The warm autumn meant we were grateful Sam had installed a cooling system for all our fermenting tanks this year, even those we keep outside.  Once the yeast starts turning the sugar in the grapes into alcohol the temperature of the fermenting wine starts to rise dramatically, and unless the fermenting wine can be kept cool – under 10º C - all the fruity aromas of the lovely ripe grapes will be lost. It’s a bit like the difference in taste between mass-produced supermarket bread and the fuller flavour of artisan made bread, which has been allowed a long slow rise.

Bob and I had to leave before the end of harvest leaving Sam in charge, as we were fortunate to be invited back to the second Terra Madre at the end of October, a meeting of five thousand food producers from all over the world organised by Slow Food in Turin. Bob was asked to speak at the wine workshop – ‘Sustainability from the vineyard to the cellar,’ with simultaneous translations into nine different languages so that all the delegates could take part in the ensuing discussion. Amongst other things, he talked about how our next-door neighbours, Stephen and Tom Angwin, take away our grape skins, pips and stalks to feed to their dairy cows.

This is much better for the environment, the cows and us than having a massive unsightly pile, which would take years to rot down. No one else at the workshop knew it was possible to feed this to animals, and everyone – from Australia, Europe, North and South America, New Zealand, vowed to do the same next harvest. So now you know – where Nanstallon leads, the rest of the world follows!

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