Rouge-Bleu

Long days...

 

10 PM, a beautiful sunset on Mont Ventoux and Dentelles de Montmirail
Day is still not over... 

Dear friends,

2 years ago, I remember writing a post named "the longest week". Well, two years after and at the same time period where days are the longest of the year, they are still quite filled.

Here is, for example, the schedule of my day on June 18 :

- Went to bed at 1 AM after having spent the evening with a group of local winemakers and discuss about potential events we could organize in Sainte Cécile les Vignes, our village

- Woke up at 5 30 AM to spray copper and sulfur until noon. Just finished to clean the tractor when some friends showed up for tasting some wine and eventually had lunch with us

- Spent the first part of the afternoon sorting papers, paying bills and the second half calling some accounts to maintain the relationship and remind them to pay their bills too !

- Getting ready by 6 PM to go to Chateauneuf du Pape, not without making a little detour to visit some accounts, deliver some wines and stop at our oenologue to give him some tank samples of our Mistral red 2008 (which ages quite nicely, so far).

- Helped my Uncle at Domaine du Banneret to prepare an order which will cross the Atlantic next week. Then met some Danish importers for a memorable dinner at Mere Germaine which ended at 1 AM at my Uncle's personal cellar, with some old Chateauneuf du Pape marc.

- Arrived home at 2 AM and crawled into bed !

And guess what : Even if this schedule looks quite exhausting, it gives me a lot of joy which, in fact, gives the strength to overcome fatigue.

And, of course, all your support is also fueling me.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Critical period

 

 

 
Your "blue-blue" servitor, after having sprayed copper and sulfur on a Mistral day...

Dear wine lovers,

Mid May to Mid June is probably the most difficult time period for the vine farming. It is when they are growing the most and it is when they can easily catch fungus diseases like Mildiou and Oidium. Fortunately for us, this first half has been, so far, quite dry with even a lot of Mistral which, as we say here, naturally "sulfate pour nous". And even if this famous strong wind broke a few new vine shoots (which are green and long now and too soft to resist the wind), it actually did a natural green harvest which I would definitely have preferred to avoid in our 75 years old Grenache which produce such a low yield...but as we also say in France "On ne peut pas avoir le beurre et l'argent du beurre" (you can't have your cake and eat it too). 

This time period is also when we need to be careful with grape-worm and where we need to monitor weeds at a reasonable level before it is too dry to plowing the ground.

 
Grappe-worm : Can you see the worm ?

This means that it does not leave much time to the rest even if we found some to bottle the first half of our Dentelle red 08  and the last (snif) tank of Mistral red 07...Hoping to find those incredible flavors in a future vintage. Indeed, I quite like the Dentelle 08 as it truly and faithfully reflects its vintage, with less depth but some very nice spices. Last night, I have enjoyed it with a chicken curry and I have to admit that it was good.

Summer is almost there and if you are traveling in our area, don't hesiatate to pay us a visit (with a prior notive please by email or by phone at +33 6 15 10 52 01). We will be here most of the time.

At last, we may have two seats for harvest this year, which should take place the second half of September. I know some of you had expressed interest in this venture and if it is still the case, don't hesitate to contact me for more details.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Back in the vines...

 
Your servitor, plowing the soil

Dear wine lovers,

As the 2009 vintage is now in sight, it is now time to work those vines and give them the maximum chance to produce a great grape.

At Rouge-Bleu, we believe that feeding the vines is a total nonsense since it is a way to tell the roots : "Don't work finding the food in the deep parts of the underground but go feed yourself with the rich food displayed on the soil surface I am giving you for free"...which is totally against their nature and which will prevent them to develop their root system (the best way for vines to produce great grapes). That's why, I always wait late until I plow the soil full of various Spring herbs, in order to recuperate a little bit of nutrition which will slowly decompose and amend the soil with the minimum carbons a vine needs to survive.

And pretty soon, it will be time to spray against the fungus (Mildiou-Oidium). Here again, at Rouge-Bleu, we like to prevent rather than heal. And we do it with only contacts products (Cooper-Sulfur melted with nettle, horsetail and wicker tea herbs) which don't get into the heart of imune system and eventually destroys it, leaving it very weak a subject to catch the disease.

All this will take a lot of time...and the good news is that I am going to have more time since I no longer really need to developing the sales. Our rosé is sold out and our Red Mistral is virtually gone too after the good reviews we just had. When I say it is sold out, it means that I have no more to offer for our professional network (I have kept a little stock for our visitors) but these guys do have or will have some soon (a few containers are on the Ocean).

Talking about distribution, I have the pleasure to announce you 3 new ambassadors in the US :
- Williams Corner in VA and around DC
- WorldWide Cellars Imports in MN and soon in other Midwest States
- Wine Adventures in IA and IL
And 2 in Europe :
- Two Rivers Wine Company in UK
- The Wine Company in Denmark

All the contacts of our distributors, retailers, restaurants... can be found here.

And if you live in France and would like to place your order directly to us, here is above the form :

Happy Spring to all of you. If you will be traveling in our area, please have in mind that our cellars are always open with a previous appointment.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc - Domaine Rouge-Bleu
 

Thank You !

In MN, on my very last "Spring" 2009 wine tour visit.

Dear wine lovers,

For the last 15 years, I have been used to tour the US in order to promote wines from other vineyards. This time, I was so blessed to include Rouge-Bleu wines in the tour.

And another blessing arrived just by coincidence a week before I took off : Our Mistral red which already had been awarded by a Gold Medal in the Paris Agricultural Fair received a 91 points on the Wine Spectator !

Of course, this has brought even more excitement to this tour. Thank you to all of you who have joined the 14 wine events (tasting, lunch, dinner) and thank you so much for having supported our wines. Please find here pictures of the photo album and here is also a part of the signing sheet.

As those awards come very rapidly to us, I would like to express that I don't take them for granted. True is that we have started our wine venture with an outstanding 2007 vintage, weather conditions that we have been able to magnify with our biodinamic farming, our very old vines and our traditional winemaking with concrete tanks.
We have worked as much to continue this quality level with the 2008, a cooler vintage which has already expressed its potential with our very fresh and elegant rosé (heavy file - takes a while to open). As for the 2008 reds, they need a little time to smooth down but will surely have the "good spirit" and a lot of character.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse
Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Mistral takes on the Gold

Dear wine lovers,

I had not scheduled this edition but since I just received some big news, I wanted share them with you before my US trip :
Our "Mistral" red wine won the gold medal at the famous Paris Agricultural Fair, last week.

Last year, when our "Dentelle" red got the Silver, many of you kindly told us that we would win the Gold on day so thank you for your positive helpful thoughts.

Many other thanks for all of you who have been supporting our wines. As a reminder, if you would like to know where to find them, here is the link.

I hope to see you soon in one of the US cities I will be visiting.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse
Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Getting ready for the New Season

Pruned old Carignan black vine. In a few weeks, it will be all green !
Picture taken by my lovely wife.

Dear wine lovers,

As days get longer and longer each new day, vines sense that it will soon be time to wake up. That's why we still want cold temperatures which continue the give the vines a "winter signal" in order to avoid a too soon sprout which could generate frost issues but also because we have not finished pruning...

An we now need to rush since I am going to be quite busy in the next coming week. Besides one week off with the family in the mountains, I will attend a famous wine fair in Avignon mid March (Découvertes en Vallée du Rhône) and will take off March 22nd for a large US wine tour.

If you are near New-York, Tampa, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Saint-Paul/Minneapolis, I do hope to meet in one of the tastings we organize. Also, don't hesitate to forward this link to people you know in those areas, those events are open.

Our wines have now digested their January bottling. The 2008 Dentelle Rosé should be showing its best potential for the coming Spring. Our 2007 Red Mistral is now expressing his best and just got a very nice review inside La Revue du Vin de France. As for our red 2007 Dentelle, we are now sold out and expect to bottle the 2008 vintage when I come back from my US visits.

And when I do so, I expect to see our Dear vines much greener and the promise of a beautiful 2009 vintage. Time flies...

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse
Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Spring is around the corner

 

 

Pruning, under a spring sky, our 57 years old Carignan planted "on the rocks"

 

Dear wine lovers,

Even if we have had, so far, a pretty cold winter, I can already see its end...

The first reason is that our rosé is now bottled. Tasting it, I remind me those first warm days of the year that we use to celebrate with a glass of rosé wine.

The second reason is that I have now planned a US trip...which will in fact start the very first day of this coming Spring. My itinerary will be NYC, Tampa, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis. Please visit this page which will be regularly updated for details and please let me know if you plan to join me for any of the tasting events where you are of course more than welcome.

But before Spring arrives, I need to continue pruning our 20 000 vines... This new wine tour, this rosé and the hope to share it with you soon give me the will to go on and do the job, besides the still very cold temperatures.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse
Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Happy 2009

 

 

 
                    75 years old Grenache

Red, White...and now Rosé !
Domaine Rouge-Bleu wishes you a colorful 2009 vintage !

----

Dear wine lovers,

What a year...Actually I should say, what another year ! After our first blessed harvest in 2007 which also corresponded to our move here and to a bunch of renovation in our 400 years old farm, 2008 was mostly dedicated to distribution. And starting from nothing, it is quite a challenge, even for a guy who has been distributing French Wines to the US for 15 years.

First, the label...Remember the contest in October 2007...Well even if the label had had quite some success, it looks like some people did not like it and we have decided to test another one on our Rosé 2008 which is lighter and more modern. This label is printed now but your feedback will always be appreciated. Then, finding the right bottles, corks, caps, empty cases...the right guys for the bottling, the right guys for the compost....

