Making wine ~ and quaffing the results

I make no secret that Pumpjack, aka David, is my very own, personal wine maker. Am I lucky, or what?  I’ve detailed our adventures in finding a vineyard after moving here to France, as well as what’s involved in working a vineyard (read back breaking work) ~ see Our Wine page ~ but what you don’t yet know is that he has also gone through the (painful, French) process of becoming a Négociant.

So what is a négociant? It is the French term for a wine merchant who  buys everything from grapes to grape must (the mushy in between stage), to wines in various states of completion, often from smaller growers, eg without the where with all of producing and marketing their own wines. Sometimes a vineyard will produce too small a quantity of grapes to make it worthwhile to make a wine, very often as a result of bad weather. This year would be a case in point here in Burgundy. A négociant offers the grower the opportunity to sell his product, a win win situation.

The négociant is not just limited to France either, but can search out grapes, etc. anywhere in Europe. What he does with these findings varies. He may simply sell a wine under his own name, as is the case with our limited ‘Fissure‘ wine, which is not normally available outside of France, or even for that matter its own area. And, as is the case of my personal Oenologist, he is  particularly searching out unusual and limited availability grapes and/or wine to blend to form his own amazing  wines.  (Watch this space for the results in the near future!)

If you would like to know more about this side of our lives, we have a new website www.Terroir-au-Verre.com dedicated to this side of our business. We detail the wines, the process, there’s even geeky bits for those inclined. And… you can even buy our results. So, if you ever wanted truly unique, amazing wines, at affordable prices, that you can’t get just anywhere follow the updates on the site and put in your order. (And watch for their future Members Club so you don’t miss out.)

And now the sun is setting outside my window as I write this, so we know what that means. It’s wine o’clock. Santé.

Fissure wine by Terroir au Verre

2017 Goals ~ Let’s go with Healthy, Wealthy and Wise… and a couple donkeys

I absolutely adore that the advent of the New Year gives one a sense of renewal, a chance to reflect and consequently focus on ones short and long term goals.  We have lots of changes planned for 2017 and, I must say, yes, I must, that we are very, very excited (and a teeny bit scared).  We will be putting all our eggs into our  entrepreneurial basket and focusing our time specifically ~ Pumpjack’s to our new wine business Terroir au Verre and me, Piddlewick, to my Pumpjack & Piddlewick  Shop and the life that goes on behind it, so our blog will get a bit of a face lift too this year.

Welcome 2017! It’s make or break time.
(Hmmm, maybe not a good euphemism when talking about entrepreneurial eggs.)

Harvest Widow – the other, though arguably not better, half of wine making

There’s a term in the the wine industry, a ‘Harvest Widow’. I’m a Harvest Widow. In fact this is my 6th time being a widow. No, I haven’t butchered 6 husbands and hidden them under the vines, though harvest time may give one ideas. Harvest season is the best of times and the worst of times, as it brings in the bounty (hopefully) but also means long, long, long hours, getting up before dawn, coming home well after dark, often working through the night. And as a Harvest Widow, I keep the home fires burning, food ready and on the table and to bring to work the next day, the animals fed, watered and walked, and I do lots and lots and lots of laundry.

Romancing the grapes – posh plants or down and dirty agriculture?

I don’t know about you, but I never really thought about wine grapes and their vines as part of agriculture. In fact it sounds almost like a dirty word, when associated with wine. To me they weren’t a crop, like wheat, they were too posh for that. They were more like a seasonal delicacy, like asparagus or artichokes, something I enjoyed, but didn’t really pay attention to how it was grown. I just liked the taste.

I have always liked wine, well maybe not so much when I was younger, but as I grow older I appreciate it more and more. The taste of course, but also the variations, the vagaries and sometimes the sheer fun. Of course, living with a wine maker has given me a whole new perception. He has added to my level of knowledge immensely. And, I am still trying to decide if that is a good thing.

Frost by Nature – Bud Burst Busted

In the past, I personally wouldn’t care that spring has been tentative in coming. It might not have even registered in all honesty other than to complain it was a bit chilly. But now that we manage vineyards and are looking to buy grape juice this next harvest, what happens now affects our future. So, I am noticing.

Downsizing, Giving it all up, Changing your Life… Is it very hard to do?

I’ve ‘given it all up’ in my life, not once, but twice.  By choice. The first time I gave up everything was to travel the world by bicycle.  When I met people they would inevitably ask, “What’s the hardest thing you have had to do?” The answer was always ~ to go.

This answer remains fundamental, whether changing your life style, downsizing or, as in our case, Following our Dream. Giving up the life you know, the life you are comfortable with, is the hardest step to pursuing change.

Early morning Winter Pruning in France – Brrrrrrrrrr

Pumpjack dawn pruning at the vineyard.

Naming a Wine and Designing a Label is harder than you think!

You watch the vines come to life in the spring and then slowly the leaves start to unfurl and tiny grapes begin to make themselves shown.  You harvest, you press and ultimately you make wine. Then you watch, wait, test, test again, keep testing, adjust, taste, adjust, put in a barrel and finally!… bottle.

Through this all it never really occurs to you what it will be called.

Our First Harvest (2015) – a limited edition success

Our first harvest is in, has been made into wine and is now, as of today, in barrel!!! I for one am really proud, and particularly of Pumpjack for all the hard work he did, through out the year, to make the vineyard produce something we could actually harvest.  Twelve hour days, 7 days a week, along with a bit of blood, huge amounts of sweat, and not a few (of my own) tears may not be everyone’s glass of wine, but at least we can call the wine ours.

Getting ready for the grape harvest – Time to Test

The time is coming close now, when we will be harvesting our grapes and making wine. But how do you know when to harvest?  There are various tests, but on my simplistic level, I will be testing the level of sugars. This gives an indication of probable alcohol level, and depending on the results, plotted over time, you can estimate when to harvest.

Of course that does not take into account weather. Warm weather can speed up the ripening process, so your sugars increase quicker. And of course vice versa if it is cooler.  Then there are the grape predators – birds, wasps and a variety of other insects,… and ducks. We certainly have our share of those and so I have been hard at work putting up scare-cd’s to try and keep the birds at bay. But there is little I can do about the insects. (Even our duck, Maggie, keeps trying to steal the odd grape or three whenever an opportunity presents itself.)

Maggie Duck thinking grapes look tasty. Read more about Maggie

Maggie Duck deciding which ones to eat. Read more about Maggie