Saturday, April 22, 2017

Begin afresh, afresh, afresh






Spring is definitely in the air here at Domaine Jones in Tuchan.  With temperatures in the mid 20s for the past three weeks and decent rainfall at the beginning of the year the vines have sprung into life about 3 weeks early.
Bud burst’ marks the beginning of a new season and the start of the next vintage – to me it sounds like a great name for the next James Bond movie and I can guarantee it is just as exciting !

But this year we have been caught rather unawares and so whilst we still have a couple of projects to finish off in the winery we have had to divert our attention to the vineyards.  The grass has grown so quickly and is so high that we need to mow it before we can plough and we need to plough before we can start powdering the vines.

It’s early days but at this rate we could be harvesting in August ! As the sun heats our backs in the vineyards it seems impossible to think that a late frost is still a major risk – and that would be catastrophique.




The Trees

The trees are coming into leaf

Like something almost being said;
The recent buds relax and spread,
Their greenness is a kind of grief.

Is it that they are born again
and we grow old? No, they die too,
Their yearly trick of looking new
Is written down in rings of grain.

Yet still the unresting castles thresh
In full-grown thickness every May.
Last year is dead, they seem to say,
Begin afresh, afresh, afresh.


Philip Larkin