Our English adventure begins!

As I said in my last blog, whilst in Australia we signed for a 6 hectare plot near Marlow, where Kaye and I found ourselves after coming back from our year in France. It was a complete fluke I found this land, simply had a quick search on the internet and voila! Three weeks later we’ve signed and have put a deposit down for 20,000 baby vines. No turning back now!

It’s all happened so quickly, but I went up there today, the sun was shinning and I took this photo. I know it’s a picture of a field, but that’s all it is at the moment, a lot has to be done before we plant.

It’s a beautiful spot that overlooks the lovely river Thames below and the even more beautiful A404 to the left!! It ticks all the right boxes: south facing chalk slope, 50m above sea level and great exposure to both the east and west. Obviously there is a risk in growing in our climate, but many vineyards are now producing fantastic sparkling wine, and there’s no reason why ours should be any different. It’s a long term investment, and we won’t see the release of our first wine for maybe another 6 years, but I figure I’m still young and there is no time like the present.

We’re going to plant 40% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and 20% Pinot Meunier, all with different clones and rootstocks, but all tailored to our chalky site. I hope to produce a vintage sparkling each year and then maybe a younger blanc de blanc and a house style that will be determined by how our vines perform and what we prefer to drink! But this could all change as the years go by.

First up we have to protect our site from the leaf-eating dear and rabbits! This will hopefully start next week and I can’t wait to get up there and smash some posts in!

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My annual Oz trip

As has been the norm for me over the last 7 years, I have just made my usual trip over to the sunnier side of the world. The main reason was to check over and prepare the latest edition of Wilson Gunn 2008 for bottling whilst also getting a chance to see the NEW RedHeads.

This part of the world (McLaren Vale) means a lot to me as it where I started my winemaking journey over 11 years ago. As a fresh faced 17 year old I got a job with Tatachilla winery as the lowest of the low-level cellar hands. It was bloody hard work but I learnt a lot from the then head winemaker Michael Fragos (now winemaker at Chapel Hill), and assistant winemaker and long time friend Adam Hooper, one of the original RedHeads members and maker of La Curio. Along the way I have made many more friends out there, many of which have come over to help me with my Bordeaux harvest.

Anyway since the early days things have moved on and everyone now seems to have their own shed! RedHeads is not now about one place, but about a collection of guys producing fantastic stuff in their own place, but still meeting up around an impromptu BBQ to talk shop and drink way too much beer into the early hours of the morning. It now brings more diversity into all the wines as you can taste the same parcel of fruit made in two different sheds, producing very different wines. It really is fascinating to see how the concept has evolved over the years and a lot of great photos were taken to show this, which I’m sure you’ll see in a mailing soon.

While I was there I had to finalise the blend for the Wilson Gunn 2008 Bellum Shiraz Cabernet. This was not easy as in 2008 we had a massive heatwave in the middle of vintage and everything that was picked after really suffered. So from my 28 barrels, I only managed to select 10 that were good enough, all picked pre-heatwave. But on the upside we have a cracking wine that shows classic deep purple concentration, smooth tannins and buckets of eucalyptus and spice flavours - it’s gunna be good!

Overall everyone seemed very excited about the 2010 harvest. After two hard years it looks to be a classic McLaren Vale vintage, concentrated and ripe!

Oh and I forgot to say, whilst I was away my wife Kaye signed on the dotted line for our piece of English terroir near Marlow, and then ordered 20,000 vines that will be ready for planting in May. Will tell more next time!

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Champagne!

Last week I got the chance to make a small trip over to Champagne and start my education into this very different style of winemaking. I went to visit a good friend of mine Thierry Lesne, who was the head flying winemaker when I did a vintage in Valvigniere back when I was only 17. It was this vintage that caused me to fall in love with France and the whole winemaking world in general.

Thierry now lives in a place called Chateau Thierry believe it or not, but I’m assured he doesn’t own the town! It is right on the River Marne in Champagne country around 60km from Epernay. That seems like a long way but all the vineyard regions around here seem very spaced out, certainly not like Bordeaux.

Thierry has 7 hectares and grows fruit for Nicolas Feuillatte, a massive Champagne house in Epernay, who hold in stock around 70 million bottles!!! They organize base wine tastings for all the growers and then a 4 course meal at the cellar. I managed to wangle my way in and sat down with around 14 growers, tasting through 09 base wines, some reserve wines and then some blends. This was my first proper base wine tasting and we all had to give our tasting notes and our favorites. I always picked the most fragrant and aromatic, and Thierry went for the duller rounder wines.

I thought he was just getting old but apparently this is what it is all about. The more subdued the fruit, the more it means the aromas are ‘locked in’ to the wine and will be released with the secondary fermentation in bottle. This goes against most winemaking philosophy and something I had to get my head around.

I found it all fascinating and after chatting to the growers at lunch and after taking a few jokes about me trying to make wine in the UK, I really started to get enthusiastic about our prospects of sparkling production. It’s true they have massive amounts of history, tradition and knowledge which you’ve got to love, but there is something special about starting in a UK industry that is in it’s infancy. They couldn’t believe the fact that we can plant vines anywhere we want without EU permission!!!!

