la gramiere

Back to back Biodynamic seminars- Part 1

Completely by chance, I was invited to participate in 2 different bio-dynamic seminars, held about a  week apart.  The first one was held at Mas de Libian in St Marcel d'Ardeche, about 40 minutes north of here, and animated by Pierre Masson, a well-known biodynamic consultant.  Originally Matt was supposed to attend with me, but Cisco Systems couldn't do without him on this particular day.   I headed up with two other winemakers, Bertrand Cortellini of Rouge Garance, and Remy Klein of La Réméjeanne. There were over 30 winemakers present from all over the south of France, from Calce near the Spanish border,  over to Nice, and up to Crozes Hermitage.  It was very exciting to see so many people interested in bio-dynamics, some with lots of experience, some just starting out. 

Let me back up here and give you a bit of information about Mas de Libian.  The Thibon-Macagno family makes some of my favorite wines.  The vineyards have always been farmed organically and they started with bio-dynamics in the fall of 2005.  They even bought a beautiful work horse named Nestor, who helps them plow their impe ccably kept vineyards.  The wines that they produce are dense and rich, with a beautiful expression of southern Rhône fruit.  They make some of the most expressive wines of the region at incredibly reasonable prices.  The family has a wonderful presence and seemingly a great sense of humor.  Their wines have fanciful names like "Vin de Pétanque"  and "Bout de Zan".  Pétanque, for those of you unfamiliar with the word is another name for the game of "boules" or as some in the US like to call it, "bocce ball". This is a wine to be enjoyed over long afternoons playing pétanque beneath the shade of the plane trees in the village square, fresh, lots of fruit, uncomplicated, natural and delicious.  "Bout de Zan"  refers to a centuries old licorice-flavored candy that originated oddly enough here in Uzès, so the name of the cuvée roughly translates to "piece of ZAN".  The wine offers hints of réglisse, a plant that grew wild in the south of France, children would often chew on the wood to get the sweet licorice flavor the plant possessed. The réglisse plant was the principal flavoring used in the candy called ZAN.

Back to Pierre Masson and our introduction to bio-dynamics.  Mr. Masson started out as a farmer in southern Burgundy, who turned bio-dynamics in the 60s when he encountered problems on his own farm.  He has since become one of the leading consultants in bio-dynamics working with top wineries all over France, all over the world for that matter. We spent the morning listening to him explain the fundamental priniciples of bio-dynamics; the diversification of plant-life, the use of the bio-dynamic preparations, working with lunar and planetary rhythms, and finally being able to regulate/control weeds.  It was a great starting point and introduction for those who have never worked with bio-dynamics, and also for me, since I have learned mostly through what Matt has told me! 

We had lunch a the village restaurant, and everyone brought their wines to taste, it was hard to taste them all, but I tried my best!

The afternoon divided into two parts.  First there was a demonstration of the materials needed in order to practice bio-dynamics, then Masson continued his lecture, but this time he concentrated more on the origins of bio-dynamics and the cosmic aspects of the ideas behind it.  The practical demonstration of the dynamiser and the sprayer were very useful and informative, the lecture on the origins of bio-dynamics was definitely more challenging.

All in all it was a great experience that enabled me to put into context much of what Matt has been studying and practicing in the vineyards, as I've said before, bio-dynamics is definitely his pet-project.  It takes a lot of time and energy and lots and lots of research.  We are considering taking on one of these two consultants so that we can have some outside advice, from people that have much more practical experience than we do!  In part 2 I'll tell you about the second seminar at La Ferme Saint Martin with Jacques Melle, and the who's who of winemakers in the southern Rhône.

 

Now entering our 5th year !!! and some thoughts on Terroir...

Quite frankly I find this very hard to swallow, 5 years already??  I feel like it was just yesterday that we  were down in Calce with Gérard Gauby learning how to prune our gobelet shaped vines.  I started counting the other morning, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, yup that makes 5. As I have often said, pruning is my favorite vineyard work. Mostly because you can turn around and see how much progress you have made, the results are the most tangible of anything we do.  On the other hand you can also turn around and see how far you have to go, which can be discouraging too!

As we head into our 5th year, looking back, we have learned a lot, but we still have so much to learn.  We have made wine 4 times, and each time the wine has been different, but I do believe that each wine has a common thread, a certain La Gramière character.  That is exciting, I think it truly shows that notion of terroir does exist, that despite the different characteristics of the vintage and the slightly different decisions we make during vinification, there is still something in the wine, something that comes from the "place" that shines through.  Terroir is a notion that really gets under some peoples skin, but when, like us, you are working with natural yeasts, and very little intervention, I think that it's hard to deny that a wine reflects its origins in the glass.

Holiday Recap

As you well know, I took a break from blogging over the holidays, and it was in truth, very nice.  We had lots of family here, some wonderful dinners and drank lots of great wine!  No surprise there huh?

Here are a few photos of our Holiday Cheer, including one of our costumes for a New Year's Eve party in which my sister Molly dressed up as "farmer Matt" !  We're now gearing up to start pruning this weekend as we move into the first " Northern Planting Time"  of 2009.  We'll prune our hearts out for two weeks, then I'll be starting the tastings for the next edition of the Bettane & Desseauve guide.  In between I'll be working on the translations for the American version of the guide, working on year-end accounting and trying to get some projects done around the house.  One of those projects is trying to get a tasting room set up so that we have a nice place to receive clients that come to buy our wine! 

We spent a few days of our time off looking for a new tractor.  We're not going to get rid of our 63 Massey, but we're afraid that we might push it too far if we keep using it for all of the vineyard work.  When I say " new" tractor, that is of course new to us, we're looking for a good used one.  I would love to find an old John Deere since my mother comes from Moline, Illinois where John Deere is based, but there aren't a lot of them out there... 

Our first shipment of 2007 will be headed to Tennessee next week!  A big thank you to our distributor Best Brands in Nashville, they have been very supportive of La Gramière thus far... it's only our 3rd year but we certainly appreciate it!