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Bottling it!

5/17/2017

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We have just bottled our lovely 2016 wines and a very special 2015 red that has been matured in oak barrels and is really smooth and mellow now.
The bottling plant comes to us - a massive trailer that unfolds into a mobile bottling line.
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After bottling and corking the wine is packed into wire crates. It will then rest for  a while before we sell it.  This year we bottled some magnums of the amazing 2015 red.  Not that many, just fun for presents etc.
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Catastrophic late frost

4/27/2017

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Chateau Lestevenie has suffered the same fate as hundreds of vineyards from St Emilion through Entre de Mer to Bergerac. A couple of nights of severe late frosts have devastated the vines whose shoots and buds had been encouraged to grow fast by the hot weather of the last month.  It will now be a very challenging year with a lot of extra work....after walking round on an inspection I feel the need of a glass or two of wine! the photos below show how the vines lower down the slopes suffered far more than the vines up top
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Out of the barrel...

4/17/2017

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Pruning and Tying Done. spring arriving

3/19/2017

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After pruning each vine so just one branch remains we have to pull all the rest of the old wood off the wires. then tie down the one remaining branch. For our 40,000 vines that takes about 4 months in all.

spring flowers 

In the meadows next to the stream we have the rare snakeshead fritillaries as well as a lovely display of cowslips, primroses, wood anemones, milkmaids' smock, violets and dogs' mercury - one of the few plants with green flowers. there is also the pretty parasitic toothwort that grows on the roots of hazel or alder trees (bottom picture)
​The deer come out for a midday graze in the sun.

We manage the meadows for hay which helps keep them rich in flowers which would otherwise be swamped with rank grass. it also means we have a very sustainable way of adding organic matter to the vineyard as we unroll the huge hay bales down between each vine row
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Autumn around the edges

10/4/2016

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The hedges and edges of the vineyard are full of hips, haws ...great winter bird food and our rarest orchid, Autumn Ladies Tresses (above right) is flowering in our meadow
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Full of grapes

10/4/2016

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The young deer are making the most of the left over grapes! 
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Merlot Harvested

10/4/2016

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The harvesting machine sits over the row and harvests the individual grapes into the side paniers. Then the paniers are emptied into the wine trailer. The photo below shows the grapes being moved from trailer to "cuve" or vat for fermentation
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Harvest starts

9/18/2016

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A golden morning to start harvest

 Sauvignon Blanc harvest yesterday,Semillon today.
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High Praise indeed

9/7/2016

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we are so happy that Martin Walker, doyen of Bergerac wines, author of the Bruno books, has reviewed our 2015 Rouge in such glowing terms
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Canicule/Heatwave

8/25/2016

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With temperatures hitting 40 degrees on the limestone of the vineyards above the Chateau  we appreciate the older vines, about 55 years old,  which have such deep roots that they cope just fine with the heat. The grapes pictured here began to turn from green to red about ten days ago. Now they are ripening to perfection
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    Author

    Sue Temperley  writes the Wine and Wildlife blog. 
    Humphrey's passion for winemaking and Sue's for wildlife breaks through the repetitive tasks of the vineyard year. Her photos are not that great but maybe with the incentive of this blog they will improve. 

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  • About us
  • Our wines
  • How to find us
  • Contact us
  • Blog: A day in the life
  • A Vineyard Year
  • Photo Gallery