These spring days in Languedoc remind of our own fall days for their weather. They run the gamut of sunshine, cloud, rain and then sunshine again. This is generally because the middle of spring and the middle of fall see the two primary weather systems governing the region exchanging places. The cool continental air is getting shoved aside by warmer Atlantic air moving from west to east while the warming Mediterranean air is rising faster than all other air around it and so flows North to fill some of the void created by the cool air being pushed south. This gives rise to a multitude of weather. In the course of a day you can feel a warm breeze on your face and not too much later you can feel a brisk bite in the wind and then raindrops. Not a great time to plan for picnics but certainly interesting.
Jean Pierre was arriving at the vineyards at 11:00 to do a walk through so the morning was frenetic in getting a few small jobs out of the way to be ready for that. He arrived and after tasting some of the wine produced out of these vineyards, Christian, Rob, Jean Pierre and I bundled into CGV for the tour. We first looked at the areas where vines might be replanted and discussed the aspect of those spaces to the sun, the trees and of course the soil.
We then toured the existing vineyards noting the pruning requirements for each. At the end of the tour Jean Pierre summarized what he thought needed to be done and offered that he could coordinate this effort very quickly. Of course I needed to get Jean’s concurrence before launching in this new direction but I was confident that it was the right thing to do. Jean Pierre articulated a philosophy of management for the vineyard that was very close to the model that both Jean and I had hoped for when we launched the business. Working with knowledgeable people and sustainable organic methods we wanted to create first class wines from these properties. Jean Pierre had the expertise and knowledge to do this, the connections to get things done and the experience to handle anything that cropped up. His own wines were regularly rated by Parker and to top it all off he was interested in having me import some of those wines to serve North American markets.
This was an opportunity grown in grape heaven and so I called Jean right away to discuss it. He was thrilled with the idea and said he looked forward to the proposal from Jean Pierre. So things were moving along well.
Afterwards we went to lunch in St. Bauzille and talked further about what the proposal might contain, including oversight, any fungicidal treatments and how they might be applied as well as Jean Pierre’s philosophy of pest control. He does not use herbicides but rather prefers to let the grass grow between the rows including any weeds that might be strong enough to compete. The insects that live on the grasses and weeds are natural predators for the insects that would feed on the grapes and grape vines. To use a herbicide to kill the grass requires then the use of an insecticide to kill the bugs who, without the grass based insects, have no natural predators. This is a practice common in California vineyards and one of the reasons why humans build a histamine type reaction to the herbicide and insecticide that inevitably ends up in the wines, largely reds (made with skin on). This natural approach serves the wine well and I was glad that a practiced adherent would be looking after the vineyard.
After Jean Pierre departed we did a little busy work around the farm. I was to pick up Amaury de Montlaur, Jean’s younger son at the Montpellier train station around 4:40 pm. I left Rob to the relaxation of the farm and made my way in CGV to Montpellier by the back routes. Traffic was almost unbearable but with a short delay in the train arriving I got to the station almost as he arrived. Amaury had spent time with me in the US, done some work for me in construction and in marketing the business, and has spent the past two years finishing his high school education in Santiago, Chile. I hadn’t seen him in over a year and it was great to reconnect. He had turned from 17 year old kid into a 19 year old bearded young man. The change would have been profound except for the fact that Amaury has always been mature in his head. He has a canny way with people and instinctively finds the right approach to dealing with people of all stripes and patterns. It is often more like talking to a peer than to a kid whom I’ve seen running around the house as a naked 2 year old on visits to their home in Mulhouse.
We shared a drink (several actually) and Rob made another great dinner. But tiredness overwhelmed us and the need to be on top of things for tomorrow when we would have our great coming out party called for an early evening. Of course there were some comical moments as I stood there pumping up Amaury’s air mattress for about an hour before realizing that he was holding the nozzle in the much too large deflation hole.
“Amaury…one thing you must learn in life is to get the nozzle in the proper hole”.
With this bit of fatherly advice we laughed our way to sleep.
We then toured the existing vineyards noting the pruning requirements for each. At the end of the tour Jean Pierre summarized what he thought needed to be done and offered that he could coordinate this effort very quickly. Of course I needed to get Jean’s concurrence before launching in this new direction but I was confident that it was the right thing to do. Jean Pierre articulated a philosophy of management for the vineyard that was very close to the model that both Jean and I had hoped for when we launched the business. Working with knowledgeable people and sustainable organic methods we wanted to create first class wines from these properties. Jean Pierre had the expertise and knowledge to do this, the connections to get things done and the experience to handle anything that cropped up. His own wines were regularly rated by Parker and to top it all off he was interested in having me import some of those wines to serve North American markets.
This was an opportunity grown in grape heaven and so I called Jean right away to discuss it. He was thrilled with the idea and said he looked forward to the proposal from Jean Pierre. So things were moving along well.
Afterwards we went to lunch in St. Bauzille and talked further about what the proposal might contain, including oversight, any fungicidal treatments and how they might be applied as well as Jean Pierre’s philosophy of pest control. He does not use herbicides but rather prefers to let the grass grow between the rows including any weeds that might be strong enough to compete. The insects that live on the grasses and weeds are natural predators for the insects that would feed on the grapes and grape vines. To use a herbicide to kill the grass requires then the use of an insecticide to kill the bugs who, without the grass based insects, have no natural predators. This is a practice common in California vineyards and one of the reasons why humans build a histamine type reaction to the herbicide and insecticide that inevitably ends up in the wines, largely reds (made with skin on). This natural approach serves the wine well and I was glad that a practiced adherent would be looking after the vineyard.
After Jean Pierre departed we did a little busy work around the farm. I was to pick up Amaury de Montlaur, Jean’s younger son at the Montpellier train station around 4:40 pm. I left Rob to the relaxation of the farm and made my way in CGV to Montpellier by the back routes. Traffic was almost unbearable but with a short delay in the train arriving I got to the station almost as he arrived. Amaury had spent time with me in the US, done some work for me in construction and in marketing the business, and has spent the past two years finishing his high school education in Santiago, Chile. I hadn’t seen him in over a year and it was great to reconnect. He had turned from 17 year old kid into a 19 year old bearded young man. The change would have been profound except for the fact that Amaury has always been mature in his head. He has a canny way with people and instinctively finds the right approach to dealing with people of all stripes and patterns. It is often more like talking to a peer than to a kid whom I’ve seen running around the house as a naked 2 year old on visits to their home in Mulhouse.
We shared a drink (several actually) and Rob made another great dinner. But tiredness overwhelmed us and the need to be on top of things for tomorrow when we would have our great coming out party called for an early evening. Of course there were some comical moments as I stood there pumping up Amaury’s air mattress for about an hour before realizing that he was holding the nozzle in the much too large deflation hole.
“Amaury…one thing you must learn in life is to get the nozzle in the proper hole”.
With this bit of fatherly advice we laughed our way to sleep.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment