First stop this morning was at the Co-op de Maury

The wines have all finished fermentation and malo-lactic but it’s not quite the same story at JC’s where he is struggling to get the wines through the malo-lactic fermentation. After a quick rummage around Pappy’s garage I came back with some blankets to make a skirt around the bottom of the vat and an old electric heater which should get the vats back up to the malo bacteria’s preferred temperature of 22ºC.

Once JC has been briefed and had got over the fact the big, strong Un Vent de Folie Grenache vats are wearing skirts I head back to Bordeaux. Along the way I start to notice that the gobelet pruning has already begun and the valley is slowly turning into a wintery lunar landscape.

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