Bonjour to All

Its been just about a year since my very good friends Terry and Kathryn came to visit. in honor of that, and to give you an idea of what I am up to in the vineyard this week/month, I am turning the Blog over to my "Guest Blogger" - Kathryn...ENJOY !!!

"In 2009 Terry and I decided it was time to spend some months in France assisting Doug in the Mas de la Lionne's vineyards during June and July; returning in September to help with the harvest. We left an unseasonably sunny Pacific Northwest on June 10th to be picked up in Avignon by Doug in his cute white Renault Kangoo sedan van.

We quickly fell into a pattern of arising at 7 AM and after coffee, cereal and bananas going into the vineyards to trim vines while Doug sprayed the weeds (who exhibited a liking for the terroir compatible to the vines). After a couple of hours in the sun, which made us sweat as if we were pedaling in Le Tour de France, we would take a break, ultimately returning to the fields and working until approximately noon.

Anything after noonish was difficult because of the heat. The attached pictures show one of many of Doug's tractors (can you say manly?) and Doug and Terry in the vineyard. Note the spraying tank on Doug’s back so the spray gets the weeds not the grapes

.Lunch was either taken at small restaurants located in Chateauneuf du Pape, a 5 minute drive from Mas de la Lionne, or on the patio of Mas de la Lionne. The attached picture represents one of our repasts, which all seemed to feature cheese, tomatoes, thinly sliced meats, melon and Mas de la Lionne rosé wine.

Afternoons were a leisurely affair, with the boys watching sports on the television and me reading or walking the roads. Always looking for sunflower fields, one day I hit the mother lode and must have taken three million photos, none of which were particularly good, of a multitude of flower fields near the house.

Sundays and days the mistral was blowing enough that work in the field was prohibited, were for markets and traveling to quaint French provencal towns. One big exception was on Monday, July 6th, when a stage of Le Tour was breezing

through Les Beaux (look it up on the Internet...very cool hilltop town which is a tourist "must").

Le Tour is like Mardi Gras without the boobs, and even has a parade that leads the route several hours in advance of the cyclists. The floats throw candy and hats and all sorts of stupid memorabilia to the crowd lining the roads. The attached picture shows the pelaton whizzing by at mach 9.....I still wonder if Armstrong (Lance not Neil) is in the picture somewhere.

We also helped with labeling the 2008 Cote du Rhone, which I hope you are enjoying as you read this article, although article might be a too fancy word for my musings. Nonetheless, it was fun to pit ourselves against the machinery in true Lucille and Ethel fashion and the result is the attached photo.

All too soon our time to leave caught up with us, although a highlight, before our flight home, was celebrating Bastille Day in Paris We left France planning to return to help Doug with the harvest, which he assured us always falls within a specific number of days in September.

Remember how great last year's spring and summer was in the Pacific Northwest? Well that weather was present in Provence as well. The upshot was the brix [sugar] count of the grapes got high enough that Doug decided to pick the week before we arrived. We still were able to see a lot of grapes being harvested when we returned but we did not have to perform any "plucking" motions ourselves. The attached picture shows some grapes from another field close to Mas de la Lionne, which represents what the grapes look like when they are going to be harvested.

What we did get to do was help Doug in the winery. Since the tanks are very tall and hard to exit via the small door very high on the tanks' front, Terry (who is 6 feet tall) was selected to climb into the vats and shovel out the stems and grapes and various residuals that are left after the juice is drained. There is a lot of alcohol in the air so a table fan was jerry-rigged by the guys (no OSHA in France) so Terry would not pass out.

Doug meanwhile ran around moving equipment and making me wonder how he could ever do all that is required by himself. The pictures show Terry in a stainless steel tank squatting on the material he will be shoveling and Doug cleaning a piece of equipment.

All too soon our time with Doug at Mas de la Lionne came to an end, but we have wonderful memories, good pictures and some great wine to remember the experience."

Hi ALL

Its been a little while, I know...I really am not being very good about posting, am I ?!?!

I think mostly its because this time of year it is pretty quiet around here (...boring..?) and there's not much to pass along.

The winter, since the holidays, has been fairly cold and wet...we got about 12 inches of snow here and about 20 inches in Chateauneuf in early January....A RECORD for around here.

