Eugenia Keegan

As one can imagine everything that I am doing now is on a steep learning curve. Certainly general winemaking practices apply particularly those about good housekeeping as sanitation is the backbone to the cellar. But otherwise the grape variety itself, the age and layout of the vineyard, the growing issues specific to southern France and the Roussillon, and the techniques employed in the winery are all new. This of course is the excitement but can also be frustrating.

So, imagine my delight when my friend Carrie Sumner told me that she was going to make a pinot noir. She and her husband Marcel have a small winery in Maury, Domaine des Enfants www.domaine-des-enfants.com. Of course they make the wines that are known from this area, grenache gris/blanc, grenache noir and carignan. But Carrie is from Oregon and has wanted a small project of her own so pinot noir was a natural. She and Marcel found the fruit in Limoux. The vineyard is farmed biodynamically which is in keeping with their philosophy of farming here in Maury.

I took the morning off to hang out and provide moral support. It was also fun in that I could share all that I had learned on the specifics of pinot noir such as no crushing, whole berries only, a three to five day cold soak, punch down protocol, etc. Of course they attacked this project in the same meticulous way that they handle their other grapes. They literally review EVERY cluster and by hand remove any unwanted berries (this is after severe triage in the vineyard). For 1/2 a day I felt completely at home. Thanks Carrie and Marcel!

Finally I had to call old age and take a day off. The morning was gray and damp and I thought that I had chosen badly, but by 11:00 the clouds had been blown west and the sun appeared. I headed into town to have lunch with my Maury neighbor Ron, who is an exceptional photographer www.ronscherlphotgraphy.com on sabbatical from life in the states. What a delight to sit down for a true French lunch and linger over delicious food, a hearty bottle of wine and a perfect cheese course to put the harvest in perspective. A look at the scrumptious main course:

After lunch agenda included a few errands. My phone had been acting up (turned out to be the battery) so I stopped into the Orange store (the primary French carrier) to try to resolve the problem. Being without a phone for calls and texts is sooooooooo 80’s! With little imagination one can conjure up my rudimentary conversation trying to describe the issue with the phone (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, it shuts itself off…yeh, must be reflexive….). But thankfully I happened on a young delightful patient woman who took my challenge in stride and sorted out my issue. Well, actually the phone shut itself off and I think that did it. I left with a new phone, but not until I had done some browsing. I have heard that everything comes back into style but really?:

Next up was the purchase of a dustbuster. The apartment that I enjoy has wooden floors. They are easy to keep clean except of course for the dust bunnies (yes, they are everywhere!). I was not surprised to see such a large selection. The French are nothing if not anal about their housekeeping. The commercials on the TV are a scream:

And finally a stop at the grocery store. There are two small Carrefours (one of the big four chains) near me, each in a neighboring town (nope, no groceries in Maury). This is a new supermarche and stocked with every wonderful delicious French food imaginable. Just the square footage alone devoted to pig meat is enough to make one worship at the French table.
And the cheese…..bigger and better than our best except perhaps Murray’s, and the wine, oh la la!

I thought this a good time to update the blog as there is some odd weather here. For three days the skies have been gray with a thick layer of clouds and fog drifting along the base of the mountains.

Of course it has been a wonderful respite from the back breaking work of picking grapes.

I have done my best to keep up with the crew but as expected they are all twenty something, mostly from Spain (serious unemployment as we know) and a handful of hardy adventurous French. As I scamper like a billy goat up and down the hillsides with thighs throbbing I try to imagine the muscles that are developing along with the burning pain. By noontime I am beat. So, not really hard to imagine that one day when the wind was whipping the vines that insolently slap you in the face and I had entered some zone of delirium punctuated with the Spanish and French banter, that the one very loud American voice yelling, Oh shit, stopped the kids in their tracks. Yep, I had mistaken my index finger for a vine! I am just sorry that I did not have my camera to take a shot of the pulsating, spouting fingertip. Although, I must admit that the taste of ripe, warm grenache juice and blood was an intriguing combination. Maybe a new wine concept somewhere in there!

