'Outstandingly Delicious' Jancis Robinson MW

I knew it was going to be a great day when I woke up and it was raining😀 but little did I know how great my day was going to get!

Now like the rain in the south of France this definitely doesn't happen every day - Jancis Robinson MW selected my Domaine Jones Grenache 2015 as her wine of the week!!

Wine of the Week, Jancis Robinson MW  can you believe it - I can't!!!!

The article starts and I quote Jancis

"Here we have proof that a woman from Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Middle England can make outstandingly delicious wine in Roussillon"

It's a lovely article and confirmation of what we set out to prove at Domaine Jones - this area can make fantastic wine.

To read the full article please click here

And if you fancy trying some of the 'outstandingly delicious' wine click here or why not join my very small exclusive Domaine Jones Wine Club

Haute Sécurité

This year we have put up over 1 mile of fencing around our more sensitive vines to try and keep our old ‘friend’ the wild boar out of our precious vineyards.  It’s never quite as easy as saying ‘I’m just going to put up a fence’ as firstly we had to get the digger out to clear away the undergrowth and then 'we' knocked in over 400 metal posts in perhaps one of the stoniest soils in France. 

 

 
The priority was to protect the vineyards on the edge of the garrigue (prime wild boar territory) such as La Caune or Falandrin with its natural spring that becomes a regular watering hole in the summer.
 
All the vineyards we protected were either syrah which ripen early, or the deliciously aromatic muscat with the exception of St Roch which is planted with 100 year old carignan and grenache and normally of less interest to the greedy wild pigs.  But as it is one the last vineyards to be harvested in the village, when everything else has been picked our little vineyard at St Roch becomes surprisingly tasty.

This year the wild boar seem to be hungrier than ever and have already started nibbling at unripe grapes in our unprotected vineyards.  They were so desperate to get into the Falandrin vineyard that they ram raided the fence.
 

2017 Harvest countdown

the 2017 harvest

I had a slight panic attack when I saw on the local news that the harvest has already started down on the plains near Perpignan, 2 weeks ahead of schedule.  We have just checked the vines and although Perpignan is only 40 km away our grapes are still a good couple of weeks off.   During the past two weeks the weather has not been quite so hot and we have had afternoon storms and clouds blown in from the sea.  This has slowed the grapes down slightly and so it looks like we will probably be harvesting perhaps a week early so towards the end of August.  

The grapes are looking really, really good which means we can leave them to ripen without the pressure of having to pick due to the risk of rot.

So as long as those pesky wild boars stop stampeding our vineyards it looks like we're in for a great harvest.

For the love of old vines

Domaine Jones is made up of 20 small vineyards scattered across the arid countryside around the remote village of Tuchan.  The vines are exclusively old vines and old means old in Domaine Jones language.  From 40 years up to over 100 years.  I have been collecting vineyards since we started the Domaine in 2009 with just one.  I now have a fine collection of some of the oldest vineyards in the village - Carignan, Grenache, Syrah, Muscat and Macabeu – all old, all magnificently located and all extremely hard work.

 

Even on our old vines we want to keep the yields down so that all the grapes can ripen evenly and healthily.  We thin out the shoots and take off unwanted leaves at the bottom of the vines by hand during the spring.

For the syrah on trellisis we make sure that the rows stay neat and tidy by tucking the branches behind the wires two or three times during the growing season.  And when the branches are too high to stay within the wires we chop them off with hand held sheers.  We also plough with our trusty steed - the 50 year old chenillard tractor.
 

 

If I just had one little vineyard all this could be quite fun but as a collector of vineyards I now have over 50 000 vines that need individual care and attention. Not the walk in the park (or in the vineyard)  I had envisaged!
 
So is all this hard work worth it?  And is it reflected in the quality of the wine?
 
Given all the rave reviews our wines get I think we must be doing something right.  Our attention to detail and our knowledge of each individual vineyard means that our wine making starts in the vineyard 9 months before we even pick the first grape.

Happy vines make happy wines!

Old Vines - a labour of love

You might remember that back in March I purchased a couple of hectares of old vines in the village of Paziols.  I immediately fell in love with these vineyards - the old gnarly vines, the rocky slopes, the stonewalls, the bushy hedgerows and the view.  Not to mention the eclectic mix of traditional grapes - grenache noir, grenache gris, carignan, and macabeu,

Jean Marc was never quite as enthusiastic as myself about these hilltop vines and for good reason.  Because when you actually start to look at how you are going to work the vines you have to be an optimistic dreamer, like myself, with a lot of time on your hands, unlike myself.