And here we are now, 2 years after from day to day I did my first pruning. Time had flown but in another way, I also feel that it has been an eternity...
And 2008 has been a good year for our sales. Our Dentelle red 2007 is almost sold out, the Mistral red 2007 is having a very good reception, so far. The list of our professional ambassadors where you can find our wines is growing and so don't hesitate to visit it and forward it, most of them can ship and hopefully you will find one near you. Thank You for your support. And if you have a delivery address in France, you can now download our order formand even get some Champagne and some wines from my Uncle (Chateauneuf-du-Pape).

We have a few more days to go in 2008 and in Provence, we say "Bon bout d'an" 'happy en of years). Talking about Provence, 2009 will have a Provence touch with this rosé that I try to make in its very pale and fresh style. And as I am going to be traveling to the US in March-April with some bottle, I hope to share a glass with you then (you will be posted soon on the places I organize tastings). Otherwise, you are always very welcome to come here, of course.

Cheers,
Jean-Marc - Domaine Rouge-Bleu 

Rosé

Mr Delhomme drinking our 2008 rosé.

Dear wine lovers,

Having been raised in Provence, rosé has always had a special place in my wine culture. When we found this beautiful piece of land in the Rhône, I initially told myself that I would only do red wines since that's the best potential here.

And our very hot mature 2007 vintage was not appropriate for light fresh rosé that I like and have enjoyed while living near the Mediterranean. When I have started to distribute Dentelle and Mistral, people have asked about rosé which, eventually put the idea in my head to produce a small tank in 2008, just for fun.

And since 2008 had been quite cool, acidities and maturities were in fact perfect to produce a rosé without too much alcohol and natural freshness. When we finished harvesting for this small tank, I realized that our grapes were not mature enough to produce the best possible reds so I decided to continue making some rosé fill a big tank.

Like a Provence people and also because the market demands this, I was afraid to make a rosé with too much color so I decided to make a direct press (in opposition to "saignée") in order to reduce the color given by the skins grapes. And if the pressed juices were very pale, the color went quite dark during the fermentation which was normal (dixit my oenologue) but which made worry.

But the outcome is just great. Pale pink color, fresh but lots of red fruits, especially Granada fruits.

By the end of November, I will have fined it and I plan to bottle it before Christmas. That way, we will spend the winter with this spring-summer wine which will help us pass this cold period dreaming about the next coming sunny season...

Cheers,
Jean-Marc - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

2008 is in

Dentelle 2007 has been awarded... Let's hope it will continue in 2008

Dear wine lovers,

2 weeks of harvest have gone and all our grapes are now inside our tanks. Pictures of this memorable time will be posted soon in a few albums.

This vintage has been quite different from the hot and windy one in 2007. A cool Spring-Summer, some rains in the beginning of September have delayed the maturity. Then, the winemaker has to make a decision : Either taking the risk of getting more rains and having rot development on the grapes or picking some grapes in a good sanitary state a little early. And as our harvest team was here and ready, it has helped me to opt for the second option.

But the very main reason why I took this decision is because I had decided to make some rosé this year. The high acidity, the good sanitary state of the grapes the reasonable alcohol potential are in fact the perfect conditions to produce this wine. And from a guy coming from Provence, rosé is a must !

Eventually, it looks like our red tanks are fermenting nicely. As I always say, wine is balance and I am sure we will find the right one to produce a Dentelle and a Mistral in 2008.

And as a conclusion, I would like to say that I am in fact very happy that the 2008 vintage does not look like 2007. We are wine lovers because we know that each year will be a different story of a book that has just begun.

Cheers,
Jean-Marc - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : Our Mistral 2007 has been bottled and some palets have been already shipped. You can check where to find our wines here. As for the Dentelle 2007, I have the huge pleasure to announce you that it has been listed in the famous Guide Hachette des Vins 2009 (after already having rewarded by a Silver in the Paris Agricultural fair).

Preparing for the harvest

"Tagged" tank (by our friends who came to visit us) emptied to blend the Mistral 2007 and to be ready to receive the 2008 grapes

Dear wine lovers,

We are now done with spraying copper (Mildiou is at last no longer endangering) and our vines have turned color ("véraison"). It is now time to measure (thanks Steve for the refractometer) their sugar and acidity evolution which often look like the following graph on its very simple version. Guess when it is time to harvest then ?

It is time to now make sure our harvest equipments are in good shape and re-organize the cellars to make room for this very special operations.

Just before the harvest, we will also bottle our "Mistral" 2007 blend mainly elaborated from our oldest Grenache vines and which a 1/3 of it has been aging in old barrels for 10 months. Since this wine is a blending of 3 tanks and 15 barrels and since we are just bottling a 1/3 of it, we had to take from them in each proportion and then refill all the tanks. For this, I had the great help of my Son Maxime.

