Some images from March to July, through bud break and flowering to the first signs of fruit set.

October’s here, the harvest is still in full swing and we’re still standing! After a cold night the weather today is again warm and sunny and our team of pickers went high up the slopes of La Montée du Ventabren to harvest old vine Grenache. Back at La Ruche (Cairanne) our cellar is gradually filling up and grapes are slowly turning into wine in our open top tronconiques (wooden fermentation vessels). Today the fermentation in tronconique 10, filled with incredible 53 year old Grenache Noir, came to its natural end and the tank has been racked, filling the cellar with enticing cherry and spice aromas.

Still on our short diversion between Séguret and Sablet we wanted to share some great pictures taken by the Timmons, the enterprising family behind The Wine Teacher, during a recent fact finding visit to the Boutinot Rhône Cairanne estate….

Our last stop in Cairanne before moving on to the other villages of southern Rhône is Font Crozes. An exposed and windswept vineyard, its original swooping slope, cascading down from the woodland at its brow, has now been fashioned into three broad terraces. Here in 2011 we planted Mourvèdre.