la gramiere

Where's La Gramière??? 2006, that is.

Why is it taking so long? When is the 2006 going to be available in my area? Well, I've been getting a fair amount of those questions lately, and as it turns out the story is more interesting than you might think. As most things seem to be here at La Gramière these days....

 

The truth is, we've had a bumpy ride this past year. It all started back in July when we first presented our wine for the "agrément". For those of you who missed that post last year, the agrément is a process here in France practiced by most appellations by which a wine is "approved" by a panel of other winemakers and at least one enologist, and thus given the "right" to call their wine "Côtes du Rhône" (or whichever appellation the wine falls under. You are required to have your wine analyzed by an official laboratory and send that analysis along with the samples. They come to you winery (or house as the case may be) to pull the samples from the specified vats that you registered with them previously. You can present all or just one or two of your vats at a time, I presented them all since we were planning on blending them before bottling, and the entire vintage would be bottled at one time. The person that comes to collect the samples arrives with pre-printed labels and his own bottles, and he witnesses that you a pulling the wine from the specified vat so that you can't cheat. The wine is then taken to a central location, often Orange or Avignon to be tasted by the aforementioned panel. You have three chances to pass the tasting, and after the third, it has to be labeled as a lowly Vin de Table, or Table Wine, the lowest designation in France.

 

You can see where this is leading, I imagine. On the first round, our two largest vats of wine were refused, and our one barrel passed. The barrel was of course filled with the same wine that was in those vats... I was shocked! Absolutely couldn't believe it. Everyone loved the wine when tasting it out of the vat. We had taken sample bottles of it to many people, friends, professionals , everyone loved it. It's a super concentrated wine, due to the lack of rain and our conversion to organic, we had very small yields (22 hl/ha), maybe that was the problem. The reason they stated on Vat 4 was  "Ascence, fatigué" and Vat 5 "Ascence, oxydé" . Those are some strong words. Ascense is a enological term meaning that there is volatile acidity in the wine and that it will eventually turn to vinegar. Both wines were at 0.5 VA which is in no way "ascent". The fact that they called them "tired and oxidized" was even more incredible - when you taste this wine you'll see, it is far from being tired or oxidized. You can imagine our state of shock. To cut the story short, we were refused a second time, and then considered not sending it back a 3rd time so that we could say it was a choice to be in Vin de Table, to sort of save face, but we decided we had nothing to lose. The wine had now been bottled and everyone said that they wouldn't refuse it a 3rd time, it's like a death sentence to vigneron. Guess what? They refused it.

 

Even worse, the day they refused it was the day I was tasting with Kermit Lynch, our American importer. Ugh. I had, of course, told Kermit of our troubles, and amazingly he said that it's happening more and more, often to really great wines that are out of the ordinary and don't fit the profile of a classic wine from that appellation. Hmmmm ... Now we were stuck with Vin de Table, which is ironic, since we purposely bought vineyards 20 minutes away from our house so that we could be in the Côtes du Rhône appellation.

 

I called our German importer Martin Kössler to break the news to him and he said: "Great! That's terrific news, I don't care at all! The whole appellation system is falling apart in France, and some of the most interesting wines are being refused." Well, that made me feel a bit better. Kermit on the other hand was a bit more reticent. Côtes du Rhône sells well in the US, Kermit wanted to talk to his national sales manager Bruce Neyers about it, thinking it may be a harder sell now.

 

When these kinds of things happen, no matter how good you and others might think you wine was, it seeds doubt in peoples minds. It was a very hard thing to swallow, imagine trying to explain to your friends and customers. No matter how good they thought it was, they still might ask themselves what is really wrong with the wine. That's exactly what happened. Kermit took a few bottles with him back to his house in Bandol, the wine had just been bottled, and somehow that fact escaped him. Just after bottling wines tend to taste differently for several weeks if not a couple of months. Every time I opened a bottle I hated it, I said they were right to refuse us. How on earth are we going to be able to sell 1000 cases of a wine we don't like!! Matt however kept the faith and told me I was being too hard on it, that it was a good wine and it just needed time. We got an email from Kermit saying that he had tasted it and wasn't at all happy with it, and that maybe we should think twice about bottling it. My stomach was in knots. What were we going to do???

