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up to six years to get from pruning to bottling. Add to that new vineyards, which need five
years to reach reasonable levels of production, and a winegrower can be looking at more
than ten years of patience and investment from planting to bottle. Our financial plan had
not taken a sufficiently long view. We were out of money.
We glared at each other over the candle. Financial stress was not helping the recovery of
our relationship. Sean was working crazy hours and getting no compensation. At times we
resented each other for the position we were in. Since it was a joint decision at least we felt
solidarity in our resentment.
'Perhaps we could get a short-term loan from the bank,' said Sean.
Ishookmyhead.'Wehavenotrackrecordofsellingbottledwineinanyvolume.Anyway,
one of our core tenets from the start was that we would not risk this so far that we would
become indebted for it. For our sanity and the kids' future we have to stick to that. The day
we have to take out a loan for the day-to-day running of the business, it's over.'
That was a fairly solid line in the sand. The candle flickered ominously and went out.
'Feck it,' said Sean. 'What are we going to do?'
'Light it again.'
'No, I mean about the bottling costs.'
'We'll have to get some wine sales fast. Our creditors will have to wait.'
We knew what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go with our business. We wanted
to produce high-quality, natural wines. We knew a growing part of the wine market wanted
a real taste of terroir and not a trick of additives but we were running out of time and we
had no idea how long it would take us to break even, if ever.
Meanwhile, Lucille had invited me to a presentation on cultured yeasts and natural ad-
ditives like tannins for winemaking. In the European Union, unnatural wine additives are
illegal but in some other jurisdictions winemakers can put in chemical elixirs that will add
anything from lychee to chocolate flavours to their wines. The event, which included din-
ner, was to be held at one of the iconic vineyards in the region. As I drove up the sun was
setting over the hills beyond Château Belingard creating layers of rolling hills bathed in
pink and gold light. It was so postcard perfect I took a minute to walk around the garden
before my entrance and the obligatory
bisous
.
Rows and rows of red wines were set up on the table. In each instance we compared an
original wine with the same wine dosed with one of the additives. By the end of the even-
ing I was convinced that additives, even natural ones, were a bad idea. Of all the wines
I tasted only one tasted better with additives and that wine was hollow to start. In all in-
stances where the original wine was good, the additives put the wine out of equilibrium.
Something did not ring true. After several flights - the term used for a set of wines in a
tasting - I also learnt that wearing a white shirt to a red wine tasting is not a good idea.
Each winemaker hadbroughtacouple ofexamples ofhisownwinetohavewiththemeal.
Our modern label stood out on the table and vignerons around me reached for the bottle