My friend Jean Marie tells me that his father-in-law, who has lived herre all his life, had not seen snow like that since 1956! (Jean Marie had never seen so much here at one time). Needless to say, the community was snowbound for about a week. I had to use the tractor to make a path for me to get the car out of the driveway (and had to shovel a bunch to make clearance for the gate to swing open and shut). When the 'plow' came down the road, of course it left me with a nice pile of snow across the entrance to the drive - so I used the tractor to break it all up and smash it down. Helped out the neighbors with their driveway as well.

Since then, it has been off and on rain and clear...but generally cool (30's and 40's). So that has made it a little difficult to finish the work in the vineyard (pulling up dead vines to make way for replanting). Its hard on the vineyard to run the heavy tractor between the rows when it is really wet - they compact the soil. I DID get all the trimmings 'raked' up and burned, so any left-over mildew on the trimmed branches will not infect the vineyard.

And then - today - we got another round of snow!!! For crying out loud its MARCH...its PROVENCE !!..its THE SOUTH of France.!!!!

The forecast calls for cold weather for the next couple of days, so I'm sure the snow won't go away 'till the end of the week. Oh well...at least its real pretty !! And I have lots of books and DVD's to keep me occupied in the house (thank you Amazon.com.UK).

For those of you on my e-mail list, you will know that the second shipment of the 2008 red reached Seattle in late January. I got a report this week that the wine is still selling nicely - they have sold about 1/2 the shipment (which was twice the size of the first one) in the first 5 weeks!!! So you are all doing the job I asked you to do!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK !!!!
Remember: ALL I ASK IS A BOTTLE A WEEK!!!!

Also, it looks like we will be bringing the 2009 ROSE into Seattle in the Spring - I am hoping to receive a Purchase Order from Noble in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully the wine will arrive in time for the BREAST CANCER CLIMB DINNER at BRASA! Watch for more news on that soon.

On a personal note, I am continuing to work on getting a French drivers license (Permit de Conduire). It is REALLY TOUGH!! The written portion is very difficult - you must answer 36 out of 40 questions corfrectly, and the questions may have multiple correct answers. Taken together with the fact that it is all in French, and my language skills are good but not perfect.....I have been struggling to get over the 30 correct hurdle....quelle dommage.....SO I go to the 'Auto Ecole' every evening for about 1 hour and study. Of course there are NO English speakers around to help..so it is a bit frustrating.....oh well...c'est la vie en france. I'll just keep sluggin away at it.

Other than that, things are good. Looking forward to Spring and Summer - warm weather, sun, exploring, vineyard work, clients for the wine........and VISITORS!?!?!?!

Be well out there.

Ciao

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all !!!!

Sorry for taking so long to post...again....

Its been a quiet winter so far. The vineyard has gone dormant for the winter - most all the leaves had dropped by early December.


We finished the heavy winter pruning just before I left for the holidays, so I have to get out on the tractor with the rake attachment and pull all the dead branches out of the vineyard.
We do that so that any mildew that might have become ingrained into the wood during the season is not left in the vineyard - we pile up the cuttings and burn them. In addition, I need to get back out with the back-hoe and finish pulling up the dead vines in anticipation of the Spring re-planting. I am about 1/4 way through the vineyard, but I have the old vines (with their slightly tighter spacing) yet to do, so that will take some time.

In the meantime, the 2009 wines are all aging along nicely. With the higher yield this year, we have the opportunity to create more of the "Old Vines" (Veilles Vignes) this year. Its looking like we will get about 5 barrles (200 boxes - 1200 bottles) from this vintage (its the wine in the middle set of barrels in the picture at left). And, based on my tasting of it at this stage, and comparing it to the 2008 vintage, I think it will be a very good wine when it is ready a year or so from now.

As I mentioned before, I will be bottling the 2008 shortly (its in the near barrel) - at the same time I do the 2009 rose.
The rose is currently sitting in the L.H. stainless steel tank (one I bought this year just for the rose). On my list of "To Do's" this next week or so is to send it through its first filtering, in preparation for testing and bottling. It will need 2 rounds of filtering- the 2nd round ('sterile') will occur at the time we bottle. I am thinking we should get about 250 boxes (1500 bottles) of the rose this year - about twice last year's production. And latest tastings indicate this will be as good as last year's, so I am happy about that.

