May 2004
Author: Jack
In the Vineyard
We have been continuing the job of adding the chains to the end of the leaf wires. This has taken us some considerable time. On May 6th the weather finally defeated Granddad and I. The morning was fine and we stopped at a suitable point for lunch, having had a morning without too much rain despite the forecast (which incidentally can be taken with a pinch of salt always!). But after lunch, we got absolutely soaked. Although it had been raining on and off all morning we were unprepared for the hailstorm that hit us (literally) during the afternoon. We came back indoors absolutely soaked through; even our waterproof coats were soaked through! A complete change of clothing was required. After a warm up with a cup of tea we decided to brave it once more as the rain had stopped. So off we went only to be thwarted an hour later by the start of a thunderstorm. That was it. Back in for the day no matter what. Apart from which the vineyard is absolutely sodden and we spent as much time trying not to slip over or trying to get our boots out of the sticky mud as we did work. The vineyard was saturated and a small stream ran down the middle of Matelin. Epamprage is upon us again. The vines are now growing rapidly and all the nasty little shoots that appear at the bottom of the vine have to be removed. This year we decide that this is a job for Jose and his team, who move in and take over. Like a plague of locusts they swarm through the vineyard and in no time at all the vines have been cleaned up. This job is essential for the health of the vine to ensure that the growth is concentrated at the head of the vine. As soon as this was finished and the vine shoots were safely out of his spraying area, Iain was off in the tractor weed spraying beneath all the rows.
Another major job this month has been the replacement of all the dead vines in the vineyard. We didn't do this last year and I don't think it was done the year before either. As a result there were rather a lot to replace. We replaced 109 Merlot, 11 Cabernet Franc, 257 Cabernet Sauvignon and 246 Sauvignon Blanc.
The Sauvignon Blanc came in pots whilst the rest were bare-rooted (these
are in the plastic sack in the first picture and in water buckets in
the second). The hole for each vine had to be dug with the aid of a
tarriere, a machine attached to the back of the tractor that is able
to pull out the old vine and dig a hole for the new one. 
Iain
spent two days digging the holes with the help of Jose or one of his
team to guided him to the right spot and to ensure that none of the
adjacent vines or trellising was damaged - not easy. Then all the vines
had to be planted and small posts put in beside them to support them.
The holes were also scooped out to make a well for the water. And talking
of water we then had to go round and water the new vines. Sounds easy?
Well it most definitely wasn't. For a start Iain had to jury-rig the
sprayer to act as a water carrier for us (you certainly have to be good
at lateral thinking in this business!). 
As
you can see from the picture Iain attached a large piece of red plastic
tubing to the bottom of the sprayer. With the sprayer filled with water
we then set off for our first watering adventure. This involved me walking
along behind the tractor, Iain shouting 'right' 'left' to indicate where
next to water, Iain stopping the tractor and me dropping the pipe to
let the water out by gravity. This can't be done when the weather is
too hot and the first time we started at around 7pm and finished at
11.30 pm. (Poor Rebecca, we had to do the first watering on here birthday
so, rather than being pampered she was up until midnight sitting inside,
or walking behind, the tractor). In fact we watered the new vines three
times in total, although it seemed like much more! By the time we had
finished I was certainly fitter and a few pounds thinner - goodness
knows how many kilometres I walked! We also watered some vines early
in the morning using assorted containers of water transported via the
quad to water those areas of vines where only a few vines had been replaced.
Exhausting work! We continue to attend the weekly Terre de Sud meetings.
Last year I found these mostly mystifying, but this year I am beginning
to be more comfortable at them. I no longer feel like an outcast, in
fact we are now almost welcomed and are finding that whenever we go
to Terres de Sud (which is VERY often!), most of the members of staff
stop, say Bonjour and shake our hands! In fact so confident am I that
for the first time I actually said something at one of the meetings!
I had taken along some leaves from a vine that was looking distinctly
unwell to ask for advice. Disappointingly they were unable to tell me
what was wrong so the technical consultant from Terre de Sud offered
to come round and take a look - which he did - and his only comment
was 'Ce n'est pas grave'! Well that's reassuring then! The need to spray
the vineyard is now fully upon us. Most products that we use provide
two weeks of cover, meaning that in generally we have to spray every
two weeks, against such diseases as Powdery Mildew, Downy Mildew, Black
Rot as well as assorted insects that can be harmful to the vines. Of
course it also depends on the weather conditions. In general for Downy
Mildew if it doesn't rain there is no need to spray, of course after
a long dry spell it rained at the last minute, changing our spraying
plans, so off to Terres de Sud once again for more advice and of course
to spend even more money! No wonder they say 'Bonjour' and shake our
hands! As we were getting ready to leave for a few days in England in
the middle of the month Iain suddenly discovered there was a problem
with the sprayer. This could have been serious as spraying was the first
job to do on our return and it couldn't wait. We had to leave the man
from Bonny here trying to fix the problem as we left for the airport.
