The huge excitement this month centres on the purchase of a new toy. It ploughs deeper, better, stronger than the old plough – or than the considerably cheaper one that is also on offer. So that keeps half of us busy. The other half is trying to grab time to enjoy a string of brilliant, […]
Another one of those months that threatens to be over and done before it has begun. On the one hand, pruning continues its slow and steady pace – yet it races ahead and will all be finished by the end of the month. And all the canes fixed to the trellis. And the pruned wood […]
Friday 7 February We arrive in Aberdeenshire, and it is warmer in the lowlands of the Scottish highlands than it is in Cépie, the highlands of the French lowlands. There’s a blue sky, flocks of fluffy sheep on snow-clad hills, and a bolt of sunshine moving at a measured pace across the sky. We […]
This new year woke up with a shock before it had even properly got going, indelibly stamping it as a vintage of reflection and resolution, and making it difficult, in the French fashion, to wish people a ‘happy New Year’ the whole month through. Charlie will not easily be forgotten. But we have incredible sunsets […]
The last barrels have finished fermenting, and all the grape juice has now turned into wine. The vines know that the game is over: their leaves turn gold and then drop, one by one, to the ground. Birds swarm overhead and prepare to migrate. Suddenly the weather is colder, and a warning chill blows down […]