Quite frankly I find this very hard to swallow, 5 years already?? I feel like it was just yesterday that we
were down in Calce with Gérard Gauby learning how to prune our gobelet shaped vines. I started counting the other morning, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, yup that makes 5. As I have often said, pruning is my favorite vineyard work. Mostly because you can turn around and see how much progress you have made, the results are the most tangible of anything we do. On the other hand you can also turn around and see how far you have to go, which can be discouraging too!
As we head into our 5th year, looking back, we have learned a lot, but we still have so much to learn. We have made wine 4 times, and each time the wine has been different, but I do believe that each wine has a common thread, a certain La Gramière character. That is exciting, I think it truly shows that notion of terroir does exist, that despite the different characteristics of the vintage and the slightly different decisions we make during vinification, there is still something in the wine, something that comes from the "place" that shines through. Terroir is a notion that really gets under some peoples skin, but when, like us, you are working with natural yeasts, and very little intervention, I think that it's hard to deny that a wine reflects its origins in the glass.
Comments