The bushy hedgerows are not only overgrown but have sprawled at least 6 ft into the vineyards covering rows of vines and hiding the once lovely perimeter stone walls.  The ditches are blocked and the vines are planted so closely together that you can hardly walk between them let alone get the tractor in.

So last week Jean Marc got his digger out, and I put on my lovely Christmas present gloves (and a dodgy hat).

I feel like the vines are starting to breath again now and can have a good stretch.  We have kept the olive and almond trees around the vineyards and over the next year- or perhaps years - will start building up the stone walls to their former glory.

We've got a lot of bread on our bread board* (as the french say).

* avoir du pain sur la planche

Summer work in the vineyards

Today was a little bit cooler here at Domaine Jones - that means not up in the high 30s. A cloudy sky meant that we could work in the vineyards until lunchtime.  Yes, there is still work to be done even though the summer holiday feeling is here.

It looks like the harvest will be 10 days late compared to last year so this means that some of our grapes, mainly those from the 100 year old carignan and grenache vines, will be out in the vineyards until the end of October.

So we have to make sure that they ripen properly and that they stay healthy.  This morning's job was to take off some of the leaves and branches so that the sun and air can get to the grapes.

Here is a picture of before and after on the same vine.  On the second photo, although there are still a lot of leaves, if you look carefully you can see the grapes (and JM's head).

No words just pictures of Spring

Jones Bond 007

Equipped with the latest gadget to reach Tuchan, Katie the vigneronne anglaise, has been out saving the vines from unruly growth and wayward branches.

Despite regular attacks from the elements - sunburnt shoulders, disheveled hair -  secret agent Jones Bond is pleased to report that the vines have been brought under control and can now continue to grow onwards and upwards.

Jones awaits news of her next dangerous mission which may include using the infamous black Pig Tail.

The Darling Buds of April

Last week it rained, this week it has been lovely and hot - the perfect conditions for the vines at Domaine Jones to spring into action.  Small buds are visible on the grey lifeless canes and in some vineyards the tiny, tiny leaves are bursting from these buds.

Oh what joy!  Now the hard work really starts.

We still have plenty of canes that need attaching to wires and this is now made all the more difficult as the tiny buds are very fragile.  The blue skies and sunshine and a helping hand from my friend Emma, have made it all the more enjoyable and the sunburnt shoulders are just a very minor inconvenience.

The heatwave is not going to last though and from Tuesday onwards rain and clouds are forecast so lets hope that these darling buds haven't peaked too early!

Will I ever......

This post is to show you that sometimes the romantic images of owning a vineyard in the south of France just fly out of the fenêtre. 

Temperatures have been below zero for the past week and the wind has been howling a gale at over 90 miles an hour.  The wind chill factor is such that I can't stay in the vineyard for more than 10 minutes at a time before my fingers freeze off.  

But my man is out there pruning the 100 year old vines in La Petite Vigne.  He prunes a row and then shelters in the hedgerow amongst the boxwood and wild rosemary.  He is wearing three pairs of trousers, two pairs of socks and two hats.  I am sitting by the fire warming my toes thinking will I ever be a true vigneronne?

Arctic conditions in La Petite Vigne

Taking shelter in the hedge

The art of slow pruning

The french word for pruning is la taille and that is what I have been doing for the last month - la taille. Pruning takes up a large amount of a wine growers life as each vine has to be individually sculpted.  I only have a couple of very small vineyards but even so it takes an experienced pruner over 2 months to prune them all.  You can imagine if I were to try and do it all myself - it would be the harvest by the time I finished.  So when I say I have been pruning what I really mean is that I have been helping in the vineyards whilst the professionals get on with it.  But don't think that I have been shirking the hard work.  Each vineyard needs to be pre pruned to take off the long canes, the canes need to be burned and then once the vines have been pruned those on wires need to be attached to the wires.

Not quite ready to enter the local pruning competition

This is the first year though that I become fascinated by the art of pruning.  The grower sculpts each vine to make sure that next years crop is evenly distributed on the vine, that there isn't too much of it or too little.  I have the basic principles in my head but each vine takes me about ten minutes whilst a pro would do it in one.

