Vivent les américains!

There is so much to add to the blog at this point that I'm not sure where to begin! In mid-May I started work in the vines, which pulled me out of the house in the afternoons and then quickly became a full-time affair. I have since become the chef d'équipe (team leader) of a small group of ne'er-do-well high school and college students who have come to work on their tans...I mean in the vines...for the summer. We spend 7 1/2 hours a day together suckering (épamprage), training (relevage), and leafing (effeuillage) the new vines that grow at a staggering rate. Here's an image of the vines about a month or more ago--they have since tripled in size (notice the cygogne (stork) on her afternoon promenade; we see storks daily flying overhead and wandering the vineyard):



Here's a closeup of where the vines are now--after many long hours of suckering, training, and leafing. Look at all those grappes (grape bunches)!


When I wrote in May about removing the Americans in the vines, I was referring to part of the suckering process. No, we don't have American suckers (tourists) roaming the vineyard (just Brits and Germans who park their camping cars at the château for the night). Suckering refers to the removal of suckers, or extraneous shoots and plant growth. An American in vine speak is a sucker that grows from the earth at the base of the souche (the grape vine stock or stump; in the pic above it's the wood that all the leaves are sprouting from). The Americans are particularly invasive (still talking about the vine here) and grow to great lengths while winding themselves into the midst of the rest of the branches and generally creating a gros bordel (a big mess of twists and knots). They take root and won't let go, so you have to get in there with a spade to cut them loose.

If you've managed to get an image of all of this, you may still be wondering why these intrusive vines have been given a national identity from the US of A. Well, in the mid 19th century, a vine scourge swept through Europe, ravaging the vineyards and nearly wiping them out entirely. The culprit for all the damage done was Phylloxéra, an aphid that attacks the roots of the vine. Scientists discovered that an American varietal was resistant to Phylloxéra, so the French began to import American porte-greffes (grafts). The French cépage (grape varietal) is grafted to the American porte-greffe, so it is the American that forms the roots (sometimes upwards of 10m or about 33ft deep) and base of the stock and the French greffe that grows into the stock and eventually produces the fruit. Nearly all French vines continue to be grafted and planted this way to this day.

When it comes to vine care, the Americans are a real pain in the rear, but without them we might be living in a world sans vino (gasp!). So, when the French get critical, just serve up un verre de rouge (a glass of red wine) and remind them that it was the Americans that saved their national pride and joy - le vin! - from extinction. Here's to French American partnerships! :) Santé!