October 2010
He
return-eth, and work-eth awaits…
Well Iam back in
the embrace of the south west of Western Australia – and loving being home.
The sky is crystalline blue, the sun is above my head and in the right quarter,
my impossible accent is actually understood by local folk, and my bed has never
been softer. But the experience of Bordeaux and to visit the vineyards of
SW France and northern Spain was fantastic and has brought back many ideas and
concepts that I am keen to apply to make a better and more interesting wine for
all those who enjoy a great glass of wine.
I have come back to
an extremely strange situation within the vines and the region. As you may
be aware from earlier reports, this winter has been extremely dry and this has
made life very difficult for the local farmers who have had a terrible year for
hay production (down 50% on last year), and it could also have impacts
throughout all the various agricultural pursuits of the region, vine growing
included. We rely heavily on winter rainfall as it fills up the
groundwater, and as spring progresses into summer the plants follow the
groundwater down as it recedes from its high.
This year the
groundwater has been dramatically reduced and this means that our paddocks and
vineyards are already drying out very quickly (driving home from the airport
with my wife, we both commented that the region looks like it is 2 months into
summer, already) – and this puts a lot of added pressure on the vines and this
may lead into a tremendous vintage, or possibly a difficult one as the vines
start shutting down due to heat and water stress during critical growth periods
such as flowing and veraison. I am startled by the leap of growth that has
occurred as the vines have jumped from budburst and are now a week to 10 days in
front of our “average” for various growth stages – and this is from an “average”
set of budburst dates and within 6 weeks. It is like a race out there as
the vines are trying to use what water they can, while they can! Margaret
River is a special place for growing grapes, we tend to be able to produce good
fruit in all sorts of various seasons – but this will be testing for everyone
and may mean loss of volume and possibly quality if all of the viticultural
fraternity are not on their toes.
So for my 7 days
back in the vines I have started the slow but vital process of thinning out the
excess growth and cleaning up the trunks of the vines. As I may have
indicated in the past, but we spend as much time in the vineyard getting rid of
any excess growth, as well as fruit dropping and wire setting as we do pruning
the vines, in fact nearly double. So while many vineyards go into
auto-pilot during this period, we are very much busy all the time through to
January as we try to set the perfect fruit for that excellent bottle of plonk.
The worry is when and how we irrigate the vines this year; usually it is not an
issue as the vines do not really show much stress until the end of November,
basically post flowering. However this year may be different with our
record low rainfall and it will be one piece of the jigsaw puzzle that I will
have to spend a bit of time trying to squeeze it into its spot. But we are
optimistic as it was dry for the 2007 vintage and we made some lovely wine and
it is drinking beautifully at the current (and as a guess for a fair way into
the future), so it is exciting as always.
Highlights
package….
I do feel obliged
to complete the tour diary for you all so as to either show you where I have
been or to pass on what or what not to see. But that would be too simple and
provide you possibly with a deep level of resentment or pity on my travels – so
I am going to mix it up. I am going to highlight a few moments and insights
along the way that made travelling to these far flung lands that much more
interesting and exciting. So here come the bullet points, it is not
definitive or possibly even correct but this is how I saw aspects of my time in
south west France and northern Spain.
- The French
and Wine – This may sound strange to our ears,
but to be quite honest the French really are not that fussy about
wine. The culture revolves around “drinking” wine and defining the
“location” of the wine – it is only in the most anal natural wine bars of
Paris do you encounter any resemblance of honoring a wine maker or specific
vineyard. The emphasis is placed on where the wine comes from and this
determines its quality and price – such that nearly every wine bar
blackboard has a list of regions (Medoc, St Joseph, Beaujolais, Chablis etc
etc), but no mention of the maker or the vineyard. A bit like having
“Margaret River” on the board and then saying “it is a big wine, quite
tasty” to describe it. As you move into restaurants it does become a
bit more defined, but the concepts are the same, you pay more by the region
than the maker. While in Bordeaux I tasted some lovely wines provided by my
hosts, and the wines I had were generally local wines of which they looked
for consistency of flavor as much as quality of wine, as terroir rated very
highly with them. I am still undecided on whether this is a good thing
or not, as for those wineries that make the effort in a “poorer” region they
will never really get much recognition for their efforts – but by
understanding regions alone it makes the understanding of wine that much
more easier and many people travel to these locations for holidays and the
like and as such become ambassadors for the “brand” of Provence or Cahors or
wherever.
