How to determine the D-Day ?

Each winegrower asked himself the question. The technical services of the Interprofessional Organization (BNIC) give an expected date for the beginning of harvest. Nevertheless, it depends from so many elements, that the final decision-maker is…the winegrower who knows and « feel » when it’s the right time to start. In fact, it looks like a very subtle balance between professional skills and intuition, and requires a fair amount of experience. Needless to say that it is a nerve-wracking period, especially when the weather has played unkind tricks during the year.

The D-Day of harvest and thereafter

It looks like a math equation : the maturity of the grapes, the health status of the vines, the weather forecasts and… the taste of berries ! The reason why experience and human sensibility are as so important as technical data, to get quality vines and thus, years after, fine cognacs !

End of september and beginning october

Depending from the year and temperatures, harvest in cognac land usually begin in the second part of september month for Ugni blanc, and ended in the second part of october. This year the official starting date was september 23 th due to a chill beginning of summer. Last year, it was more or less 10 days before and a huge part of harvest took place during the night due to very hot temperaturs in the day ! In fact, each year is different.

L’article Harvest time in cognac land est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.

A mysterious lady in the woods

In this forest, just few kilometers from the city of Cognac, a woman would’ve drowned herself in the pond. Her ghost would still live here… And in the past time, Romuald’s family, owner of the place, extracted clay to produce bricks for construction.  The old oven, covered by  wild vegetation is the silent witness of this industrial activity in the property.

Blackthorn and hawthorn are masters of thoses woods. Tough and resistant shrubs, they were widely used formerly :  in hedges near the vines to protect them from winds and erosion, appreciated in marquettery, and the small fruits of blackthorn had medicinal purposes, such as for digestive disorders.

A very useful plant indeed but with a strong temper and sharp thorns ! The hedges began to disappear with mechanisation in vines as the backthorn had the bad idea to burst the tires… But nevertheless, Romuald’s family has taken care of it.

A wine of wedding

In the 50s, Christian, Romuald’grandfather,  cognac winegrower and master cellar married  Genevieve and offers her a special gift as she didn’t drink cognac too strong for her.

private collection from Romuald’s family – Thanks for reproduction

Christian created a special bewerage never existing before. Thanks to the family stories and receipts orally transmitted from generation to generation, he composed for her young spouse a liquor she could drink, with young blackthorn and wood fruits.

In the middle-age, the  monks of the nearby Abbaye de Châtres, used the sames fruits and berries to produce medicinal elixirs.

 l’abbaye de Châtres under restoration

This family drinking, witness of love, remained for a family and friend  consumption during years and years. And suddenly fate steps in. As Romuald, young parisian architect, was thinking about his future, his grand father died. Wanted to pay tribute to him, Romuald decided, as an evidence, to promote this family elixir and the know how of his grand father, known and apreciated by more and more consumers. In less than 2 years, « la dame de pique » has left her woods to be in trendy bars !

The mystery of  la Dame de Pique

You will not know more about the name, a well protected mystery . When we walk on the paths lined by hedges of blackthorn and hawthorn, discover the pond hidden by trees, we can just imagine that the name came from the ghost of the lady or the sharp horn. You will choose as your own imagination prefer.  Romuald thinks that his playful grand father maded up this tale to avoid the kids to go alone in the woods….

A craft production

100 % hand made ! Crop is a very long and patient work to gather 100 kg of berries !  And after this step,  it takes a long time for elaboration, as Romuad uses a double maceration process.

First the young shoots on springtime, then the berries harvested in october meet vines and eau-de-vie very carefully choosen for their quality. The « dame de pique » takes its time to be at its top of flavour !

A vermouth not to leave the dame de pique alone.

L’elixir de la Dame is the new one in Romuald collection : a french craft vermouth composed of medicinal plants harvested on the property or almost : wild hawthorn, valerian roots and rosehip with its golden colour.

Rose hip maceration

L’article « la dame de pique », from cognac woods to trendy bars est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.

7′ dans une saison

C’est la durée de l’orage de grêle qui s’est abattu le 27 mai 2016 ravageant près de 10 % du vignoble à plus de 80 %. Il a été suivi par deux autres épisodes violents, et pour certains sur la même zone de passage,  une diagonale sud-ouest/nord-est remontant du Médoc et traversant l’estuaire de la Gironde.

L’impuissance, l’abattement, le découragement, les viticulteurs touchés vivent toutes ces étapes en accéléré. Certes, tous les professionnels qui travaillent la terre savent que rien n’est jamais acquis, certes des assurances existent, certes la fameuse réserve climatique permet d’atténuer les conséquences, notamment financières, de ces vignes ravagées, mais l’émotion suscitée met du temps à disparaître. Car la vigne est vivante : un grand nombre de viticulteurs lui parle, la considérant  comme un être vivant, un membre à part entière de la famille. Elle est « enrhumée » quand un petit coup de gel est passé dans la nuit, elle « sourit » quand les feuilles se relèvent et que l’alerte est passée…

« La grêle, comme le gel sont  toujours des épisodes traumatisants » confie Nicolas. « C’est le travail de toute une année qui s’anéantit sous nos yeux en quelques instants sans que l’on puisse faire quoi que ce soit ».

L’instant d’après, est celui des constats et des interrogations : la vigne va t elle repartir ? et comment se comportera-t-elle l’année prochaine ? Et  bien sûr pas ou peu de récolte cette année, les vendanges, aboutissement du travail d’une année sont inexistantes ou réduites à la portion congrue, un autre moment difficile à vivre. .

