Gilles tells me not sample a certain number of rows in on a particular plot because they've been affected by the neighboring farm spraying some sort of pesticide. He could tell by looking at the leaves that the plants had been slightly affected. I'm mentioning this because I was impressed with his integrity. Regardless of how you feel about organic/biodynamic growing, you gotta respect a person who lives his word and honors his commitment even when there's a price to pay. He could very easily throw those grapes into the mix with the others because there's nothing "wrong" with them, they're edible (at least by normal standards). To my untrained eye they look fine and the leaves look like leaves.
One of the things I love about winemakers who grow their own grapes as opposed to buying them - whether organic or not - is the relationship that develops with the plants. They really "know" the vines and can read subtle signs to determine what's going on with them. It's more than buying grapes and then using your knowledge of science and the latest technology to concoct a "good" wine, which usually means following market trend as opposed to unique vintage. (A topic that's too loaded for this entry.) And they oversee the entire process from seed to bottle. It means spending time out there and paying attention, hard work but the payback is worth it. As in any relationship I suppose.
the affected rows
On my way I see farmer John doing his thing and I remember an article I read in Scientific American about how no-till farming minimizes soil disruption. Why does that matter? OK I'm certainly not an expert, but my basic understanding is that plowing creates topsoil erosion, which isn't as benign or inconsequential as it may sound to those of us who know nothing about growing our own food. Alright so we heard the news about the food shortage crisis around the world, but I venture a guess that no one reading this was affected. We still went to the grocery store and bought what we needed to eat and didn't notice any empty isles. Food shortage?
Given what we know about our planet's capacity, it's not a question of just producing enough food. It has to be done in a manner that allows us to keep up with our demand, produce enough food on a continuing basis - to use a trendy word, sustainably - or just using plain common sense. Soil erosion from plowing essentially strips the soil of its nutrients and its ability to grow the seeds we put into it. (And of course the sediment that contains fertilizers and pesticides runs into rivers, lakes and oceans. To steal a phrase from Gilles, we can fuck our food but not our water.) No-till farming leaves all the extras on the field after harvest for mulch, which protects against soil erosion along with adding nutrients. Yeah so this is the kind of thing I obsess over these days, what can I say...
Later I mention this to Gilles and he says it's not our planet that needs to be saved, it's us. Too true. We can implement all the green initiatives we want, but if we don't change, it's not going to matter. Stop consuming more than we need. According to him, the issue is one of insecurity. We want to exist, to feel evidence of our existence, and the only way we know how to do that is to consume.
To put it crudely, guys who feel inadequate buy sports cars to bolster their sense of self. Women who feel inadequate buy more makeup and clothes than they can ever wear and even resort to allowing their bodies to be cut and stuffed. In other words, keep your TV for 15 years, wear your shoes out, don't buy into the marketing machine... this is what will stop the shortages and crises. In fact, our mentality has turned the common sense notion of living sustainably into a frenzied machine that is causing problems - corn prices skyrocketing because of ethanol, Amazon being uprooted to plant soy. I have to admit that I've been guilty of unconscious purchasing my whole life and I don't even have a lot. What I've noticed is that in the month I've been here "working the dirt", my desire for things has lowered tremendously. Getting back in touch with nature, the ball we live on that feeds us, is grounding in a way that nothing else is. Could also be the slave wages, but that's another topic for another blog.
So back to my samples. Another hot one today. I know that we're supposed to get smarter as we get older, but apparently that only applies to certain areas of our life. I just gotta shed the layers. Sweating is cool, sweaty clothes are not. I'm working my way up and down row after row and at the next plot, I run across the field workers heading to find some shade for lunch. I ask if I can take a picture and they agree. I preferred a candid one of them walking away and laughing at the gringo girl who is gonna fry because she's dressed like this...
instead of like this...
More on the common sense theme?
They're dropping fruit and you can see the trail they've left behind. At first I'm shocked by all the clusters on the ground and then I remember all the reading I did on green harvesting and crop thinning. The premise behind this is that the remaining clusters will ripen more quickly because of the better leaf to fruit ratio. Better riper fruit, better wine. Makes sense. The process is done by hand at veraison, when it's obvious which clusters are going to be slow to ripen, so it's expensive. If it's done too early, the remaining bunches may become tight due to larger berries and thus susceptible to rot. Crop thinning (vendage vert) became common in the early 1990s among the better producers in Bordeaux, though the likes of Chateau Petrus had been practicing it since the 1970s (prices ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a bottle!). See what a little sacrifice will get ya? I should be a millionaire soon.
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