It’s the new year and time to climb out from under the proverbial rock and start sprouting some buds (you can just smell spring can’t  you?).  Thankfully, with all the heavy equipment available it is now possible to build a full life under that rock so lots of great things have been going on preparing for the next stage of this journey.  But before we discuss the future…..

OMG, I just looked at my blog and now realize that my last post was before harvest!   Of course there was a trip to France for vendange.  With the Oregon harvest so late and Europe’s so early, it was a great year for Oregonians to head to Burgundy to rekindle old friendships and check out what the French have been doing.  The opportunity segued perfectly into my harvest trip so David and I left on the last day of August and had a couple of perfect weeks to assess firsthand the 2011 French harvest.  We started in Champagne, through Burgundy, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, and finally in Maury, Roussillon.

In fact the harvest did not start quite as early as feared because July was cool and wet.  This pushed the ripening back certainly two and up to three weeks.  It also increased the threat of botrytis rot as the rains continued throughout the month.  We did see a lot of that, and as expected some wineries were more aggressive about culling in the vineyard, and in the winery as clusters were dumped onto sorting tables.

Harvest on the Côte des Blancs

Dumping Pinot Noir Fruit at Domaine Drouhin in Burgundy

Sorting Fruit at Domaine Drouhin

I then put David on an airplane for the east coast of the US.  We had to switch his city of departure to follow up on a business meeting in Champagne, which gave us a free day on the way to Paris.  What better way to enjoy a quiet weekday than in the gardens of Giverny.

First Things First: Lunch

And Then a Stroll Through the Gardens

We arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport late so I opened the door and booted David out of the car and raced back to Chateauneuf-du-Pape to work a week in the cellars of Domaine de Cristia.  Michel from Paris returned for crush and we enjoyed the addition of a young intern from Alsace, (we are pictured together on my twitter profile, @grenachegal).  From there I headed back to Maury to harvest with Jean-Roger and Marie Calvet.  I can’t believe that there are not a bunch of pictures (maybe I was working??) but in fact most of the camera work was a camcorder.  The video is in production.

We brought the last fruit in on the 7th of October and I returned home.  Harvest in Oregon was still two weeks away so there is absolutely no excuse for why I did not open ALL of my mail that had been delivered while I was away.  So I was more than a bit stunned when I finally opened what I thought was some routine notice from the company that managed the rental of my home in Napa.  Ahhhh, my tenant had given notice on the first of October and in a week the house was mine again.  He had lived there four years to the day and was mostly a dream.  I had made the decision to sell the house and headed down to Napa at my first opportunity to view the property.  The inside of the house, which is rather fragile (all wood and glass) was in absolutely immaculate shape.  The outside, not so much.

We loaded up a van with furniture and artwork, all originally from the house (and living either with us or with friends) and had a harrowing ride from Portland to Napa through snow and sleet.  We arrived in the wee hours of the morning but were up early and had the house staged by mid day.  After a couple of days of work on the exterior (David is mean with a power washer!) David headed home and I continued to labor.  After a couple of additional trips down the house was ready for its first of two open houses on the 6th and 8th of December.  We received offers each day, were in escrow by the 12th and closed on the 6th of January.  Yep, that fast.  I had thought it would take four to six months.  The house is very special, but small, not for a family and does not appeal to everyone.  On the other hand it is an architectural designed house of glass and redwood and is snuggled amongst dozens of oaks on a knoll overlooking the Napa Valley on a small piece of heaven.  It is probably best that it happened this way hoping that it was less painful (I am thinking of that swift removal of the bandaid).  I made my final trip (five round trips by car in six weeks!!) down the week between Xmas and New Years.  The house is famous for its ability to throw a party so that seemed the logical conclusion to twenty years of loveliness.  These gatherings were a tad different since I had almost nothing for entertaining.  They quickly became BYOP parties….that is bring your own plate….and silverware, and napkin, and wine glass……    The result was an array of eclectic table settings adding a festive feel.  We partied straight on through to the morning of the First.  My brother and nephew arrived around 8:30, we loaded the van and off we headed, back to Oregon.  Tears were streaming down my cheeks as I said goodbye to my beloved tree house.

