The weather here at the moment is unsettled at best…although I don’t expect any sympathy from Scottish-based readers. It is tricky for the vines though, which are in a very fragile stage of growing at the moment.Flowering is occurring now, so propagation will take place as the petals fall. Vines are diaceous (having male and female parts) and so generally self-propagating, but heavy rain or strong winds will drastically reduce the percentage of successful fruit. In addition, the new shoots are still thin and easily broken, so we attach the vines to wooden posts or trellising…you can see the difference above. It doesn’t look like much, but this can stop friction and snapping in a young plant and save our fruit crop. With nearly 50,000 vines it is a time consuming process, but one we consider essential.
We have also planted a couple of sections of new vines. This requires preparing the soil with some lime to adjust the acidity, and also some organic fertilizer. Then we measure out the rows with sticks, tape and ropes (nothing worse than a shabby looking vineyard!). We make a hole with a bloody great big crow bar and push the nursery vine well down inside to cover the roots with earth. Then we dig a small well behind the plant to catch water, and we water each and every one once a week (unless there is rain). Already some of them have taken root and are pushing out 4-5 leaves so we are pleased with their progress. By law, we cannot take a crop from them until the 3rd year if we are making Appellation level wine. In New Zealand, I remember many domains taking their Sauvignon crop in the first year!
In the winery we are bottling much of last year’s production this month…we have very little of the 07s left to sell, so we need to get the 08s ready to go….
After a decade flogging wine in Scotland, Andy is now making wine in the south of France and doing a damn good job too. He lives there with his lovely wife, offspring and dog!
Cook Wines Website
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