Monday 15th September to Sunday 21st September
Author: Jack
Well with any luck we might have sold Les Bardots. I’m off to the notaires today to sign the ‘sous seign’ or promise-to-buy along with our English buyers. This commits them to buying the house provided that the conditions within the purchase contract are met. The only one will be that the well water is drinkable. This is a requirement, as mains water is not connected to the house. We have to take a sample of the water for analysis. Whilst I am at the notaires the others do Duras market. I thought I would only be an hour at the notaires but not so. I should have known better really as everything here always takes ages. The others had done all they could in Duras and were ready to be picked up. Whilst sitting in the notaires office I had several messages from Iain asking how long I would be as there were just hanging around! In the end I asked the notaire if they could hurry things along saying I had to get to Bordeaux airport. Meantime the others started walking home, it’s about five kilometres. By the time I reached them they were half way home! Good job Beck was at school, don’t think she would have been very pleased at having to walk so far! We had just enough time for a quick game of tennis and lunch before it was time to take Iain back to the airport. On my way back from the airport I called in at Berticot to collect the results of the Cabernet Sauvignon. It seemed they weren’t ready and that we should wait another week and then have another sample analysed. Whilst I was at the airport Granddad, in his new found position of head chef, prepared our evening meal, but not without a touch of frustration. The oven door continues to play up and is making cooking more of a dangerous pursuit than a pleasure.
Janet and Ian left Tuesday morning. Our trip to Bergerac airport was via Leclerc for them to stock up on some booze. On returning home granddad and I continued with our vine counting and actually manage to finally finish the whole vineyard. Beck had school swimming today, outdoors! The weather is still holding up and swimming outdoors is still possible, just. After school she had her French lesson and then once again we had dinner at Allemans. Don’t think Granddad fancied risking the oven again!
I went to discuss the results of our vineyard survey with the Syndicate des Viticulteurs in Duras on Wednesday. I had been sent a survey to complete a couple of months earlier, which I needed to complete. The AOC is planning to increase the planting density in 2010 to a minimum of 3,300 vines per hectare. Our vineyard is mostly planted at 2,800 vines per hectare. This is likely to pose us some problems in the future. However the Syndicate has undertaken the survey to determine the extent of the problem. They believe that only about a third of the appellations vineyards will conform. As yet there are no solutions in place and it is all still very much under discussion. However it is an issue that we must take very seriously and factor in to our future plans. After lunch we went off to Intermarche who are currently running their wine fair. All the supermarket chains hold wine fairs in the autumn. It’s a way for the chateaux of Bordeaux to get rid of wine they are having trouble selling. But if you’re up on the prices then bargains can be found, as can wines that are not normally easily found. We managed to acquire an excellent selection wines, most of which I have put in the cellar as they are mostly too young to be drunk yet. Made a big hole in the bank balance though!
Finally on Thursday I made it back to ‘Remorques R Us’. It took some time to prepare everything but eventually it was hooked up and off I went. I have to say I was not looking forward to this, not only am I driving a ridiculously large pick up, but now it’s got a two metre trailer attached! Granddad acted as nearside navigator and between us we managed to get the trailer, pick up and us safely back home. Phew!
We have been troubled recently by scratching and the pattering of little feet from the loft. The noises are generally heard during the night. We saw a small furry creature the other night peering at us over the veranda. It looked very pretty, with a fluffy bit at the end of a long thin tail. Its face had markings a bit like a chipmunk. However we had no idea what it was. But whilst we were waiting for the remorque and browsing round the shop I spotted selection of packets containing Lerot poison! We recognised the picture on the packet instantly. I checked up on Lerots on the Internet to discover that they are European Dormice. Seems such a shame to poison them, they’re so cute, but equally we can’t really have them living in the loft.
The remorque got its first outing on Friday. We went over to La Vitaille to finish cleaning the house, defrost the freezer, and generally just to make sure everything was OK. And the remorque was used to bring back one of the settees. I drove even more slowly this time for fear that we would lose the settee but I needn’t have worried. All was well thank goodness. I guess this is nothing compared to driving a tractor with a mower attached to it. I expect I’ll find out soon.
The Cabernet Franc was harvested on Saturday. We have 1.25 hectares of Cabernet Franc, all in one parcel. It yielded 9.4 tonnes, which was pretty good going given such a dry summer. Potential alcohol was over 13 degrees, which again was very good. All that remains now is the Cabernet Sauvignon. I discussed the results of the analysis with Joel and he decided to pick the younger Cabernet first and leave the older ones a bit longer. He’ll start some time next week.
Bordeaux run again on Sunday, this time to collect Thomas, who is coming for few days. We whisk him straight off to Allemans for lunch. It’s the first time we’ve been there for lunch. I had expected something different but it was the same as the Saturday evening menu; I was hoping for a change. However there was plenty of fantastic seafood. After lunch we went to a Horse Fair in Levignac, about ten minutes away. Rebecca was particularly keen to go. A typically French affair, the biggest stall was the drinks (beer!) tent, a few horsey accessory stalls, lots of shouting and screaming from the commentator, and not much action. There were some stunt riders to watch and lots of horses, and some very cute baby donkeys, to look at, but all in all not very exciting. And it was far far too hot to be standing round. We didn’t stay too long, the swimming pool beckoned!
