7′ in a season

A day who remains in the memory, May 27th 2017 : a short-term hail storm suddenly crossing the area, without any alert before, and 7′ later, 10 % of the vineyards have been injured for more of 80 %. I was in vineyards with a friend of mine who was planting new vines. It was really hot for the season, the sky was blue without any cloud. Suddenly an huge grey line appears coming from south-west very quickly and quite few minutes later, hailstone like golf balls felt on our heads. It was terrific of noise and fury.

Even if they know that nothing can be taken for granted , even in they are insured against a number of climate risks, the winegrowers deeply feel theses moments, and emotion takes a lot of time to disappear.  Many of them speak of their vines as a human being, or one of their children. « she has a cold »after a strong night-frost , « she smiles » when the  buds and leaves recover new energy, the alert far away…

« Hail and frost are in any case traumatic period » tells Nicolas.  » The work of a whole year is wiped before our eyes in a single instant without any possibility to protect or prevent ».

Then comes the time of findings and doubts :  what the vine will do ? how it feels ? and what’s about the next year ? which consequences ? And as an evidence, no harvest for this year : an happy moment which will not happen, and an other period difficult to live.

« We are enthusiasts, we do love our vineyards »  

By hearing Nicolas, it’s just like an obvious fact.  When the vine has been affected by hail, we must wait 4/5 days, without do anything even if it’s difficult, and  try to understand how « she » will react . Like a person, « she » is injured, she « curls up », thereafter,  small attempts of re-start appear, as if the vine  would say   » Shall I go or shall I stay ? » 

Damage visible one year later

As all his colleagues, Nicolas admits the discreet temper of the winegrowers.  » We don’t have the right words to speak of theses moments, but more than the financial consequence of hail, the more difficult to live for us, is to walk in the rows and see our injured vineyards. It’s often very emotional and even if we are tough guys, some of us can have tears on the eyes ». 

Spotters army

180 silver iodide diffusers  are  spread throughtout the cognac vineyards. 4 volunteers  are in charge on one diffuser. As soon as the alert is activited, the main referent, receives it on his smartphone, acknowledges the messsage and starts the diffuser. If he doesn’t answer, the alert switchs to the second person, and so on… To be efficient, the alert must be issued 6 hours before the arrival of the hail and all the  diffusers must be started at the same time. The diffuser located in an area is efficient for an area located about 10 kms farther.

A very simple system to set up : the ignition of the nozzle in the metallic pipe fired up to the sky particles of silver iodide which are be sucked in the clouds. The reaction allows to  decrease the size of the hailstones and so reduce consequently the damages.

Great thanks to Nicolas for his contribution  and disponibility on this specific subject.

L’article Hail, frost, the vine and the winegrower est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.

In the past time, the dovecote told us on his owner and of his importance. Only the nobility could have right to own a dovercote.  The authorizaton given to built a dovercote was called « Le droit de fuie » which ended during the french revolution, end of XVIII century.

This « pigeon loft » has been built in 1717 for Pierre Méhée d’Ardenne,  musketeer of the King and famous swordsman.

The pigeonnier d’Ardenne is covered by a pointed roof.  At 3/4 height, a stone belt avoids the predators, such as weasels and rodents, to enter and kill the pigeons. Same belt inside, as it’s better to be safe than sorry !

Inside, 850 « boulins », what we can translate as small individual nest for pigeon, are the symbol of the prosperity and wealth of the owner. Each of them is built in terracotta.

                                                                         Detail of a « boulin »

Unfortunately the storm of 1999 caused damage to the  roof of the dovecote. And fortunately an association has worked to the restauration of this heritage. More détails on the association here . Every one can become donor.

The pigeonnier d’Ardenne is surrounded by numerous trees fruit from ancient varieties :  almond, cherry, pear, fig…. The children of Moulidars school have planted theses trees in 2007. It’s now a beautiful place to rest and discover the landscape.

In fact, a very nice stroll with a stunning view specially on spring time.

Heritage, vineyards, slow life, respect for nature, just a  perfect symbol of the cognac way of life.

L’article The dovecote in the cognac vineyards est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.

Since an half century shape of cognac vineyard has changed, from low trained, narrowly-spaced vines to high-trained with 3 meters on average between each row. Pruning method follow the same evolution.

As an evidence, pruning is a crucial moment and cannot be done any which way. The know how of the winegrower is essential. Achieve pruning operation needs to learn about it in school and then experience. On this video, it seems to be simple, but he is an experimented guy. Pruning shear on hand, when  you are in front of your first vine, it is not so easy, even if you were a good student. It seems that the vine is not similar as that you have learned !

