle of the sun! Beck tells me the French words for all the bits. Lovely but I think it might look a bit suspicious in my hand luggage. Even better than all of this though is that Beck has apparently promised to be nice to me all day. She manages to last about a half hour, throwing a strop just before we crawl out of bed.
I leap up with a grim determination. This is my day to sort out some jobs. A chance to reassert my position as the dominant male of the household. Jack has kindly (!) pulled together a prioritised list of things that I need to do – and it’s pretty bloody long. First up is fixing a desk to Beck’s bed (more of a small corner platform underneath her bunk-bed). Get that sorted out reasonably quickly although I am mildly hampered by expert assistance from my daughter and a totally incompetent design. Follow this up by setting up the PC from Offham on Beck’s desk, remarkably it starts first time. Next is sorting out reception of French TV. The aerial needs to be re-wired – no problem I can do co-ax. J looks suitably impressed when reception is restored. On to building the double bed in the guest room. This is a bloody great heavy thing that was Rebecca’s in Offham (remember how difficult it was to take apart Laurie?) well putting the damn thing back together was a nightmare – after over an hour, dripping with sweat, I manage to finish it. J and R seem to have disappeared - think it could have been my language. Anyway, not too sure how robust it will be, so if you visit us don’t be too adventurous!
With only a fraction of the to-do list addressed I decide its time to spend some ‘quality time’ with Becks and swim in the pool with her. Nothing to do with how attractive the pool seems in the blistering heat with the only alternative being another item on the job list. Fantastic fun. I christen two of my Father’s Day presents – shorts and water gun. We swim, dive in and generally mess around. We even persuade Jack to get her cossie on and join us – a first swim that she really deserves after all the hassle with the pool!
Beck’s is obviously very tired after the shenanigans of the previous evening and, in a trait she shares with Jack, picks a fight just because she wants one. Apparently I don’t appreciate the super-soaker water pistol enough. This crisis goes on for about half an hour before I solve it by suggesting I teach her how to do ‘dive bombs’ in the swimming pool. Beck loves this and is remarkably good at it. Jack gives marks to our dive bombing exploits (with true political astuteness) and by 6pm we’re completely tired out but happy. I say goodbye (again) to Beck as she leaves to go to stay with Grace.
We open a bottle of Clinet 1994 (delicious) and sit out on the patio for another BBQ. Jack has bought me some Blonde Aquitaine fillet steak – not quite as good as the one I had last time but still bloody good and ten times better than anything you can get at Tesco’s. The evening melts away. I suggest that we should have a moonlight swim and remarkably J agrees.
Go to bed somewhere south of midnight.
Sunday 15th June
Author: Iain
Wake up and open the bedroom shutters (no curtains yet but shutters are essential – keep them closed in the day to keep the room hot – as opposed to scorching) and look over the vineyard. Looks really great now that it’s all green, not to mention recently tidied. A pair of goldfinches play in the tree near our window. We could stay there all day. But we have an appointment with Jose at 10am to look around a local vineyard. We regret this because I haven’t even walked around our vines yet and I have to leave at 2:30pm. Meet up with Jose and he shows us around a vineyard of 35 hectares (more than 3 times the size of ours). This is really useful as the place is impeccably kept and, while ours is by no means awful, it gives us a target to aim at – as well as some useful trellising tips. I really am at the point of being able to bore for my country on the merits of how to tie up vines. Get back around midday and set out to walk around our vines.
I have to say, on the whole it looks really impressive. We’ve a few problems in terms of stunted growth caused by overhanging woodland and deer damage but apart from that, to my untutored eye, it all looks very healthy. As we wander back to the house, once again the heat makes me wonder how anyone can work outside.
Over lunch we discuss our volume requirements for cuves (fermenting and storage vessels) based on the wine we want to make. This is really important because we need to make the winery the right size to house them and we’ll need to order them this year – to get a discount. The problem with all this is not working out how much liquid you’ll have but how you subsequently combine the different grapes (that have been individually fermented) into a mixture that contains equal amounts of the different grape types. Made even more complicated by he fact that you can’t any vessels half empty and who knows what will be in barrel at any one time. We apply our best logic to it all and make a stab. We both feel a bit worried though and Jack decides to take our thoughts to the oenologist for a second opinion. Probably a good move!
I drive back to the airport and leave the country for another 6 weeks.
