After more inclement weather, things started warming up towards the middle of May and you could sense that Summer was just around the corner....................

There was again a lot of catching up to do this month, particularly with the rain / warm weather conditions producing growth spurts in the vineyard. This means a lot of back-breaking work in the vineyard removing shoots from the trunk of the vine and destemming where there is too much growth for the vine to focus on producing top quality fruit. Although the work is very satisfactory, I hate being bent over double with excruciating back pain - and I am not getting any younger!

We also need to protect the vineyard against disease, particularly mildew, at this time of year. The combination of rain and sunshine will create humidity which provides the best environment for mildew to set in. This means spraying regularly every 10 days unless there is a heavy rainfall in between, in which case you might have to do an extra spraying.

We like to do the minimum here at Combebelle and even though we are using certified organic/biodynamic sprays, they are still quite toxic and costly! Thankfully, the sprayer is still going well with lots of TLC - we cannot really afford to lose this piece of equipment as it would be costly to replace and to have an outside company bring in their own equipment would be difficult. Under the Ecocert / NOP rules, this company and their equipment would have to be registered and certified under them and certain procedures put in place and monitored to ensure that there was no contamination or compromise on the use of products on our vineyard. This would result in us losing the right to qualify for the organic/biodynamic certificate.

We are still weeding using the "intercep" or plough that literally cuts the weeds under the surface of the soil between each vine. Some of the weeding has to be done by hand which is not a nice job, particularly where you have to clear away brambles, fennel and other larger "weeds". However, if we did not do this, we would create more problems within the vineyard with weeds competing with the vine for nourishment and water. We "attack" a couple of plots each year as there is not enough time to do the whole vineyard and it would cost too much! However, the key thing is to keep on top of the work and do as much as you can each year, so that eventually it will come to a point where we only have to do some annual maintenance to keeps the weeds under control.

We are very lucky here that our vineyards do not lie alongside others vineyards which might not necessarily be organic. Under the rules and regulations of organic / biodynamic, you have to have a minimum distance of 6 metres from any other vineyard. There are some cases where traditional vineyards neighbouring organic vineyards "compromise" the organic grower - either they are situated too close and the sprays "cross-contaminate" the organic vineyard. Other situations arise where the owner of a non-organic vineyard has not bothered to spray, allowing disease to infest the vineyard and transfer into the neighbouring vineyard. This is happening a lot more now as many growers decide to grub up vineyards and are not bothered about looking after them until they are removed. However, there is a serious back-log in getting the permission to grub up and the longer the wait, the higher the risk of disease to a healthy vineyard.

2009 has seen a huge increase in vineyards being grubbed up; The reasons for this are numerous - family vineyards not having a successor or being able to sell; the inability to survive financially; EU grants etc. We have decided to remove two plots this year as one was not really performing to the level of quality we are trying to achieve here and the other was planted with Cabernet Sauvignon, which is not permitted in the AOC Saint Chinian wines. Alot of the vines being grubbed up include Carignan and Cinsault, both very old varietals traditionally grown in the Languedoc-Roussillon. Carignan is a difficult variety as it does not start to produce top quality grapes until it has reached middle-age (45+ years) - this brings to mind the phrase "life begins at 40"! Cinsault is also quite difficult to grow here and does not consistently produce the best quality fruit / wines. It is mainly used for rosé wines blended with Syrah/Grenache.
At Combebelle, we are too high to successfully cultivate these two varietals. Another key varietal here and particularly in Saint Chinian is Mourvèdre which we would love to have but again being between 250-300m high we will only successfully produce good quality fruit in exceptionally hot vintages like 2003 or 2006.

We are considering reducing the vineyard further depending on how certain plots perform this year. We have invested a lot of time, effort and money into the vineyard and we are now seeing that some plots are simply streets better than others. If our aim is to be the best in Saint Chinian, we need to remove the "bad" vines in order to focus the attention on the better ones to create the best quality wine we can. There are other producers thinking the same, mainly because the competition is so high you cannot afford to produce mediocre wines that sell for low prices. This does nothing for the reputation of the appellation or the producers themselves. In Saint Chinian we are collectively trying to improve the quality of our wines and thereby increase their value which will in turn allow producers to really earn a living and continue investing in their vineyards.

There is a move towards increasing the blends of Saint Chinian reds to a minimum of 70% Syrah and Grenache and/or Mourvèdre - known as G.S.M. blends in the New World. This is part of the quality drive for the whole appellation and I am totally behind this, even though we have no Mourvèdre. There are only a few vineyards in this vast appellation where Carignan and Cinsault really perform to the best of their ability, whereas Syrah / Grenache and Mourvèdre are consistently produce top quality wines in the region.

This month was extremely busy on and off the vineyard - the London Trade Fair is a must if you want to succeed in the UK and I was there in support of our agent, but numbers were down by 40% at least and to my mind not much business was done in the medium-high quality range as buyers (large and small) were hunting down bargains to service their customers in this economic gloom. However, we did have a couple of good to interesting meetings where we hope Combebelle be selected by a few firms. Another reason for going is to network and it is a great opportuity to catch up with people!

We also had several visitors to the vineyard this month, including some people from Sweden who were recommended to come and visit by our importer there! I also entertained a wine-tour group which was fun.

May is virtually a "holiday" month in France with several bank holidays and "strike" days of which I am completely oblivious so end up going down the post office only to find it shut for no apparent reason!

I am also finding some time for MW study and tasting which is great. I have just submitted two exam essays which I hope will get me on to the Second Year Programme. If I am successful, I shall aim to take the exam next year so shall have to find a lot of time for study if I am to pass!