A natural wine bar in Paris
- The Perfect
Oyster – I was a doubting Thomas. I have
eaten oyster fresh from the sea all my life in Australia and New Zealand and
I thought nothing could top some of those beauties chipped from rocks, or
knocked back from the Bluff Oyster supplier. But I stand humbled; the
oysters I had from Cap Ferret were simply amazing and huge in size to make
the experience even more lingering. The taste is difficult to describe
as the oysters are subtle and lifted, with the taste of sea spray and ozone
within the mix. It was great to see them so freely available and the
locals eating them with gusto – but the shock was how cheap they were when
you visited an oyster seller. It would be oyster overdose if I was
living in Bordeaux!
A
basket of Oysters – Cap Ferret
- The Spanish
Government – Travelling into Spain and
travelling through the northern wine regions of the country was extremely
memorable and very exciting (and not just because my satellite navigation
system kept on sending me into mad road scenarios). Through the
northern areas of Rioja and Ribera del Duero where I travelled, the area of
small bush grown vines was expansive and at times appeared to be the only
agricultural activity surrounding many of the small towns. While in
Haro, one of the excellent cellar door guides explained to me how much the
industry means to the local population and also how much influence the
government has over the production and style of the wines produced. It
would be hard to explain to a new world wine maker that the grapes that you
receive will be picked at a date that the government declares, the volume of
fruit will be what the government allows, and that every stage of the wine
making will be overlooked by a government official – I am sure he would
quickly turn on his heels and run out of the door! But in Spain it
somehow works, as the wines I tried in Haro and while touring through Ribera
del Duero were uniformly very very good, and so incredibly cheap by the
glass in the numerous bars that fill town and city centers. I raised
my glass on many occasions to the good folk of the Spanish government wine
bureaus as they seem to know how to provide a social service to the region
but also ensure the regions wine quality – quite astounding.
Grapes
being unloaded from traditional picking baskets, Haro Spain
- Yes, 2009
Ch Latour is ... well … fantastique – What a
thrill this was, a chance to taste one of the best wines in Bordeaux, as
well as taste a barrel sample from this Chateaux from a magnificent year
which was 2009. You may not believe this but “Blue Poles - Proprietor”
does not open as many doors as one would assume, but having a friend who has
connections I was able to spend a day touring and tasting at 3 excellent
wineries in the Medoc – Ch Latour, Ch Pichon-Baron, and Ch Beychevelle.
It was a brilliant day of vines and wines and discussing all things that
went to make these wines such delicious drinks that they are – all three
used quite different approaches to making the final wine, but the fruit
handling and the vineyard work was near on identical such that it became
site over effort as the only real major differentiator. I enjoyed all
the wines immensely but the standout was the 2009 Latour, it was all things
that you could ever ask of a red wine – my notes are full of literal oohs
and ahhs, but it was simply the depth of lovely clean fresh “fruit” lifted
from the building blocks of fine tannin, Cuban cigar oak with pitch perfect
acid and structure that made me go “Crikey, this is good”. I had
another lovely moment in Ch Coutet with Aline Baly, where this extraordinary
sweet wine from Barsac was poured for me to try and it made me just swoon
with delight, as is there a better aroma than the highest of quality orange
marmalade? Both of these wines were pure decadence for my simple soul.