Sales so far this winter have been slow. Without the follow-on order from Noble it would be fairly dismal - sales 'out the door' are a dribble at best. But Spring is coming soon, and I think the New Release of the 2009 rose will bring people back into the winery, and hopefully sell both the new rose and the 2008 red.

And - GOOD NEWS - I had the opportunity when I was in Seattle to visit with the folks at Noble Wines (Naomi Smith and others) and give them the chance to taste the new wines (2009 rose, red, and Vielles Vignes) as well as the 2008 Vielles Vignes. Thankfully, all of them had traveled well, and were received positively. So, I am hopeful that when they are released, Noble will place orders - they are great people to work with.

And MORE OF THE 2008 RED IS COMING - - -SOON!!!! The follow-on order from Noble departed here early last month, and it looks like it will arrive the end of the month....so ASK FOR IT STARTING JANUARY 25!!!!!

Remember - "ALL I ASK IS A BOTTLE A WEEK!!!!

On the personal side, there's not much new to report. I had a great time in Seattle over Christmas with friends and family. And of course have now returned home to 'get back to work'........hrumph....some retirement.........

Also - I am starting through the process of getting a French Driver's License (Permit de Conduire). As it turns out some US state licenses transfer (i.e. Kansas) but Washington does not, SO I need to go through the process of both a written and driving examination....of course all in French....so we'll see how that goes. I have signed-up with a local school who will help coordinate it all, but it means going to 'classes' and 'instructor-led driving'...Back to being 16 again..But it is necessary since I have been here a year and I run the risk of my car insurance not being valid. SO off I go - I start the classes next week. I will fill you in on how it goes next time.

More later. Out to start raking.

Be well out there.

Hi all

Well its been quite a busy Fall.

The 2009 Wine: All the fermentations, rose and red, are complete.

The rose for this year will be a blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Cinsault. A little different from last year (60/40 the other way), but the fruit this year from the two varieties seems to want to play nicer together in a little more grenache-dominant mix. Flavors and color will be very similar to the 2008, so I hope those who purchased the 2008 will come back for this one.

The Cotes du Rhone red is a wee bit better this year - the fruit quality is up, so there will be a bit more structure and roundness this year. I am sticking with the blend of 10-15% barrel aged and the rest tank aged -its the way to go for a fruit-forward food-friendly wine.

The reserve wine - 100% barrel aged (12 months) 100% grenache for 2009 is going to be great. This year's old-vine fruit is really going to lend itself well to barrel aging, so I expect this one to be a real 'keeper'.

By the way - I just re-tasted the 2008 Old Vine Reserve, and it is really coming around. I think this will be really special. I plan to bottle this at the same time I bottle the rose - probably in January. But, with only one barrel - 300 bottles - it won't go far. I will probably only have enough for few select clients here in France.......and of course my friends who come to visit!!

The vineyard: Things in the vineyard are pretty quiet. With the harvest completed, its time to turn to preparing for winter: digging up the plants which have died; winter pruning; plowing to ensure good moisture retention. I have started the up-rooting process - looks to be about 400 plants to do again this year, so this will take me into December to finish.

I am going to start tackling dead vines in the "Old Vine' vineyard behind the winery this year - perhaps do 1/2 this year and 1/2 next. I had left this alone last year. The plant spacing is much closer than in the rest of the vineyard, and I was reluctant to embark on pulling these vines until my skill with the back-hoe improved. I have a MUCH better feel for it now, so....here we go.

Wine Sales

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!

The 600 bottles of 2008 red which I shipped to Noble Wines is SOLD OUT - - IN ONE MONTH !!

I can't believe how well you foll0wed my instructions !!! Jeez Louise..when I worked at Boeing, people NEVER followed my direction this well.....hmmm.... must be the alcohol.....GOOD JOB !!

As many of you know, my very very very good friend Tamara Murphy, of Brasa Restaurant and The Elliott Bay Cafe, hosted a "Launch Party" for the 2008 Cotes du Rhone red last week. What a great turn-out and show of support from all of you....Tamara and Naomi Smith from Noble Wines had arranged for Tam to sell 30 boxes of the Cotes du Rhone....and she sold it all!!! (sorry for the rationing).

And even I made it to town ( of course for an ego stroke like that, how I could possibly have missed it, right) It was great to see so many of my friends who have come to share the adventure with me...old ones (like the group here that goes back 20+ years) and new ones. Thanks to all of you for joining us. Hope you had as good a time as I did.