Nevertheless several methods are authorized depending for the vine, the choice of the winegrower, the age of the vine…

Traditional pruning method here is arch-trained or horizontally-tied Double Guyot and Guyot Poussard. On each side of the trunk, a long branch is kept with 8 to 10 buds.

With grapevine trunk diseases, a worldwide  plague on which numerous teams of international researchers work, such  INRA in France,  the pruning is now an issue of great importance.

Then theses branches are binded to the wire in an arch or horizontally

. Pneumatic tools are a great help for this operation requring, however, some physical strength and patience !

Hundred and hundred hours are necessary to end pruning, a winter time work. Cognac vineyards represent 75 000 ha !

At the end of the rows vans and cars are used as rear base for pruning material, and mobile cafeteria : french saucisson and home made « pâtés, bread and cheese, coffee, wine (with moderation!) water, essential to get through the day…  for theses tough guys and girls in their vines .

L’article Pruning work and binding the vines in all weathers est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.

Courageous rose in the garden…

Not a reason for my friends winegrowers, to stop working in vines. Pruning is a winter activity, by any weather, rain, cold, windy… They are tough guys… and girls so. Hat, bonnet, gloves, parkas, wind-jackets, coffee in the cars, are essential.

Our small nice villages of cognac region seem to be asleep. Nobody in the streets of Trois Palis, even no dog or cat…

It was time to come back home near the fireplace. Surprise someone was already at the best place…

Philo, you’re exaggerating a little bit,  isn’it ?

What we do at the end of the week

As we are in low season, it’s for us the best moment to visit the nice exhibitions and natural sites just opened in our region called Nouvelle Aquitaine.

Lascaux IV : an awesome place, in Périgord or when up-to-date technologies  meet first painting  masterpieces.

The original cave of Lascaux,  a UNESCO world heritage site since 1979, is one of the most famous upper-paleolithic art in the world. Discovered in 1940, the cave is closed since many years to protect it. The new replica, called Lascaux 4 just opened  last december, is quite stunning !

900m2 of decorated walls have been produced by a french company called AFSP: a scientific, technological and artistic challenge realized by teams of highly skilled sculptural artists and specialist technicians. in less than 30 months.

Discovering  the replica in the almost complete darkness is as same as  if you were  in the true cave. The precision of the drawings, the colors, even the erosion of the rock are  reproduced in the finest details.

When you leave the replica, you can examine more in detail and at your time, the same drawings in the « atelier de Lascaux » helped by your digital device which give you more informations and more videos.

In fact, you can spend a lot of hours in this magic place. For thoses of you  too far from here, the exhibition Lascaux III travels around the world and is presently  in Japan. More than 200 000 visitors saw it in this country. To know more about click here

The international Cité du Vin , opened in Bordeaux last july, is a unique place devoted to the cultures of wine in  the world, and much  more than a museum. First the  architectural design is very impressive for its shape and audacious curves, as well as its ever-changing reflections depending on the moment of the day, or the sky luminosity.

There is no permanent collection, but a self-guided tour punctuated by 20 themed spaces explaining the culture of wine in an immersive, sensorial setting, helped by our  travelling-companion.

In the world wine tour, here in Mendoza Argentina

Scent and aroma workshop.

The end of the tour leads us up to the belvedere for a tasting of worldwide wines.

The ceiling is just amazing !

I deeeply recommend the 7 th floor restaurant to enjoy a gastronomic break with a nice view on Garonne and bridge « Chaban Delmas », name of a famous former mayor of Bordeaux and national politic personnality.

We appreciated a white wine from Vallée de Cafayate « San Pedro de Yacochuya » from Argentina, a good food pairing with the fish.

We need more than 3 hours as it’s said in the website.

Business week

Meeting in Rochefort. Even if the weather is not fine, I always take few minutes to walk along the « Corderie Royale ». This day was particularly cold with a tough north wind.  Anyway, I wanted to say hello to the l’Hermione Ship. Visits are closed till mid february.

To make a balance with the fresh températures, I decided to go for the blog to « Tonnellerie de Jarnac » and the « bousinage » workshop :  the kingdom of fire and wood and a fascinating moment. More about it here. 

Angoulême International Comics Festival

And last january a famous event takes place in Angoulême, the international comics festival, an extraordinary moment in the city. Exhibitions are also in the streets like « Gaston Lagaffe » in front of the townhall.

Some highligths of the events : conférences, exhibitions, book signing,…

Left down picture : what we see when you are VIP behind the wall of photographs !