Southwest Corner of the Greatroom

December Sunset Back Deck

From there, it has been full court press on…….yes, the Old Vine Grenache Project.    Label is done, biz cards are printed, facebook page is happening.  The website is a ways off.

Saturday we are off to northern Europe working on distribution opportunities for Adelsheim Vineyard and then to Prowein, the largest wine trade show in the world.  Then I am off to Maury to put the first wine in the bottle.  Wine always takes so long from idea to glass but somehow the day arrives and mine is right around the corner!  YIPPEE!

Front Label

Back Label

After the bottling in Maury I will head south to Spain to search for more grape sources in the famed old vine grenache growing area of Navarra, Campo de Borja, and Monstant/Priorat.  Should be fun.

The sun burst in the room early…..I know this only because breakfast service started at 7:00 and I could not smell the usual signs:  fresh coffee and toast.  I turned over and wasted an hour in dream land.  I was at breakfast by 8:00, enjoyed a final walk along the lakefront, and was on the road by 10:00.  The day was spectacular, spring on full display.

I had picked my route; due south through the spa town of Aix-les-Thermes and onto the foothills of the Pyrenees.  I am not a skier so am not familiar with the hot spots of the sport, but I can imagine that this area is robust during the winter months.  I wound my way through one small Alpine village after another.  I could have been in Switzerland and indeed expected to see the Von Trapp family traipsing over the hill at any minute.

I finally could not contain myself and while crossing a somewhat new bridge with a running brook on one side and a leisurely lake spread to the other I pulled over to stop, gaze, wonder, and take a photo or two.  I stepped out of the car, and no it wasn’t Mary Poppins herself, but indeed the music of the famous cow bells.  I glanced up and sure enough cows were grazing with their bells echoing off the surrounding hills.  There was not a cloud in the sky or another human being on the road to disturb the minute of quiet and contemplation.

Back in the car, I cut across the mountain top and turned north at Mont-Louis.  I then followed the D118 north through a most beautiful and isolated area.  I wanted to stop for lunch but could not find the right spot.  It was Sunday (and Mother’s Day) and many places were closed.   Those that were open were hosting large families and formal meals, neither of which was on my agenda.  As the kilometers wound before me I marveled at how quiet things were…..and then noticed the time.  To be sure, around 2:30-3:00 the roads were a bit more crowded and busy….the lunch crowd had dispersed.  But for about two hours I thought that time had stopped for tout le monde, except moi as I traveled through timeless, hushed beauty.

As I came out of the mountains the temperature was on the rise.  I arrived in Maury around 4:00 in the afternoon with strong sun and temperatures hovering around 30.  The light breeze saved the air from any signs of oppression.  The town was on fire with activity and I soon understood that I had arrived right in the middle of a new (second year) tasting of AOC Maury wines hosted by the village of Maury.  There were around 25 wineries each with two or three wines in 5 separate locations around town, all walkable.  At each station a restaurant offered food.  There was music in the center of town at the community play yard.  I love arrival parties!!  I caught up with Jean-Roger Calvet and his wife, Marie at their winery station , picked up the key to “my” apartment (my third stay!!), and made arrangements to meet at the winery the next morning at 10:00.  The Calvets are my Roussillon winegrowing associates.  I can’t wait to introduce you to them.

Our plan for the next day was to work on a series of blends for the 2010 K2 grenache, Côtes Catalanes.  I couldn’t sleep a wink that night……

Not a Cloud in the Sky, Perfect Day for Handgliding

Welcome to the Neighborhood

Spring Arrives Late in Alpine Towns

Ring them Bells.....

Springtime in the French Mountains