Vine
We lose count of the hours standing at the end of rows, keeping an eye on the harvesters’ work, i.e. picking and selecting, driving tractors in the unceasing…
Vine
We lose count of the hours standing at the end of rows, keeping an eye on the harvesters’ work, i.e. picking and selecting, driving tractors in the unceasing comings and goings from the cellar to the vineyard. As a result, many workers are exhausted and subsequently choose to take their holidays or go hunting. Leaves have to fall before the onset of a new viticultural cycle, starting with pruning.
The harvests are over. Leaves then change into an orange, rust colour and blow off in the autumn wind. Prior to the new growth, the vine-stock has to be streamlined, stripped down, lightened of its bare astes meshing an unkempt treillis, that looks like a long moucharabieh across the row. To do so, one has to unstaple, unhook and pull on the wires encircling tighly the astes. The freed wires striate the inter-row while shining under the winter sun. The ramifications may then be suppressed.
Cellar
The activity is obviously quite intense during the harvests. The cellar master, the director and the oenologist programme the fermentation curves and the running off, according to the…
Cellar
The activity is obviously quite intense during the harvests. The cellar master, the director and the oenologist programme the fermentation curves and the running off, according to the tasting of various batches. The cellar team, in return, performs as planned. This results in people running all over the place, while others stand still by a vat, keeping a close eye on the reddish flow that comes out.
Long extensible tubes, maroon-coloured, strewn over the ground, are crossing, overlapping, twisting under the pressure of pumps, and empty in the vats’ mouths. They fully deserve their nickname: ‘the guts’.
Barrels are delivered, immaculate and covered with protective film, and are piling up, soon to be taken care of by a number of workers, who place them in a perfect alignment in the heart of the – for once – deserted cellar.
RP
Merchants are once more welcomed, and discussions are becoming more specific, now that the vintage quality is settled. They refer to indications of market trends, they reproduce a…
RP
Merchants are once more welcomed, and discussions are becoming more specific, now that the vintage quality is settled. They refer to indications of market trends, they reproduce a speech typical of its players’ state of mind. Distribution, marketing and price fixing are talked about. Even though the envious opacity surrounding competitiveness tends to vanish, it may still be coarsely noticed through disseminated information. This is the game and how we like it…
Chasse-Spleen enjoys marking the start of the agricultural season with a party that is often an artistic event (such as a performance, a private viewing or else a showing of artistic work)