The GOOD NEWS is that Noble Wines - based on your loyalty - has placed an order for another 1200 bottles. These are to be shipped within the next few weeks, and should arrive around year-end...SO KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK !!!!

Remember...."A BOTTLE A WEEK IS ALL I ASK".

All for now - I need to get out and pull up vines before the rains. Will let you know when the wine is on its way.

Thanks to you all for your support.

Be good out there.

Hello Again...

More news from the south of France.....HARVEST !!!!

As I mentioned in my last posting, it looked as though harvest was going to be early. WELL I was certainly right about that.....WE ARE FINISHED ALREADY - - 2-3 WEEKS EARLY!!!

We started with a small crew (5 people) picking the rose grapes (cinsualt and grenache) on Thursday, the 21st of August, and finished on Friday the 22nd. Because it has been so hot in the afternoons, we only picked in the mornings (3 hours/day). That way the fruit came into the winery cool - which is perfect for making a rose.
The following week (last Tuesday - the 25th) we started with the bigger job of picking the red - which is really the balance of the grenache in the vineyard. We upped the crew size to 17 for the job, and started picking that morning. By working all day Tuesday, we were able to finish the vineyard by early afternoon on Wednesday the 26th - about 1/2 day quicker than I had planned - what a crew (as you can see) !!!!
It is tradition to share a brief repas after harvest....a min-celebration of finishing 'vendange'. Needless to say, they all earned it. The juice is now burbling away turning into wine. The rose's (the cinsault and grenache are fermenting separately) are nearly all done. And the reds (one cuvee of old vines and one of the rest) are coming along nicely. Harvest this year is going to be a bit larger than last...and the fruit quality is MUCH improved. I am excited to see what we can do with what we've grown.......we'll see.



AS for sales...things have been slow recently. But I keep looking for the next opportunity to showcase the wine and get people to try it...not in a panic quite yet.

Which brings me to you-all. I know how you all are real excited about me 'living the dream' over here..and hope I am going to be successful.......if for no other reason than to have someone over here to come visit!!!

WELL - here's your chance to help. As you know I sold a small amount of wine to Noble Wines, Ltd. of Seattle - a local distributor/importer. The wine is due to arrive in Seattle in the next 10 days, and should be available shortly thereafter in local wine shops. And that's where you come in:
To make sure its a success - it needs to sell..which means the shops need BUYERS - like YOU!

So here's what I want you to do:

First - -You go to your local wine shop and ask for the wine by name: "Mas de la Lionne Cotes du Rhone" . Tell them you want to buy 2or 3 bottles - that way they will order a 6-pack (which is how it is being marketed). The more wine shops the better.

Next - - you each tell 2 friends to go and do the same...and then have them tell 2 friends...and have them tell 2 friends.........well - you get the idea.

Before you know it, there will be a virtual run on the wine, and they will have to come back to me for more..and then I will be successful..and then I will still be here NEXT YEAR WHEN YOU WANT TO COME VISIT!!!

Like the guys in the Blue Diamond Almond and Bartels & James commercials used to say:


"ALL I ASK IS A BOTTLE A WEEK"

And I thank you for your support.


I think that's it for now..I need to get back out into the winery and look after the juice.

Be good out there.

Hi All

Its been a busy month since my last report...Lots going on!

VINEYARD - The grapes are coming ripe very quickly - looks like its going to be a good harvest - fruit is nice and healthy..and plentiful this year.

As we did last year, we'll pick the cinsault and a corresponding amount of grenache first - to make the rose (it gets picked, crushed and immediately pressed - then fermented as though it were a white wine...slow and cool.) Then come back about a week later and pick the rest of the vineyard - all grenache - to make both the Cotes du Rhone red as well as try again to make a special cuvee. As you remember, I only ended up with 1 barrel of the special cuvee from last year - I needed the rest to help the Cotes du Rhone.

Anyway - with the hot weather and lack of rain over the last month or so, its looking like we could start as early as before end of the month (more than a week early) - and finish about 10 days later.

WINE - Sales are going pretty well - I have sold all but about 8 cases of the rose (out of 75) and have been able to sell about 150 cases of the red here in France, and of, course I sold the 50 cases to Seattle. So its been a good start.

