By LINCOLN SILIAKUS
I was driving up the little road that leads to my house in Sablet the other afternoon and saw a fellow working in the vines, so I stopped for a short yarn.
Now that he has finished the winter pruning, the time has come for Rashid Abaiba to “establish” some new wines. The term établir covers all you have to do to get young wines settled into their new lives. Read More »
By LINCOLN SILIAKUS
In my last piece, I described budding winemakers Carla Giovanell and Julie Galet at work trimming the vines. The other day I saw my neighbour Serge Ollivier down there, too, so wandered over to see how it is done.
Serge in his vines
He was about to trim this bit. There are quite a few stems as he decided to leave more on last year and sell the grapes for use in a simple Cotes du Rhone rather that a Sablet. As he wants to sell them for Sablet this year, he is cutting them tighter, to reduce the yield. Read More »
By LINCOLN SILIAKUS
Last October, I broke the news about two young potential vigneronnes, Carla Giovanelli and Julie Galet.
Well, they were at it again the other day down the back of my garden.
Now that they have picked the grapes and made a 2010 wine, they have turned to the next stage in the winemakers’ life – the winter vine trimming.
Despite its reputation for providing a gentle quality of life, Provence can be crudely cold in winter.
By LINCOLN SILIAKUS
The new airy cellar of the Cave Cooperative at Rasteau has a room designed as an art gallery, which is terrific for local artists whose works hang aesthetically on its rough limestone walls. The Coop has taken the name Ortas as its umbrella brand: it’s apparently a simplified anagram of Rasteau. As I sip their delightful and affordable wines, I frequently think of Orcas, those large, pied, toothy dolphins that snap up cute little seals frolicking in the surf. Anyway…
The generosity of Ortas towards artists has been rewarded nicely by Nathalie Weber, a well-known artist from nearby Villedieu, who has reciprocated by designing a « Landscapes and Poetry » exhibition specifically for the cellar. She specifically painted works to fit into the site. Read More »
By LINCOLN SILIAKUS
This pic says it all: the vines, the trees in the Trignon creek and the Dentelles de Montmirail in the distance.
This is what it was like over the long weekend. Well, most of the time it was a lot worse than that with hard rain and warm southerly winds.
The wind has turned to the north this morning. It’s the infamous mistral, which should dry everything out.
The green grey and gold of Provence
By LINCOLN SILIAKUS
The mistral was blowing relentlessly yesterday morning. I was working away in my office with the pot belly stove purring. Someone knocked solidly on the door. It was my neighbour’s grand-daughter Carla Giovanelli and her friend Julie Gallet.
They were on holidays, and had made some wine for me. In technical terms, they had chosen a late picking strategy for grenache grapes which they had then de-stemmed, crushed, and chaptalised in preparation for fermentation. In other words, they had rummaged in the vines for some grapes left over from the harvest a month ago, squeezed them with a lemon squeezer, added sugar and put the juice into a plastic bottle for me.
Yum! On the fruity side at this stage. It is in the fridge undergoing cold maceration for a few days. I am gratified to know that Sablet has talented winemakers waiting in the wings to take over when the current generation retires.
By LINCOLN SILIAKUS
It hasn’t been an easy harvest down here in the heart of Provence.
First the bad news. 2010 is not going to be a big year — in quantity.
Many vignerons complain that yields are down 30-40% due to poor fruit set, but not everyone is affected.
It was also hard to pick the best time to pick, because acids were high this year, due to the relatively cool weather. I would have thought that this was a good thing: maturity, low alcohol and high acid. Vins de garde, n’est-ce pas?
The good news is that after a cool and wet spring, summer has been sunny and dry, so the fruit was in perfect condition.
And, although there were a couple of storms during the harvest, it looks like the really bad weather has waited. See below what Sablet looked like this morning. Not the usual image of Provence, is it?