 

The thing was, we had bottled it, and for some reason Kermit thought that it was a tank sample. Luckily when I got a hold of him, he was relieved to hear that it had been bottled - "that changes everything," he said. He still had two more bottles, and decided  he would hold on to them for awhile, and taste them again. A few weeks later, I got an ebullient phone call from Kermit, he had just finished having lunch with François Peyraud, of Domaine Tempier, and they opened a bottle and thought it was great. Phew. But we weren't out of the woods yet. Kermit asked me to send 2 cases to his office in Beaune who would then send them to California where they would send out samples to distributors to see if they would bite.

 

Problem was, we had to re-design the label. In our lovely logo, there are the words Côtes du Rhône, which are no longer allowed to be there. Double UGH. So, Mark, if you're still reading, that's the real reason we had to change the labels after everyone voted... Thus our new label. It took longer than we thought to get the labels printed, which delayed the shipment of the samples. Just before Christmas though, I got a call from Dixon Brook, the manager of the Kermit Lynch office in Beaune. The samples had arrived and were being sent out, but even without them, the National Sales Office already had orders for 100 cases! Wow! The only way that could be possible is from the power of this blog; otherwise, how would distributors even know it existed?? Now hopefully those distributors who received samples will order some too. So if you’re interested in trying some, click on the link at the left hand side of this page (Find La Gramière in your state).  Now’s the time, the samples have been sent, and hopefully they’re ready to order!

The 2006 La Gramière is not a shy wine, it’s super concentrated,  but backed up by lots of ripe fruit and spice. Typical to 2006 southern Rhône wines, it’s very fruit forward with medium tannins. I like to drink it at cellar temperature, that is to say a bit cool, as I think it really brings out the fruit.  It goes wonderfully with any kind of roasted lamb or beef, and I think it will be great this summer with your best BBQ ribs. We even had it with a hot Indian curry and it really stood up to it well.  I imagine that it will keep getting better over the next few years, but who’s to know, it’s only our second wine!

I don’t think you’ll even notice that it doesn’t say Côtes du Rhône.

The saucers are full

Sounds like a secret pass word doesn't it?  Well, in reality, it's Matt's gauge of whether or not we got much rain.  This morning Matt came in and triumphantly announced,  "the saucers are full."  Of course, I knew what he was talking about, but my sister Molly just stared at him with a blank look.   I know, it's not that interesting to most people to know it's raining here in the Southern Rhône, but we're ecstatic!  As with the past two years, we are in desperate need of rain again this year.  We are well below the average annual rain falls yet again, so some gray, rainy weather is welcomed!  I am supposed to be out there pruning right now, as we are in the end of the "Northern Planting Time" which is when we prune and do other vineyard work according to the biodynamic calendar.   It's ok though, since  Molly and my parents are here to do some wedding planning.  Molly is getting married here in April and she has decided to have the ceremony at the medieval Saint Caprais Chapel. It is situated in the middle of the vineyards of Castillon du Gard, where our vineyards are located too (though the chapel isn't in the middle of our vineyards, just nearby.)  The green and white marble tabel dates from the 13th century, and the altar from the 14th.  It's quite impressive and a very romantic setting for a wedding.  The reception will be up in the village of Castillon, so we have lots of fun planning to do!  Here are some pictures we took of the roman chapel and it's surroundings.  I think it will be a very special event and I imagine large quantities of La Gramière will be consumed throughout the week!

Happy New Year!!

Here are some favorite memories from 2007:

After some time off with friends and family, we will now return to our regular programming! Looking forward to some great times with all of you in 2008. Best Wishes for a Happy and Prosperous New Year! Amy & Matt

I've got hope, do you??