By the way - tell all your friends - the wine: 'Mas de la Lionne 2008 Cotes du Rhone' is in Noble Wines, Ltd. catalog - so stores, etc. can start asking for it. The wine is due to arrive the first week of September - a mere 3 weeks from now.

Keeping with sales news, I think I mentioned that I was going to participate in the medieval fair in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which occurred over last weekend (8-9 August). It was their 25th 'Fete de Veraison' - the celebration of the town founding in the 14th century.

Well I did it. I put up a stand, and set out my wares, and offered tastes and bottles.....and surprisingly I got a pretty good reception - for being the new guy on the block, and for not offering a Chateauneuf-du-Pape or Tavel of Gigondas (i.e. big name) wine. ( I know, I know...signage needs work - not enough of a draw- need banners...another lesson for next year!)

We poured about 50 bottles of wine (1/2 red and 1/2 rose) for tasting. And, with the help of my neighbors' son Simon, we sold about 20 cases - also about 1/2 rose and 1/2 red.

MOST importantly - I got the name out to a very large audience - GREAT PUBLICITY!!

I think that's it from here for now. Need to go start getting ready for vendange - lining up the people, checkout the equipment, get supplies (yeast, etc), clean barrels......its coming soon!

More once we get through vendange.

Be good out there.

Hello to all.

Been way too long since my last posting, but I have had company for the last month or so, and I have been busy both in the vineyard and in the winery. Anyway - that's my excuse...and I'm stickin to it.

So - this time I have some good news and some better news!!

First - The Vineyard - The vines are growing like crazy!! Its been very warm (95+ ) and with the occasional thunderstorm the vines have really taken off. We have had to go out and do more pruning - of the low-lying shoots to get them up off the ground - thank you Terry and Kathryn!! And even with that, the vines are still running wild.

The fruit set for this year looks very good, and with the mildew prevention I have been doing, it looks like it will be a good crop. Come September, I would guess we'll have about twice the yield we had last year; or about 130 hectoliters - should be enough for 18,000 bottles. That is about normal for the vineyard, so this year's crop is doing great.



House - nothing new to report. The guest room seems to be working just fine, as my latest guests were with me for quite a stretch ( 5 weeks) and didn't complain once. And we all figured out how to share the one bathroom. I got the screens up on all the windows and doors, so the bug problem from last year is not an issue...and with the hot weather having them all open has been a life saver.

Wine - Lots of news on this front.

First The Rose. As I mentioned in my earlier notes, I held the Open House back in April and sold about 1/2 the wine. Well, since then sales have been slower, but I am now down to the last 1/3 (25 cases). And I expect to be able to sell quite a bit of it next month (more on that later). So I am happy with the way things have progressed so far.

The Red. Well - the Open House I held early June to release the red did NOT go as well as I had hoped. While I had pretty good turn-out for the rose in April, the response to the red was like...nothin...I think I had about 8 people show up...Yikes!!!! Fortunately, follow-on sales have been OK. I have sold about 1000 bottles so far (out of 7500), so that's OK - not quite the "Run" I had hoped for, but not a bad start. And, again, with the event next month (see below) sales are going about as planned.

AND - THE GOOD NEWS !!!!! I got an order from Noble Wines Ltd., in Seattle for 50 cases!!! My first sale in the US!! The freight company is coming to pick-up the wine next week - with an expected arrival in Seattle in mid-September....so ASK FOR IT AT YOUR LOCAL STORE..."Mas de la Lionne 2008 Cotes du Rhone". If your store doesn't have it, ask them to get it from Noble - who distributes throughout Puget Sound.

And more news - every year in August, the town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape holds their 'Fete de Veraison', which is their celebration of the founding of the town back in the 14th century. Its a weekend affair where the entire town is turned into a medieval village, and they put on jousts, and parades, and musicales, etc. In addition, they have local artisans with small booths of handicrafts. And they have what they call the "Village de Vignerons" (wine village) - where local winemakers can pour and sell their wines - on the street. I was here last year in time to attend, and its a great weekend.

So - this year, I decided to see if I could get in...and they accepted me. So - I have a spot in the town that weekend (Saturday and Sunday), and will be pouring and selling the rose and the red wines. And with this being the 25th anniversary of the celebration, they expect 30,000 or so people...should be a great opportunity for exposure!! I am really looking forward to it, and will let you know how it goes!

Think that's all for now.

Be good out there.