If there is ever a bit of a lull in terms of workload, it's during winter and early spring. This does not mean, however, that we're sitting back and relaxing. Other than a raft of declarations and paperwork, to each of the three (3!) different appellations we're under, to customs, to our social security body and many others, there is still lots of physical work to be done to compensate for excessive eating/drinking in December.

There are years when the grapes just seem to take care of themselves. 2024 is .. not one of those years. We have earnt our beautiful ripe berries through bloody hard work. Organic since day one, we can only fight mildew with organic matters. These wash away every proper rain and of those we have had plenty. It's been pretty relentless but we are very pleased with the outcome. 

In sunny conditions, a small team brought in tourigas in the morning and castets in the afternoon. But for some botrytis on the tourigas, the berries were in great condition. How lovely it is when sorting feels excessive. We took particular care of the castets where the phenolic ripeness was beyond full - touch the vine and the berries drop! How lovely it is when sorting feels excessive. 

A brave team of 18 pickers picked in a fine morning rain until the sun broke through around noon. We were 5 at the sorting table, happy with not having to work too hard as grapes were in good condition. Merlots were in great shape and surprisingly good quantity, while we harvested less than 10hl of beautiful malbecs. One parcel malbec got frostbitten in 2021 and is gradually recovering, while the other on steep limestone slopes just need time to punch through their promising soil to be able to give more energy to yield more. Crazily low yields but least we got quality which certainly trumps quantity.