#vintner

Ανδρί δε κεκμηώτι μένος μέγα οίνος αέξει.**

- Homer

**When a man is  exhausted, wine will build his strength.

So a cousin of mine down on our vineyard sent me this which gave me a giggle after our most recent fight to stop frost devastating our vines for this year’s wine harvest.

Frost across all of French wine regions has devastated the upcoming harvest later this year, sometimes up to 90%. Despite the trauma, many were able to stave off the worst. On top of the trauma and the tears because wine making is a passion above all else, taking joy in what little you have is also important. Humour is a balm to our wounds. The wine makers I know are far removed from the unfair snooty image of populist imagination. At heart they are farmers with very earthy sense of humour.

So apparently the story goes that a vintner in the southwest of France unveiled a new vintage fit for 2021: Test du Covid.

Christophe Avi runs the Domaine du Bois de Simon in the Lot-et-Garonne department. He printed 1500 labels for his special festive wine, a 2018 Merlot-Tannat.

The labels explain how the test works: “Serve a glass. Smell the wine. Taste the wine. If you discover a taste or smell, you don’t have Covid.”

The bottle comes with the additional message that this should be taken with humour.

The best wine is the wine you like the best.

The only difference between you and the wine experts is that the experts have just tried a wider variety of wines, taken notes, and therefore know what they like.

i will sell those as inktober 16-19:

I am very well indeed. I was away for much of August on my summer vacation. Because of the Covid 19 I decided not to fly away too far from France because of the uncertainty around travel restrictions and punitive measures suddenly put in place (e.g. quarantine) if one did go to another country. So I didn’t go back to the UK precisely because of this. So a lot of the events an occasions I would have gone were already cancelled or severely paired back. The worst part was not seeing all of my family. Like everyone else one just muddles on without getting worked up about it. It is what it is.

Instead I went hiking in the Alps with a couple of French friends as I was desperate to get back into nature and just run, cycle, and hike. It was good to be in nature and work up a sweat. I did take a more relaxed attitude to the second part of my vacation which was join a yacht of friends and leisurely sail along the French coast down the Italian coast to Amalfi. We were planning to head down to Barcelona but at the last minute there was a sudden spike in a new wave of Covid spreading across Catalunya that we thought It wise to go the other way. I had great fun nonetheless. We stopped off at various places and enjoyed the local cuisine and took in the natural beauty of the Italian coast line and besides swimming I caught up with books that needed reading. There were more interesting things to do for one’s summer vacation but under the circumstances of the pandemic it was a wonderful.

Back in France, I drove up to the chateau vineyard that is co-owned by myself and my two cousins and their French families, and is managed on a day to day basis by their dedication and hard graft. I basically have been here throughout September. It’s a quiet and peaceful place to actually get on my work - which I’m now doing remotely from my lap top and using Zoom a lot. I simply had so much work to do and my surroundings gave me the breathing space I needed to get my head down. Paris even with the pandemic restrictions in place has too many distractions and I think we all went a little crazy socialising amongst friends as soon as the restrictions were eased. Now they are back in full force to stem the tide of a dreaded second wave. Here where I am I have plenty of fresh air and space to concentrate on things I need to be getting on with.

Another reason for coming to the vineyard is that the annual vendanges (wine harvest) is now upon us. Different regions have different times to begin the harvest depending on the particular seasonal factors in play. September is a very busy time to harvest the grapes to make the wine. Usually any vineyard be they big or small will rope in volunteers (wine enthusiasts or students) to help in picking the grapes. It’s back breaking work and they work tremendously hard to get it all done. It’s usual to throw a big celebratory dinner to reward their efforts and toast to looking forward to a vintage crop. I love this side the vineyard where everyone mucks in and gets their hands dirty. Cuts, aches, and abrasions are temporary, nothing that a relaxing bath can’t cure. There are neighbouring wine festivals happening to mark the start of the vendanges and that has always been great fun to attend.

This year things are different. Like many vineyards across the country, because of the Covid, the hiring of volunteers to help harvest the wine has been very restrictive. Quite frankly it’s a real problem for many vintners. We all have to take extra sanitary measures because of Covid. So grape pickers have to wear masks as they are picking grapes, keeping their social distance, as well as hand cleaning to strict hygienic standards. Thankfully none of the neighbouring vineyards I know as well as as our own have had a shortage of young local volunteers. It’s just as well as this year promises to be a good vintage year. Let’s hope. 

I hope to be back in circulation soon when I return to Paris.