The 2007 Menu for Hope charity event starts today!  I spent some time browsing through all of the wonderful prizes that are available and it made me hungry and thirsty!  Now it's time to narrow down the list and put my money where my mouth is! 

Here is Pim's explanation of where the money will go this year, for full details see her wonderful site at www.chezpim.com.

This year for the 4th annual Menu for Hope, we are again supporting the UN World Food Programme.  WFP is the world’s largest food aid agency, working with over 1,000 other organizations in over 75 countries. In addition to providing food, the World Food Program helps hungry people to become self-reliant so that they escape hunger for good.

With a special permission from the WFP, the funds raised by Menu for Hope 4 will be earmarked for the school lunch program in Lesotho, Africa.  We chose to support the school lunch program because providing food for the children not only keeps them alive, but helps them stay in school so that they learn the skills to feed themselves in the future. 

We chose to support the program in Lesotho because it is a model program in local procurement - buying food locally to support local farmers and the local economy.  Instead of shipping surplus corn across the ocean, the WFP is buying directly from local subsistent farmers who practice conservation farming methods in Lesotho to feed the children there.

We feed the kids, keep them in school, and support their parents and community farming.  This sustainable approach to aid is something we believe in and strongly support.

As for La Gramière we are happy to participate again this year with another great day of work in the vineyard or at the winery!  We're still waiting for a visit from last year's winner Emma Buls, who will hopefully make it over sometime in 2008!  Remember, I specifically didn't put an expiration date on this prize so that you have ample time to make your travel plans.  I promise, whenever you come, we'll make it a day to remember!  Here's the full details, make sure to visit Vinography and Chez Pim for full details on all of the prizes.

Labor of Love - a day in the vineyard at La Gramière. Courtesy of La Gramiere Prize Code: WB15

Planning a trip to southern France?  Why not spend a day learning what it’s really like to own a vineyard or work in a winery!  Depending on the time of year you visit, we could be pruning, plowing, picking grapes, bottling, making wine or even selling it. Our vineyards, located at the foot of the medieval village of Castillon du Gard in the southern Rhône valley, are the prefect place to enjoy a day of (very rewarding) manual labor. To celebrate you accomplishments we will prepare a gourmet dinner for you and your fellow workers at our house!

Locally grown products with grace the table and all courses will be paired with the best our local winemakers have to offer. We will taste wines from all around the southern Rhone, not just La Gramière, and you (the winner) will be paid for your hard work with 12 bottles of La Gramiere. Now all that's left is planning that trip to Southern France!

(Note this prize does not include airfare, transportation or lodging, just a day of good hard work, great food and great wine!). Approximate value: $250.

Donation instructions:

1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2007/12/menu-for-hope-4.html

2. Go to the donation site at http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhope4 and make a donation.

3. Please specify which prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code.

Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02

4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.


5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.


Check back on Chez Pim (http://www.chezpim.com) on Wednesday Jaunary 9 for the results of the raffle.

La Gramière Blanc? Bientôt!

In 2008 we will be producing a small quantity of white!  Yes, it's true and we're so excited.  We will be renting a little over an acre of whites, two small parcels, one Roussanne, one Clairette, which should make a for nice blend. Both are typical southern Rhône grapes, roussanne, is a fairly rich, aromatic varietal, and clairette a bit less expressive but with some nice floral characteristics and good acidity, which should compliment the Roussanne well. Of course with such small surface area, there won't be much, but it will be fun to experiment with!

We are renting the vines from the people who sold us the rest of our vineyards, so we'll be converting these plots to organic farming right away.  Now we've got 10 months to figure out how to make white wine...I've already been talking to other local winemakers, and we plan on tasting a lot of whites with Roussanne and Clairette in order to try to find a few that we like, and then go find out how they vinify...  Another adventure/challenge awaits!  (Top photo: Clairette, bottom photo: Roussanne).

