Damage caused by the Hail on 16th June

 
In my hand is a stem with what would of been a brunch of grapes if it hadn't been broken off by the hail and heavy rain. Many wine makers were hit much harder than us and only time will tell what this means for the harvest at the end of September beginning of October?

After wires lifted and epamprage

 

Vines before wires lifted and Epamprage

 

When the vines have grown sufficiently enough they are trapped between two wires to stop them breaking in the wind and rain, to aid air circulation and to to make the passage of the tractor easier . At the same time the process of Epamprage takes place, this is the removal of any growth on the main vertical stem and also around the stem head thus preventing energy going to something non productive and making the passage of air around the plant easier aiding the prevention of disease.

 

Got me thinking! CHANGE.

Second post of the day mainly because I fell off a ladder in the chai the other evening and twisted my ankle so hard to walk at the moment.After first blog this morning was chauffeur driven to the wine lab to drop off some samples for analysis so had plenty of time to enjoy the route since my father took the scenic way, thanks Dad. When we first arrived and saw the amount of erosion caused in the vineyards after heavy rain which I had previously encountered while working in America I decided to plant grass on every other row to stop this occurring. It also meant that the tractor could pass through the vines in wet conditions not picking up soil which would pack between the back wheels and the wheel arches. This is because it is a vineyard tractor and has very little clearance between wheel and arch but if allowed to occur without cleaning out the tyre would eventually burst!!

The main reason for all this, is to say while in the car I realised that when we first arrived in France 16 years ago I think we were one of the first to plant grass between the vines, at the time we were told that we were mad because it would reduce our yield!! yes quality not quantity, how many times have I had to explain that?

My second observation is the disappearance of the village bakery because the lab is over an hours drive away , each way from home, I used to go early in the morning thus before breakfast so on route I used to stop at one of the many bakeries depending on which day it was to get my breakfast along with a loaf for the day. Since for the last year this task has been taken over by Sarah, I was very surprised to see two of these family run business's closed with the shops up for sale! I think this is very sad and even in this rural area the supermarket is taking over, progress I hear some of you saying, not on your nelly!!! France is changing and in my opinion not for the better.

Grass or No grass

From the pictures below ,sorry about quality but it really was that dark! You can see the difference between planting grass every other row and not planting any grass at all.where you can see the grass I have passed with the tractor after the rain and have hardly left a mark ,as a posed to the dark picture with no grass which several days after the rain was impossible to pass.