And finally, the place to be is the Awards ceremony in theater.

I have choosen this picture as it is not so frequent, a stage with a majority of women !  « Prix de la Révélation » for the Young corean artist Ancco for « mauvaises filles » (bad girls)

A very busy month with awesome discoveries during resting time. Don’t forget that around the clock, distilleries are on till end of march.

L’article Chilling january in vineyards est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.

Pretty sunny days in december and so stunning sunsets. Just, what I have seen when I was going back to my car… 

In Bordeaux for a business day, I switched over on lunch time to see the awesome exhibition « Montaigne Super Star » in Media center. Very emotional moment to be face to the first edition of the famous « Les Essais » annotated by Montaigne himself.

Even in winter, vineyards offers  graphic lines, playing  with theses of the sky.

Nice meeting with Line, winegrower and distiller on her property of Cognac Guillon-Pinturaud. To know more about her it’s here on the blog

Crossing and blurring musical boundaries is an art form for Piers Faccini. travelling from the English moors to the Saharan dunes via Itialia, Sicilia and mediterranean influences, I was in a magic world during this  deligthful evening offered by « Les Quais Ici ou Ailleurs » in Cognac. Like a fairy tale before Xmas.

Christmas dinner is most important. I have ordered truffles from the area and on 24 th december, I was on site before the market opens in nice village of Villebois Lavalette to be sure to have my order. Just the time to take a coffee and read daily regional papers, and….

…. I got them. I have prepared a glass jar to carry them safely.

A quick stop on the way back to the Mercerie Castle, foolish dream of two brothers, who wanted to build a replica of Versailles Castle close to their old family castle. Nowadays, an association works to the restoration of the castle.

And for the last days, we were in Pays Basque, in Biarritz : running along the beach on morning…

…and discovering the awesome lightshow on the walls of the Church, in the gardens, and on the walls.

It was really magic. See be yourselves.

L’article December between culture and viticulture est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.

In fact, a quite tricky year for cognac vineyards and cognac winegrowers. Frost on springtime,  then 3 sudden hails storms, occur a lot of damages on the vineyards. Some winegrowers have suffered important losses, as they got both frost and hail storm. For them, grape harvest began early at the end of september. For the others, kick off on 3rd october. Usually taking place  in october in cognac vineyards, harvest time spreads out betweeen one and three weeks  depending from the importance of the vineyards,  the situation, the ripeness of the grapes…  The interprofessionnal organization, called BNIC (Bureau Interprofessionnel du Cognac) and its technical department estimate a date of starting-up, but each winegrower is the right man/woman to decide of his/her due date.

A magic moment for the winegrowers, the result of a year of work and patience.

Both, men and equipments have to operate at the peak of performance. From dawn to sunset, it’s an on-going traffic from the vineyards to the wine press and cellar. Even if they are overstretched, they wouldn’t miss this moment for anything in the world…

Sign of this particular period is on, for everbody living here, is the endless back and forth of the harvesting machines playing their mechanical dance above the rows : a special moment even for persons who are not involved in cognac.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1ytz0aNNjs

Difficult to explain this particular atmosphere, much more easy to live it…Everybody works at his right place and knows what he has to do, in a mixed feeling of stress and excitation. Usually, we find the boss near the press wine and the vats…. Nevertheless it’s really an authentic team-work day after day, and a nice human experience.

Grapes in, wine out.

From grapes to wine, from harvesting machine to fermentation vats,  all theses operations must be achieved in 4 hours maxi. Everything must going right, it’s why september is a very busy month too. More about in  my previous post.

Discover in video the harvest in cognac as if you were on-site.

First of all in the  vineyards, the endless choregraphy of the pair : harvesting machine and  tractor

Thousands and thousands of grapes unloaded  here, one trailer each 15′

The touchy step of the press wine

First control, many others will follow

In no time at all, wine arrives in decantation vat for a short time, before flowing to fermentation vat : the « piano » of the boss, a dispatching device for input and output. No failure is authorized !

The fermentation vats, this one is soon half-full.

The day I was there, a pleasant smell of « daube » with small carrots escaped from the « kitchen workshop » nearby the cellar, a great moment at noon with all the team….

During these weeks, from early morning to late in afternoon, depending of weather, the same operations take place. Nevertheless, every day is different and need the utmost care. The quality of the cognac appreciated worldwide begins here, in this very first minutes of harvest.

A very nice human story of passion. Thanks to all my friends who welcomed me during harvest.

L’article Cognac harvest days, the crunch time est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.