Five lessons from our vineyard experience

Hello fellow wine aficionados! We’re back in London after a few weeks of intermittent travel. 

One of our most recent and significant experiences was working at a vineyard for a few days. Dawn Jones-Cooper, wine grower, winemaker and overall wonder woman at Château de Monfaucon, welcomed us to her organic and biodynamic Bordeaux estate to learn from her. It was an intense and really exciting few days! This experience taught us a lot about what it really means to be a wine grower. We have summarised our reflections into 5 key lessons:

1. Running a vineyard is a year-long commitment

There is a common misconception that the only time that requires hard work at a vineyard is during the harvest season. Although we can say the harvest is the ‘climax’ of the vineyard management cycle, running a vineyard implies significant work every single day of the year to ensure the vines remain healthy and produce quality fruit. 

During our stay in Bordeaux, a few weeks after spring’s arrival, the pruning season had just taken place. This means that the vines had been ‘trimmed’ to have two canes with maximum eight buds each, which will soon flower and develop into fruit, a.k.a. grape bunches (see photo below). Our work focussed on attaching each one of the vine canes to the trellising system - the wired structure that makes up the rows of vines, as well as tying the vines up to help them remain stable. This activity will allow the grapes to grow closer to the ground, and the shoots to develop, as well as help the vine get a good combination of shade and air movement.

2. We don’t control nature; we get to collaborate with it… rain or shine!

Even if making wine requires human intervention, a wine grower’s job is not to control how the vine behaves, but rather to support its wellbeing in harmony with the elements that surround it. The reality is that vineyards are completely subject to the mercy of the weather! Although weather conditions have always played a major role in vineyard management, the increasing unpredictability of a region’s climate is a serious challenge. 

For example, our stay in Bordeaux was a very wet one until the sun finally came out. It turns out that we experienced the first dry day in 3 months! Even if the region has a maritime climate, the excess rain flooded many fields, affecting vineyards and many other crops. In the case of Monfaucon, the rain delayed the mowing, ploughing and weeding - and the work we did was properly muddy. The tadpoles were having a blast, though!

3. No matter what we learn from a textbook, running a vineyard means facing unexpected situations and honing those problem-solving skills!

One of the reasons why we’ve been working with and learning from wine growers is because we know we cannot genuinely talk about wine without fully understanding what goes on at the vineyard. One of the biggest realisations is that even if we think we’ve learned the methodology for growing and making wine from our courses, every vineyard, every vine, every year, will be unique. 

One of the most admirable skills wine growers have is that of adaptability. Wine growers must be able to find (quick!) solutions to unexpected events - from the weather to the market. Dawn, for example, has bravely experimented with different types of grape varieties and continues to innovate when it comes to the organic corks she uses, the packaging, labels and every element from the vine to the bottle. This is why we always say that wine growers and winemakers are some of the finest creators!

4. The cost of running a vineyard is sobering

One of the most eye-opening conversations we had with Dawn was on the cost of every single item and activity required to run a vineyard - particularly an organic vineyard that follows biodynamic principles and therefore does not use any economic shortcuts (e.g. no cheap pesticides here! only natural preparations that take time to make). From things as basic as the posts that hold the vines and the nails attached to the structure, to the tools needed to tie-down the vines; the extra protection gadgets against hail and frost… the list goes on! And this is assuming the harvest goes according to plan. It is not rare for severe weather conditions to eliminate most, if not all, of a year’s expected production.

As consumers, it’s only rational to seek the best value-for-money option. While we do that, it is important to also keep in mind that high quality wine is largely defined by the level of care that goes into the vineyard. We personally aim to support those producers as we believe that paying for a product that looks after the ecosystem is less expensive than a future where land is over-exploited and chemicals are part of our diets.

5. Wines that are made in harmony with nature carry a different type of energy… and we simply love them

As you know, our Vinjoyment philosophy supports that enjoying wine is ultimately a very personal, subjective experience. Our exposure to wine growers and winemakers following biodynamic principles, working organically and just in general in harmony with nature, has taught us that the care, energy and intention involved in these wines really play a role in how they develop. Of course, even within this range there are wines we consider to be excellent and some that we don’t, but there is something special about the experience of knowing that there has been a non-mechanical, chemicals-free process in making what we’re consuming. And this is why you see many of these wines in our suggestions and tastings!  

Huge thank you to Dawn for sharing her vines, her wines and her wisdom with us. This has been a wonderful experience, even if it was just a brief taste of her life… and we cannot wait to go back and learn more!

Words by Lorena; photos by Lorena & Jean-Philippe

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