Jose offered to ensure that the job was done and he did. When we got
back it was ready for use, although not without a problem, as Iain discovered
when he went to attach the machine that the top arm was bent so he had
to make a mad dash off to get it repaired before he could start work.
Nothing is ever straightforward! Other jobs this month have included
mowing the whole vineyard (which took Iain two days and included going
round with the strimmer to get to all those difficult to get to places!)
and rotavating between the rows to carry on working the soil. The soil
rotavating meant that once again we had to go around and lift all the
leaf wires out of the way as with our new system (which we are now beginning
to doubt the merits of) they may have been cut by the rotavator. So
off Granddad and I went and lifted them all - and of course dropped
them all again once the rows had been rotavated.
We have been trying for probably a year now to get a CAD contract established (I think I have probably mentioned this several times before). But every time I think it is all settled I get another letter asking for more information. And so it was that I spent an entire afternoon with the man who is drawing up the contract. By the end of the afternoon the floor was covered with loads of our folders, I had provided him with various copies of other documents he seemed to require and he had spent some time on the phone to the Centre des Impots in Paris (the tax office) trying to establish if we were up to date with our French taxes! I don't think I will ever get used to the endless demands for information required to justify any demand, but I am gradually getting used to the fact that whatever we want to do we have to allow an incredibly long time for 'French Administration'. 'C'est la France'! And on our return Jose was waiting for us. He had been checking the vineyard and waiting for us to give us our orders for the following week. No time to rest - a few days away and the workload soon builds up.
The Winery
An absolute blank here. No work whatsoever this month. We have become extremely stressed by this. Despite promises of people turning up to start work no one has. I now spend every day on the phone getting more and more angry with the architect/project manager, but to no avail, still no one appears. We are not happy.
Daily Life
We finally reached the point with the pool terrace at which the tiles could be laid. But rain has thwarted them as well. In fact the weather was so bad at the beginning of the month, with huge quantities of rain and a real lack of warmth that one night we actually had to light a fire! Not quite the same as last year! However despite the weather the pool tiles have now been laid and at last we can tick this job off; but not without penalty. Iain, who spent a day early in the month working on the foundations for the terrace in the pouring rain, has ended up with a 'chill' - that is to say something that according to one of our friends sounded just like Malaria, and has spent most of the month feeling extremely poorly, surfacing only when absolutely necessary, mostly to carry on his role as Head of Tractor driving. Henny Penny continues to visit us on a regular basis and entertain us (sad to say there is not much else to do round here!!!) Granddad signed for his new house in St Sernin on May 10th and in no time at all work started on the house. His priority was to get a hot water cylinder installed to replace the gas heater and have shower installed. Iain manage to find a bargain of a hot water cylinder in Bricomarche. And then a shower was required. It took not only Granddad and Iain but also Rebecca an entire morning to find the right shower, proudly announcing the fact that they had found yet another bargain. The shower was to be installed by one of Jose's Portuguese friends, who spoke neither English nor French. So picture the scene if you can, Granddad, who cannot speak French or Portuguese and the plumber; somehow they managed to communicate with each other, mostly by sign language apparently! I have finally started playing tennis again as my hand has now fully recovered. My first game was pretty difficult, as I have become incredibly unfit. In fact so unfit I was more than a little worried. But I needn't have been. All that watering of the new vines soon sorted me out. It was Rebecca's birthday on the 27th. Luckily for her it was the day of the school trip to the 'Parc Prehistorique' so at least she wasn't too disappointed to find when she came home that we had to spend the entire evening out in the vineyard watering the new vines. Good job she had a little party when we went back to England. The ironing mountain continues to grow. Ironing is very low on the list of priorities along with housework. In general we now live with a thick layer of dust over everything. sS always we have to concentrate on the vineyard first, and then the garden. The pool terrace was finally finished just before we left for England which has made a huge difference. We are really pleased with how it looks. Needless to say though we didn't buy enough tiles and we had twice to go and buy more tiles (the man at Point P thought we were a bit mad I think, first buying 12 more and then buying another 6). I have planted out a new bed at the front, having bought some lovely plants from a pretty good garden centre in Bergerac. Of course this means more work, more watering, more weeding! However overall we do feel as if things are improving round here. The vineyard is looking pretty healthy, we now have most of the vineyard equipment we need, the garden is looking pretty good, the fruit trees that we pruned earlier in the year are going well. Lets hope that work starts on the winery soon!