Mable, Mable if you're able, hurry and get those bottles labeled!

Finally!  Finally we got our labels and finally, we spent a whole weekend putting those labels on the bottles.  Remember back in August when we bottled and I said how much more smoothly the whole bottling process went?  Well that's partly because we only did half the job!  Last year we bottled, labeled and boxed, this year we only bottled, without putting the labels on and putting them in the boxes.  At the time it made it seem so much easier, but now seeing how much time it took to label the bottles, and the fact that they're still not in boxes, I'm not so sure.   Of course, last year, once we had all of the wine in the boxes we had to open them all and add two stickers per bottle for everything we sent to the US, so in the end it's not that simple.  The advantage to doing it the way we did it this year, is that we'll prepare each shipment as the order comes in, and we'll put the appropriate back label on the bottle according to where it's going!

It turned out to be a much more labor intensive process that I thought it would be.  When Mr. Fraison, our bottler told us that we could rent his labeler and capsuler in when we were ready to put the labels on, I thought great, it will be just like the machine on we used last year, a machine that you feed the bottles into, then it automatically takes the bottle, runs it through the process of putting the capsule on and then sticking both front and back label on and comes out the other end all finished.  Not the case.

First, you stack 20 or so bottles on the table next to the capsuling machine, then you place a capsule on each bottle, then someone takes the bottle and places it at the base of the capsuling machine and manually pulls the machine down over the capsule to tighten it onto the next of the bottle.  Piece of cake right?  Well it's not as easy as it sounds, if you go too fast, or not far enough, the capsule gets little wrinkles in it or it doesn't get tight enough.  It was a real art to learn, and even then they all didn't come out as we would have liked.  Once the capsule is on then the bottle is passed on to the person manning the labeling machine, this is an easier task, once you get the spacing right between the back and the front labels... Not as easy as it sounds either...

But once we got the system down, it went pretty smoothly.   Especially when our friends the Tills showed up!! Without them, we would still be out there slowly getting the labels put on.  Lucy and Cameron came on Saturday afternoon and we got the system going trying to get the kinks out.  Cameron was a great help and really got good at all of the jobs, even creating new techniques for putting the capsules on the bottles.  I said to him at one point, "see Cameron, this is why you want to do your homework and study hard, so you don't end up in a factory doing this all day."  He replied, "Why?  I think this a pretty good job."

The next day the whole gang showed up.  Peter, Lucy, Cameron, Lara and Esme.  Then we were really cookin'.  The girls liked it more than I would have thought and we were able to really jam through a couple of piles of bottles.  After lunch though, the kids petered out and we were left with just Peter, Lucy, Matt and I.  We decided to get through one more pallet, 1000 bottles and call it a day.  In the end we labeled about 5000 bottles,  a little less than half of our stock,  but that's a good start for now. 

We did it just in time too, on Tuesday we shipped out first pallet to our importer in Germany - K&U.  They are having a big open house this weekend and wanted to make sure the wine was there so we can sell, sell, sell it!  I say we, because Matt and I are headed to Nuremberg this weekend for the event.  I went last year and it's lots of fun, great wines, great winemakers and lots of great food.  Just my kind of weekend!

So when you're opening that bottle of La Gramière, and you notice that the capsule isn't quite perfectly sealed onto the bottle, you'll smile to yourself and think of our weekend of labeling!

The Olive Harvest

At this time of year, farmers in our area are all out harvesting their olives.  I took part for the first time this year, picking the olives from our lone olive tree located in the corner of one of our grenache vineyards.  Matt was on the tractor plowing, so I occupied myself by taking a plastic bag and picking all of the olives I could reach, which was just about all of them, except for one side, which was tough reach since it was flanked by a ditch.  If  I was really serious, I could have gone to borrow an olive-picking ladder from a farmer nearby, but I wasn't that serious, and there were maybe 30 more olives that I could have picked.

