New vines spring forth

A couple of photos to show how our newly planted vines have sprung through their protective wax layer and are now proudly showing healthy buds and the beginnings of leaves. Now that the main threat of frost is over (see Jim's Loire), our fingers are crossed that they will establish themselves well this year. It's a constant source of amazement how something that appears to be so dead during dormancy can spring into life within a couple of weeks.

New planting is going on all around us in the vineyards at the moment. Vines that have died due to disease or just faded away with old age are pulled out and replaced and new vineyards are planted.

It's a good time to have a really close look vine development. Why not come and join us for a one day wine tour and we can show you what's going on in our local vineyards.

Elderflower Cordial - Sirop de Sureau

I promised to post my recipe for elderflower cordial and as Spring seems to be leaping ahead here in the Loire, there is no time to waste. I normally make double the quantity given and that just about keeps us going for a year (assuming we can control our post vintage frenzy of drinking it every day for a couple of weeks). You can buy citric acid in most chemists in the UK - not quite as easy to source here in France if you're not involved in wine, but you can order it at the pharmacie and they will get it in for you.

You will need

21 Elderflower heads - fresh and in full flower
2 Sliced lemons
2 Kilos of sugar
100g Citric acid
1.5L Boiling water

Pour boiling water over the other ingredients until the sugar dissolves (I normally use a bucket). That's it - as simple as that. Cover with a clean tea towel and put somewhere cool. Give it a good stir every day and leave it for between 5 and 7 days. Strain it thoroughly before bottling.
I find that half bottles are good for this - keep some full bottles for yourself and use the halves to give to other people.

Planting Vines

Visited our local pépinière viticole yesterday to pick up a few vines for le tasting room. We decided upon half a dozen Cabernet Franc and half a dozen Chenin Blanc and intend to plant them in two different ways, as a trained row with posts and wires and as bush vines, untrained on the ground.

We first visited the pépinière in the autumn last year to discuss our requirements and were a little hesitant when asking for just 1 dozen grafted vines for our business. The reception and advice we received as to the choice of vine and relevant rootstocks was helpful even though our order was likely to be miniscule compared with other customers. We eventually decided to opt for Chenin and Cabernert Franc on a Fercal rootstock (one that tolerates high levels of chalk) and agreed to return in the Spring this year to discuss it further.

We arrived, without appointment, to be met by the proprietor, who remembered us instantly, went inside to collect a ready typed 'devis' (quote), collected the vines from the refrigerated holding room, bundled them up, labelled them and shook our hand. Great service from a local supplier.

Now all we have to do it get them planted and we can then look forward to sharing their development, pruning and training methods with our clients when they come to see us.

As a side note, the reason why vines have to be grafted is so that they are resistant to Phylloxera - a little louse-like pest that infected European vineyards towards the end of the 19th Century. It was first brought over from America by keen Victorian English gardeners wanting to plant rare and exotic specimens in their conservatories. They unwittingly brought with them, the Phylloxera louse which in turn made its way to France and many other countries in Europe as well. This louse, which destroys the roots of the vine, went on to destroy a large proportion of Europe's vineyards and it was some time before a 'cure' was discovered. The answer was and remains today, to graft the vines on to American rootstock. There are some producers who today plant their vines ungrafted such as Henry Marionnet but they take the risk that their vines will eventually become infected and the vineyards will have to be uprooted and replaced over time.

Pépinière Viticole
La Magaudière
49320 St Jean des Mauvrets

Keeping off the wine for a week

As we move into Spring, life becomes more hectic, so we have decided to have a full week off the wine while the opportunity presents itself. Why this feels such a difficult task is a bit of an embarrassment as it should be easy to lay off the wine from time to time. I know it's good for the body to have a break and working in wine and with wine every day it's very easy to justify the need to drink every single day - a client is coming, I need to taste these wines to keep up to date, we have people for dinner etc etc. Sharing wine with friends, colleagues and customers is a pleasure, and the Wine Trade is a sociable business to be involved with.

At the end of the day, I look forward to a glass of something before I start preparing dinner. This for me is the best moment - to open a bottle of something, be it a glass of cremant, a really chilled Fino sherry, a glass of Vouvray (for more often than not at this stage in the evening it's something light, white and chilled) then sit down for half an hour, reflect on the day's events and just relax before starting again. Sometimes this period of relaxation results in a second glass being poured before dinner which is always a mistake.

Sometimes the wine we've had as an aperitif will continue through dinner if it suits the dish but often we'll go and fish something else out of the cellar that better suits what we are eating that night. This is also a pleasure - thinking about the flavours of the dish, the spicing, weight and intensity of flavour and finding a wine that matches the dish in terms of fruit, acidity, weight, tannin etc.

So, it's not just the actual drinking of the wine that gives pleasure - it's the choosing, opening, discussing, trying, tasting as well.

For this week, I'll stick to Elderflower Cordial. I make it myself every year and have just a little to last me until the trees flower again and I restock the larder for the coming months. It's incredibly easy to make and is easily as good as any of the big brands. It's also not at all bad with food - quite sweet but with loads of fresh lemon in the background and refreshing acidity on the palate. I'll dig out the recipe and post it on the blog - once you've made it you'll never buy a bottle again.

Le Pot de Lapin - Saumur

Le Pot de Lapin is a restaurant we've been meaning to try for quite some time but as it's not quite in the centre of Saumur it takes a bit of planning in advance and booking is essential.
To start with we had a carpaccio of monkfish marinated in lime juice served with a few dressed salad leaves and pressed rabbit terrine with prunes, also served with a few mustardy dressed leaves. Both were excellent - the carpaccio was light and fresh and looked stunning on the plate while the rabbit (although I call it a terrine, it was more like large pieces of cooked rabbit set in a soft stock jelly) exceeded all expectation. To follow we both enjoyed joue de boeuf, served provencale style with a gratin of courgette, aubergine and tomato. The beef was tender and was served in a richly flavoured sauce.
There's a very good choice of local Loire wines and also an extensive selection from South and South West France. We took the opportunity to share a bottle of Borie de Maurel, La Livinière, La Féline 2005, which turned out to be absolutely perfect with both the rabbit and the beef. It's two thirds Syrah with a quarter Grenache and some Carignan making up the blend. Full and rich with a rustic but classy palate, good tannin and full of the wild herbs of the garrigue - a little smoky and figgy - fabulous and a real change. On this occasion we had a bottle but there is also a good selection of wines by the glass (particularly useful at lunchtime to avoid post-lunch fatigue)
The portion sizes were large so we had no room for dessert although there was a good selection including profiteroles, oeufs a la neige avec Triple Sec, chocolat moelleux and a good cheese board. With coffee afterwards it came to around 30€ a head.

Pruning on the roundabout

Coming back from Angers last night I came off the duel-carriageway to find a solitary man carefully pruning the vines on the roundabout just by Brissac Quincé. Barely light, he was moving around them slowly, thinking carefully before making the right cut. It's no surprise that vines play such an important part of life in France.