Anyway it was a fantastic trip and I think I’ll be going through the tunnel a few times to pick their brains!

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Sun starting to shine on UK project!

Well it looks like we’re finally getting some movement on our UK vineyard project. I won’t say where it is as I don’t want to jeopardise the purchase of the land, but it is a fantastic site that I found by accident on the internet and ticks all the boxes with regards to growing grapes in the UK; south facing, chalk bedrock, height above sea level and soil composition.

Time is short as we have to order the vines now, and can’t really commit until the land is officially ours. Kaye and I are spending a lot of time in making sure we get the best possible people to advise us and do the work properly. It is obviously a massive investment (5 hectares) and we need to make absolutely sure that we get it right, which means choosing the right rootstock and clones that are perfectly suited to our soil type.

A lot can still go very wrong very quickly, but we are pushing ahead as fast as possible and with some luck we will be ready to plant in May with around 20,000 little baby vines. Watch this space!

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Great to be back!

Yes it’s been a while since my last entry I know. But moving back to the UK just before xmas was no easy thing! But I have just made my first visit back to France since we came home. It was really great to be back, even though it was -6 degrees when I arrived.

The reason for the trip was to finish the job with regards to the 2009. Basically I had left the wine in tank to start it’s malolactic fermentation. This requires heat to raise the temp of the wine to around 25 degrees so the little bacteria can work in a nice environment. Some years it sails through others it is a pain in the buttocks! 2009 was a pain!

Because of the very hot season the bacteria find it harder to get going, even if we inoculate. So it’s taken until now to finish. But now this means time for 2008 and 2009 to house swap. 2008 comes out of barrel and 2009 goes in. We pump out the 2008 into tank minus the sediment, steam cleaning the barrels, sterilizing them, letting them dry and then refilling them with the various components of 2009. Any barrels older than 2007 are discarded and replaced with brand new French oak from my favourite cooperages.

Doing this to 60 barrels on my own takes quite some time, but I really enjoy it, tasting 2008 as it finishes its ageing and tucking up 2009 to begin it’s journey. I just stick Neil Young on the ipod (I’m a big fan!) and I’m in my own little world. Yes I’m not living here permanently anymore, but it just makes coming back that more special. I have planned to do a least one visit a month but have also put another offer in for 4 more hectares of vineyard, which if accepted could see me out here even more.

Fingers crossed!

The 2008 Verniotte is planned for bottling just after Easter, we are just putting the final touches to the new label. I really hope you like it when you see it!

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Although Bordeaux 2009 has drawn to a close, I haven't wasted time in starting with the next project.

As I have said we are moving back to the UK in December as my wife Kaye is to start work again. We are also going to start a little vineyard project of our own, and jump on the successful UK sparkling bandwagon!

For research we took a small trip to Champagne to see an old friend of mine Thierry Lesne. I worked with Thierry in my very first vintage in the Ardèche in 1998, where I learnt how to hunt wild bore and hate Pastis!

We simply went to see how things work, extract as much info as possible, and see what I was getting myself into. It was quite obvious from the start that it is very different from anything I have done before. Some things are the same, for instance the expression of terroir, more so than in any other wine.

Because everyone makes their wine in exactly the same way (they have too!), the defining factors are where the fruit comes from, and how they are blended together. We tried many base wines, and I think lost most of the enamel off my teeth because of the acidity. The differences are incredibly subtle, and the art of blending will probably be the hardest part. I was completely fascinated by it all and am really relishing the chance to make something completely different.

Although one thing I have learnt is that you cannot simply take one production method from one country and export it to another.

Everywhere is different, and each site is specific. Meaning because we are starting from scratch there is no model to follow like over here in France, no rules to govern how we grow the fruit, just lots of questions!! It will be a fascinating adventure and I hope to let you know how it goes!

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The end of an adventure!

Last week represented the end of my 2009 harvest, as I pressed off the last tank of Verniotte Cabernet Franc. I had to do it on my own as the last of my vintage crew had disappeared. Not really an issue for most places, but when you are still using an ancient manual ratchet basket press, things take about twice as long. I always say it will be the last year I use it, but when you are making such small volumes it just makes sense. It may take a while but what’s the rush!!

Although this time on my own did give me a chance to reflect on such a wonderful year, that sadly has come to an end. Yes it was a great vintage, but that is not the reason why I enjoyed it. It was the chance to really get to know my vines for the first time, and learn all the little things it takes to grow the best fruit possible. It by no means went smoothly. I must have broken my sprayer about 4 times, and nearly lost the tractor over a small cliff. But this is the only way you can learn.

I am moving back to the UK with Kaye (and Alfie) in December, as Kaye is starting work again. This means I will be leaving the vines in the capable hands of my French experts. Although I am sad to leave these vineyards, I will be back at least once a month to see how 2010 pans out, and obviously make sure the wonderful 2009 Verniotte evolves into the beauty it should. But before that we have the excellent 2008 vintage being bottled in March, which is sure to impress.

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