For the birds

We slaved all year to produce a decent crop only to have about half of it eaten once again by the birds. Last year it was more like 2/3rds. We suspect the pheasants.

Knowing this we thought we might invest in some bird-scaring equipment but the word was that none of these was effective. Indeed, one UK producer said the only thing to do was 'shoot 'em'. Perhaps that's why chasseurs and cacciatori in France and Italy massacre the birds routinely every spring?

Netting is the other way to go but we have neither the time nor energy to do that.

So this year we thought we would just keep a closer eye on things and pick at the first sign of depredation. That was to underestimate the cunning of whatever blighters were doing the picking for us.

the one that got away

Do they have a built-in refractometer? It seems so. From one day to the next they decide now is the time and before you can do anything the crop is decimated.

We would have liked to leave the remaining grapes longer but the birds know what's what.

a Bacchus vine

what the birds left

So we picked the remaining grapes, red and white there and then, optimally ripe or not. What alternative did we have?

our entire crop of Pinots Noir, Precoce and Meunier

this box was all that was obtained from these two rows

10 grapes left out of an original 30 or so.

Bacchus crop - 4 boxes each of about 8kg.

All together we got 4 boxes of Bacchus from 141 vines - about 32 Kg.

Macerating bins, from left white Field Blend, centre and right, Bacchus.

this translated into 20 litres of Bacchus which we are making with a long maceration

15 litres Field blend from our other white grapes. 17 days' maceration.

These 141 vines had had to be treated 10 times during the season with sprayings of various chemicals including Microtheol, Karamate, Stroby, Kindred and Filan. All this cost us back problems (lumbago) not to mention great expenditure of time and effort. And all for the birds.

red grapes were also popular - these were Dornfelder

a mere 5 litres field blend of our red grapes.

6 bottles only

We are not a commercial operation; we'd just like to make a bit of wine experimentally to see how it's done. How soul-destroying it must be for vignerons whose livelihood depends on producing a decent crop. Consumers should spare a thought for these poor souls when pouring themselves a glass.

For next year we might try one or two of those sky dancers around ripening time.