So for this year, apart from a couple of unfortunate vines, I have contented myself with the pre and post pruning jobs.

I have absolutely loved it - especially as I download novels and drift off into my little world whilst I snip away.

Katie Scissor Hands

The Big Prune Part II

We like a challenge in the Jones' family.  So barely had the oysters and dinde had time to go down, and we were back out secateurs at the ready in the Domaine Jones vineyard in Maury.  2.7 hectares, 8000 vines all needing a short back and sides before News Years Day.

Dad, feeling the pressure

Mum, a rayon of sunshine

The first day the sun shone and wasn't it lovely to be out in the great outdoors?  By the 5th day we had had wind, rain and rainbows but the moral never dipped.  We were chased from the vineyard by mosquitos, saw the flight of the starlings and got smoke in our eyes.  But we did it!  

We have started as we mean to go on - bring on 2012.

Katie, look no secateurs!

Christmas pruning

Yum, yum, yum Christmas was delicious but too much chocolate, cakes and Christmas pudding.  Now it's the great Christmas detox - I have 8000 vines that need top pruning at Maury so secateurs in hand and wind in hair this is the best way to get ready for the New Year.  

Woolly hatted Katie

Twigs and bonfires and lots of fresh air.

Good to be back!

London was lovely but the vineyard was looking glorious this morning.

View over Domaine Jones 

The vine is showing its shy little flowers to the May sunshine which made having to get up at 5 am to go and powder the vines almost bearable!

Blooming vines

Bud burst in Domaine Jones Fitou vineyard

Lovely warm weather and a very wet March have made the vines burst into life with such determination that we have been taken a bit by surprise.  We went to have a look at the Domaine Jones vineyard last Sunday and the vines are so full of the joys of spring that they already have enough leaves and tiny bunches to warrant the first powdering of sulphur.  But you can't sulphur when its windy so we had to wait all week for the wind to drop and this morning did out first powdering by hand.

Hello leaves

Pruning en famille

So what do you do when you've got 7000 vines left to prune and not enough time to do it?  Well, Mum and Dad were looking for a bit of physical exercise after the Christmas celebrations and fed up with the snow in Ashby de la Zouch they didn't take much persuading to get on the plane, swap the snow for the sun, and come and give a very welcome hand at Domaine Jones.

Quick lesson in pruning

and off we go

And as they started snipping the long vine shoots I got on with clearing up the vineyard.   The bareness of the vineyard makes it easy to see and pick up the cuttings and bits of old vine but is was also very easy to see the damage that the torrential rain in October had done to the soil. Large gashes, that made me go ouch, cut across the vineyard exposing vine roots and layers of the black slate soils.  We stuck a superficial plaster on it by putting cuttings and stones in the trenches but a major stone wall building operation is needed to permanently sort out the problem.

Mother Jones making smoke signals

Five, six pick up sticks

My little vine bonfire

Naked vines and full tummies

Naked vines in Maury

The sun came out and so did I!  Time to get on with the pruning at Domaine Jones vineyard in Maury. There are no leaves left anywhere to be seen and I just have 8000 vines to go, so I have given up on making fagots and need to get a move on. 

Whilst I am pruning I think a lot about food in general and in particular the delicious meal we had at Les Rochons in Paris last weekend.  I had a black pudding tart with confit d'onions and ending up feeling like the man in my photo.  It is a lovely cosy little restaurant just behind Notre Dame and the food is generous, traditional french cooking.

Weeding southern french style

The southern french wine crisis continues, the big Pinot scam, farmers revoluting at the Agricultural Show in Paris, wine growers income down by 80% in the area so a good time to invest in another vineyard.  And that is exactly what I did.  Last week I signed for 6 acres (or 1600 vines) this time in the Fitou appellation.  To make Fitou you have to have 3 grape varieties  Carignan, Grenache and Syrah and that is exactly what this small piece of paradise has.

Mind you it is not easy to see some of the 60 year old vines amongst the weeds so moi and le boyfriend spent this morning weeding southern french style.

We also uprooted some of the very aromatic wild rosemary that I have brought home to try to replant in the garden. Philippe and his Dad, Serge, from the village over the hill, came to give a hand with the pruning.  And with the birds, worms and ladybirds all under the bright blue sky we are starting to see the potential of the new Domaine Jones Fitou vineyard.