The wine year
One year in seven chapters.
Wine is not made in the cellar but outside. Here is what happens between pruning and the first bottling — and why a single weekend in June can shape an entire vintage.
January to March
Pruning
The quietest stretch of the year, and the most consequential. What is cut away now decides the crop for the whole season. A vine left with too much will give plenty of volume and very little wine.
April
Budbreak
The first leaves appear — and with them the tension. One late frost can cost in a single night what took eight weeks to grow.
June
Flowering
Two weeks in which the weather decides the quantity. Dry and warm, and the fruit set is good. Rain, and part of the flowering fails.
July to August
Canopy work
We drop fruit so that what remains gets more, and open the canopy so air and light reach the berries. This is the work you taste in the glass later.
August
Véraison
The colour change. The red varieties turn, the whites soften and grow translucent. From here on, every sunny day counts double.
September to October
Harvest
All by hand, row by row. The whole family is out in the vineyard, along with the pickers, some of whom have been coming back for years. Anything unsound stays on the ground.
November to December
The first wine
The young wine is ready and goes straight into bottle. After that the cellar falls quiet — and out in the vineyard, pruning begins again.
