Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Over the next few days the pump-overs, which had been terrifying at first, became famil-
iar, although we constantly reminded ourselves to take care. I now judiciously checked for
washers when removing caps. Our white wines, meanwhile, motored towards the end of
their alcoholic fermentation. Like a nurse, I started with a ward round each day, clipboard
in hand, tasting and taking temperatures and densities of each of our 'babies' then using that
information to decide what needed to be done. The only wine that wasn't behaving per-
fectlywastherosé,whichwasfermentingtooslowlyforLucille'sliking.Ittasteddelicious,
though.
The following day a tempest struck that brought down barns, trees and garden sheds all
over south-west France. I came out of the winery dressed in wine-splattered dry-pants to
take Sophia to school and could barely open the car doors in the ferocious wind. Debris
flew around. It did not feel safe. When I got back I noticed a 3-metre tree in the garden
had succumbed to the tornado. Our neighbour's shed had been demolished and their garden
arch lifted up by the wind and smashed into their car.
Seancameoutofthehouseandpointedtothehugeoaktreethatgrewoutsidethe
pressoir
.
It was not as straight as usual. We soon verified that the 200-year-old oak was now leaning
ominously against the
pressoir
- the part of the winery where the grapes are pressed and
fermented - which housed our precious harvest. With the aid of Sean's dad, John, a forester
by trade, we considered our options. It was impossible for us to remove on our own. The
precarious situation and what was inside the building meant we needed a serious profes-
sional to do it.
I looked up the French word for tree surgeon then called every
élagueuse
in the
Pages
Jaunes
. Not surprisingly, given the tempest, I found all who answered already engaged in
emergencies. A few called back but when they heard the details of the tree and its situation
they quickly discovered other priorities.
Ourentireyear'sworkwasatrisk.Thetreewasover20metreshigh.Ifitsmashedthrough
the roof of the winery it could break the tanks and cause damage to equipment. Nor was it
a safe place for us to work with a mighty oak balancing on it, but the winery work had to
continue.
That evening as I sat down to call through the list of
élagueuses
again, Olivier Delpeuch
called back. His advertisement was promising; a drawing of him hanging off a tree in
climbing gear, holding onto the trunk with one hand and cutting a massive branch with an
enormous chainsaw with the other. He arrived the following day and I had to pinch myself.