Aline
Baly at Ch Coutet
- Alain
Brumont – I had read about the grape variety
Tannat and the thumping wines that this grape variety made, but I had never
tasted one or seen the vines. It was easy enough to find, the area was
called Madiran and it was about 120kms due south of Bordeaux so it was the
first stop on the road trip. The known beacon of excellence in this
region were the wines from Ch Bouscassé and Ch Montus made by the living
legend Alain Brumont who not only fought for the region to be defined as its
own AOC (defined quality region for wine), but also for the wine styles and
grape varieties that were to be allowed within the AOC. He is
considered one of the best 6 wine makers in France and he regularly puts his
wines up against the best of Bordeaux and the world to confirm his wines
quality. I turned up at the cellar door to be met by a very well
dressed young chap who was immensely proud of their wines and showed me
through a range of great wines, and then proceeded to take me of a tour of
the barrel hall. As I left I passed on a bottle of Blue Poles Merlot
for the vintage crew and Alain to have at lunch – well this immediately led
to an invite to lunch with Alain and staff the following day. It was
like meeting Picasso – there were about 20 people around the table and many
were there just to answer any queries Alain had. I sat opposite,
poured a generous whack of our red and waited for the polite “This is nice,
but…” comment. Alain did not swirl and sniff or even wait around, a
great big mouthful, drunk it down, looked up at me and simply said “Magnifique”.
So for the next hour I sat and listened as he gave me some sage advice (some
of it very French … get this “Fruit is like a mistress, but structure is
like a wife. You must have a good structure to have a healthy wine …
but quality fruit is also good, no?” I thought that was “magnifique”), and I
racked my brains to put forward questions that would not annoy him. I
left as he put our empty bottle next to an empty bottle of Ch Margaux,
another winemaker that had made the pilgrimage. What a great
afternoon, it is one that will go straight to the “pool room” of top
memories.
It was a great six
weeks, maybe a couple of weeks too long due to the vineyard back home, but it
was an invaluable course in all things vinous and as such will help me out no
end. I really must thank my wife for holding the fort, so to speak, and to
Tim who kept it all ticking over while I was gone. There were many fine
folk who I met along the way and to those who are reading this, thanks for your
company and your time and if you are ever in this neck of the woods you can be
sure of a very very warm welcome.
Dry and warm...
It has been a month
that has caused a lot of angst in this farming community and across the south
west corner of the state of Western Australia. It has been warm and there
has been frontal weather come through, but little to no rain has fallen and this
matches in with only 34mm last month and only just over 100mm the month before –
it is a shocking scenario for growing grass and raising animals and we feel for
the farmers out there who are now either having to buy in feed or destock
heavily.
The numbers for the
month and last year’s figures are provided below:
October 2010:
Avg Maximum Temp
21.0oC (Daily Max recorded 27.5oC)
Avg Minimum Temp
7.7oC (Daily Min recorded 2.4oC)
Rainfall:
32.7mm
The maximum
temperature range is a lot warmer in comparison to last year, but the minimum is
quite low, giving the impression that it was a cool month. Rainfall is a
little bit more but really with such low groundwater levels and the hotter
months still in front of us we really do have a very dry year to contend with.
October 2009:
Avg Maximum Temp
19.7oC (Daily Max recorded 30.4oC)
Avg Minimum Temp
9.8oC (Daily Min recorded 4.8oC)
Rainfall:
20.1mm
The vineyard
calls …
Let us just say it
is head down for a few weeks as I try to whip the vineyard into shape.
Sooo much thinning to do, 7 hectares of wire lifting and a couple of sprays to
ensure those mildews leave me alone. We have had an infestation of weevils
in the past fortnight and hopefully they will peter out with the season as it
moves forward – but it does mean a fair bit of work of the smaller plants to
ensure they are not too damaged. I think I have enough to get on with.
As always if you
have any queries about what has been written or about wine in general, do not
hesitate to contact us either by
email or
www.twitter.com/bluepoles and we will do our very best to answer any
question.
Mark Gifford
Blue Poles Vineyard