Harvesting olives for olive oil takes place from November-January, depending on the type of olive you have. They are picked as the olives turn from green to black, as you can see here, they are just beautiful, some still green, some a pinkish green color, and some already a deep purple-black.  Harvesting is not an easy job, and isn't mechanized in our area.  Some people pick them by hand, putting them into a small basket as they go, some use a rake-like tool to comb the olives off of the branches, they then fall to the ground into nets laid around the base of the tree.  There are several olive mills around that you can take your olives to, they will then process them and give you a corresponding amount of oil.  Since my olives didn't add up to much, I got about two cereal bowls full, and they had all already turned black, I decided that the mill probably wouldn't be interested in my 2007 olive crop.  Therefore,  I decided to cure them in a brine of salt and vinegar.  We'll see how they turn out.  Someday I hope to have enough olive trees to be able to make a few bottles of La Gramière olive oil, but for now I'll have to settle for a few jars of black olives!  Christmas presents maybe?

A whole lotta horse s*#t!!

We spent the whole weekend and yesterday plowing all of the vineyards, for today, they got a nice dose of some well-composted horse poop!  Our vineyards definitely need a bit of a boost after 3 years of drought and deprivation of their previous chemical treatments.  That is to say that the man we bought then from used to give them a good dose of fertilizer every year, and we cut them off, cold turkey.  So a little bit of organic matter will be good for them.  A fellow vigneron and friend, Pierre Goisbault, called us a few weeks ago to offer up some good old horse manure from some nearby stables.  Pierre knew that we had wanted to spread some compost this year, and he was getting some for himself, so he offered to get some for use too!  He rented a truck and brought us 4 truck loads.  Then he offered to have someone spread it for us, which was a god-send, since otherwise we would have had to borrow his spreader and figure out how to do it ourselves.  I don't know about you, but that's about the last thing that I want to do.  So presto!  As of this evening, all of our vineyards should have some nice shit spread throughout.  Now if only the wind would stop blowing and the skies would start raining, things would be perfect.  If only....   (That's the horse shit, in case you were wondering!)

All about me...

If you have a burning desire to know even more about this blog or about my last dinner requests, check out Fermentation's  blogger profile of us!  Many thanks to Tom for his continued interest in the blog!!

Field Trip - The Printers!

FINALLY!!!

I can't tell you how long it has taken this year to get our labels!  It seems like an eternity, but finally today I got a call from our printer saying that they were going to print them and that if I wanted to come and check the color, I had to come now!!  Good thing I didn't have anything too important planned.  So I hopped in the car and drove an hour over to Sarrians, which is right by Vacqueyras, to give my OK on the label color.  When I got there it was all set up and it looked to me like they had already printed them, there was a huge roll of them at the far end of the printer.  I asked if they could run them back through to change to the color. No, once they've gone through the machine, that's it.  But this was just the set-up and calibration.  My eyes grew very wide, you mean you're going to throw all of these away???!!! Yup, that's how it's done.  I was, and still am shocked. Next year's project will be to find a printer that uses recycled paper and vegetable based inks.  I asked around a bit this year, and in general people looked at me as if I was speaking a foreign language.  But I'm not going to give up, I'm sure it's out there.

Anyway, the color did need some tweaking, so I'm very glad I drove all the way over there.  I showed the man the color I had in mind and he immediately grabbed the pot of yellow ink and started scooping it into the "ink well" of the press.  I suppose since he does this kind of thing every day, he has a pretty good idea of what is missing, and with just that one adjustment I was satisfied!  I left him to finish his work and about an hour later they were done!  It's very exciting to finally have them, no we are just waiting on the back labels which need to be printed on a different press.  We'll have them next week.  Then we'll embark on the huge task of labeling 11,000 bottles. UGH.

So, I forgot to tell you that we completely changed the label.  Hope you like it!  If not, too late, it's done.  (Sorry about the flash, I couldn't get it to turn out the way I wanted, and I am not patient enough to read the directions on my camera to turn it off !)