The warm weather continues - the mad rush to get things done before leaving again takes over everyting else - and, another insurance claim!

My last visitors of the Summer arrived at the end of June - Tom (godson & nephew & budding lawyer with top law firm!) and his girlfriend, Debbie, arrived for a short week of sun and relaxation by the pool. It was their first visit to Combebelle too and I was keen to show them around and make them feel at home! They were immediately taken in by the stunning location and the wines of course! I think the pool might have helped as it was baking hot.

The most important thing I had to do before leaving for Japan was to prepare our third shipment for Bonili (Japan)! The wine has been selling extremely well in Japan, mainly thanks to some great "viral" marketing and loyal friends who are smitten with the wine and keep buying more! The day of labelling started off cloudy & humid with a threat of rain hanging over us which is always a bad omen. We started off OK but as soon as we got half-way through the second pallet we encountered problems due to the humidity which meant that the labels would not stick on the bottles. This was because the temperature of the bottles in storage was lower than the ambient temperature outside which caused condensation to form on the bottles and meant that nothing would stick to them! We managed to complete the order for Bonili but then I had to call it a day as we were losing time & labels. The rest will have to wait for another day! I just hope that I am not inundated with orders whilst I am away as there is no way of preparing these until the beginning of September when we have another day booked for labelling.

The vineyard is looking in great shape at the moment. I am now starting to see the fruits of our labour for the past 3 years in the vineyard itself now which is quite amazing. I have a better understanding of the vineyard too and can better prepare / plan our vinification strategy. I would like to see how I can improve the rosé this year - I would ideally like to bring this down to around 12,5% if I can whilst retaining the colour and fruity character. I am investing heavily in oak this year as I have not been able to do this for the last 2 years. I shall be looking at a small percentage of new oak barrels and demi-muids, plus a high percentage of 1 year old barrels & demi-muids which is another departure from what Bertie was doing here at Combebelle. I know our wines like "older" barrels but have never tried them in new ones. Bertie did to the extent of over-extraction so I will need to get the balance right with this one. Unfortunately, we have no white to "season" the new barrels before hand but I am looking at purchasing white grapes in 2009. We hope to be planting again in 2010 with Grenache Blanc, Rolle, Viognier & possibly some Roussanne. So, these are the grapes I will be looking out for. I have located a grape farmer but he is not keen to sell to me as yet. He is 100% biodynamic too but sells his crop to the local cooperative so I shall have to improve my persuasion skills to convert him!

We are continuing to invest in the winery and have bought 4 tanks this year and a new cooling system. We shall complete the winery renovation next year in time for the 2009 harvest using only 50hl tanks as this kind of represents each plot in terms of grape mass. The next big investment will be a new pneumatic press which is vital for the white but equally good for rosé & red.

For the first time since we bought Combebelle, we are taking in 100% of our production this year which is both daunting and exciting! Although I increased the volume produced at Combebelle in 2007, 2008 will be double that again being closer to what we should be achieving going forward. We are removing 2,1ha from production as these plots do not produce the kind of quality we are looking for at Combebelle. I will probably plant some of this with olives next year and keep the remainder fallow or plant sunflowers to convert into bio-fuel!

The renovations on the gite are coming along nicely too and the work should be finished by the end of the month. I am delighted with the work being done and the boys have been brilliant in solving some of the problems found along the way (especially with the plumbing which was atrocious and not connected to the main drainage system!). We even have our first guests arriving in September from Holland!
We intend to rent this out from April to October in 2009 but in fact it will be available at any time during the year. I shall move into this after vintage next year as we plan to start renovating our house then which is a major project!

IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN RENTING THE GITE IN 2009 PLEASE CONTACT ME ON WINE@COMBEBELLE.COM FOR FURTHER INFORMATION AND PRICING.

And, finally...........another insurance claim against the cheverie! Unfortunately, the goats have attacked one of our vineyards behind the house and munched their way through around 300 vines which means a loss of production of around 300 bottles for this year and depending on the severity of the damage, for the next 1-2 years. Now, this does not sound a lot but when you are selling every bottle that you produce this is! However, I am more annoyed that they have managed to escape again and the cheverie have now promised to tag each goat with a GPRS system so that they can track them and to repair the fencing damaged by the wild boar. Hopefully this will now resolve the problem!