« On est des passionnés, nos vignes on les aime »

Une évidence quand on s’entretient avec Nicolas..  » Quand la vigne est grêlée, il faut attendre 4/5 jours sans rien faire, puis voir comment elle réagit. Comme une personne, elle est meurtrie, elle se bloque, puis apparaissent quelques tentatives de redémarrage, comme si elle se posait la question  » j’y vais ? j’y vais pas ? »….

Nicolas comme tous ses confrères confesse le caractère pudique du viticulteur. » On ne sait pas en parler ou on en parle mal, mais au-delà de l’impact financier, ce qui nous touche le plus c’est de parcourir les rangs et la vigne meurtrie. C’est souvent très difficile humainement« .

Une brigade de veilleurs

180 diffuseurs à iodure d’argent  sont répartis sur le vignoble du cognac. 4 personnes en veille constante, sont associées à chaque diffuseur dont le référent principal, un peu sur le principe des pompiers volontaires.  Un système d’alerte qui arrive sur les mobiles dans un ordre défini. Si le référent n’est pas disponible, c’est le second numéro indiqué qui est appelé et ainsi de suite.
Pour être efficace, l’alerte grêle doit être diffusée par Météo France 6 heures avant le passage des nuages de grêle et les 180 diffuseurs doivent être allumés en même temps. Le diffuseur placé dans une commune, n’agit pas sur celle-ci mais sur celle située 10 km plus loin dans le sens du passage….

Un système d’une grande simplicité de mise en œuvre et de fonctionnement :  l’allumage du gicleur dans la cheminée  métallique permet  d’envoyer dans l’atmosphère une solution à base d’iodure d’argent. Elle monte , à plusieurs milliers de mètres d’altitude et se fait aspirer dans  les cumulo-nimbus. La réaction provoque un augmentation  des  grêlons tout en diminuant considérablement leur taille initiale. Au final en arrivant au sol, les grêlons sont moins dangereux, voire parfois inexistant et les dégâts sont donc limités. Cette protection permet de protéger l’ensemble de la zone viticole donc tous les biens et personnes, les particuliers comme les professionnels.

L’article La vigne, le gel et la grêle est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.

Let us see « backstage » how the cognac winegrowers spend their september month…

Complete check and hardware verification before harvest

During the harvest time, between one and three weeks, depending from the importance of the vineyards, men and equipments have to operate at the peak of performance and are overstretched. From dawn to sunset, it’s an on-going traffic from the vineyards to the wine press. Even a small trouble can undermine the harvest of the day, or the quality of the wine, its just unthinkable…

September is devoted to hardware verification and cleaning :

complete cleaning of the cellars and technical facilities  : stainless steel vats, floors, tanks, tractors…

Review of technical devices, such as flexibles hoses, electronic controllers, temperature regulators, motors…

Test of grape harvester machine and tractors,

Purchase of spare parts to ensure a quick repair if necessary…

New color for the tank in which the trailer unloads the grapes arriving for the vines

Absolute cleanliness required…… and immaculate space

Light is reflected in the stainless steel of the vats

Connecting the vats

Thanks to François Jérôme and his team.

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

First musical moment of the summertime in the region,  the Cognac Blues Passion Festival. International blues, rock-pop headliners came in Cognac, such as  emerging young artists,  playing  in  the starry night.  Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, The Cranberries…. were present for this edition.  It means for me that holidays are not so far right now.

As the days are the longest of the year,  I can play golf after work in the golf course « du cognac » surrounded by  the vineyards,  or on golf course « de l’Hirondelle » in Angoulême, with a stunning view on the town.

In the vineyards, work in progress, bunches of grapes begin to be nice, next step will be « the veraison » mid august.

Business lunch in a quiet and historical place, the former house of a french writer born in 17 century, Guez de Balzac, and now an hotel and restaurant.

Before to make way for the tourists, we went to Royan and Atlantic sea for a flight over Gironde estuary and vineyards. From the helicopter, Talmont church is as amazing, as when we turn around, like a spotter on the  estuary.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBBtV0x-b8w&feature=youtu.be

The small village of Talmont is so cute, with flowers in the small streets, we called here « roses trémières », a sort of signature of the region.

A true pleasure to go the market of fresh fuit and vegetables  directly from the producer at « la ferme du Tambourinour » also a winegrower. Melon for the evening dinner is perfect as we have very hot days, around 34 ° C.

Sunny and hot sunday in the vineyards, fortunately, there is a light breeze.

And back again on the coast for an other famous and magic festival « Le violon sur le sable »(Violon on the beach) and it’s really the truth. A tremendous idea born 29 years ago : play classical music on the beach on summer, and against all odds, it’s a huge sucess.

« if you don’like classical music, beach, greatest voices of opera, stars, symphony orchestras, danse, well, come to Violon sur le sable, you will see all you did not like…before »

50000 spectators by evening, unforgettable moments, and the last evening with the magnificent voice of Karine Deshayes, the young prince of violoncello, Edgar Moreau and the high virtuosity of the pianist David Kadouch.

To end this month, what better way than music and fireworks on the beach.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXla3QIPchc&feature=youtu.be

L’article Musical july in cognac est apparu en premier sur Living In Cognac Land.