Mistral 2007 will be the core (2/3) and probably the most qualitative part of our production, having in mind that Dentelle 2007 is also a beautiful wine with a very distintive character brought by the Carignan.

Dentelle in fact has a nice success as expressed by the numerous comments that you can read here. Don't hesitate to leave one if you have tried it. And if you would like to try it, we now have it available in many US cities and most of our retailers can ship.

We are bottling the Mistral now because it is ready to be drunk, it will actually be perfect for the coming Holidays. And we are also bottling it because we need space in the tanks to vinify the new coming grapes.

Al last, another way to prepare for 6 weeks for 7 days a week intense job is to rest. That's why I have taken some vacation and I am now rested and ready for this big event. Please wish us good fortune with the weather. The last two weeks and the 2 weeks harvest probably count for 2/3 of the harvest quality.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : Many thanks to Soren and Ken who have made published on their blogs some great info on us.

Meet us with in London

Dear friends,

Kristin and I will attend a wine fair which will take place in London at the Barbican Exhibition Centre from Nov 21st to Nov 23rd. Kristin will be happy to sign her book and Jean-Marc will pour his wines which can also be purchased at the fair.

If you would like to receive free entrance tickets, please email your mailing address and we will be happy to send them to you.

Also, don't hesitate to email this link to your friends, family, relatives, wine lovers... who would appreciate to receive some free tickets.

We look forward to meeting you.

Cheers,

Kristin and Jean-Marc

Exploring new markets

Kuala Lumpur...

Dear wine lovers,

Our vines have, so far, resisted to the high Mildiou pressure and since the Mistral and Sun are back, they give me a little break to try to find new markets.

My initial plan was to distribute most of our production to the USA but the unfortunate combinasion of a weak dollar and a slowdown of the economy have discouraged some importers to bring new lines in their portfolio.

I have then started to develop the French market with Paris, Marseille and local places. Recently, I have also explored new spots and we just received an order from Malaisia. I also shipped some samples to Brazil, Japan and Australia and took some good contacts in Denmark and Belgium.

Of course, I would idealy like to sell most of our production in the US but those "unfortunate" economic evenments have obliged us to look for new horizons and eventually not put all our egges in the same basket.

And while I was exploring new markets, I had the pleasure to hear from some great guys in CA who told us that they will start importing Rouge-Bleu. Let's hope that the guys from WA (who orally said yes) and AZ where I am still strugling to find the right guy (any help here ?) will soon join our NY, TX and OR ambasadors which can be contacted here. are 3

For those of who have already tried our wines and would like to leave a comment, your are welcome to click here.

And for those who would like to order, here 3 ways to do it :
1 - Northwest area : Email Darryl (our wines should make it there by mid August)
2 - Southwest area : Email Tim (our wines are in stock and available)
3 - Eastcoast area : Order online here (our wines are in stock and available)

Thanks a lot for your support !

Cheers,

Jean-Marc - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Mildiou

A spot of mildiou burned by copper. Can you see it ?

Dear wine lovers,

After the heavy rains in May and early June, heat is back here. Since the soils are still humid and that the Mistral is not here to dry, we now have the worst conditions for getting mildiou, a fungus that can affect the leafs and eventually the grapes.

To cope with this potential loss of precious grapes (They are rare here since our vines are old and yields already very low), it is necessary to prevent rather than trying to heal. I have started spraying copper 6 weeks ago when there was no mildiou and, even if we do have some spots in our vines, I think we have limited the contamination. I also believe that our old deep rooted vines, evolving in a living soil not destroyed by des-herbants and chemicals, permit the grapes to be healthy and more resistant to the fungus. Also, the fact that I only spray contact copper and tea herbs (which will just stay outside the vine) and not systemic chemical products which actually get inside, will not disturb the immune system of the vine and will permit it to fight better this bad enemy. The battle is still not won so all your positive thoughts will be welcome.

Last Saturday, we have bottled the second part of Dentelle which will now rest for a few weeks before it is shipped (as the wines need some time to rest after such an operation). If you had a chance to try it, don't hesitate to leave a comment here. This same link will give you the feedbacks of our friends who tried it, in case you would be interested in what they think.

And if you would like to order some, we can use this link.

If you are traveling in France this summer, here are the places where you should find our wines, besides our cellars where you will always be welcome, of course.

Thanks for your support !

Cheers,

Jean-Marc

Overwhelmed

Planting wooden posts to attach our baby wines planted last year. Some are already very productive (what I have in my hand is 8 future grapes) but it is necessary to eliminate the fruits in order to let the baby vines use its energy on developing wood and roots.

Good news : You can now order online our wines at by clicking here

Dear wine lovers,

With the vines growing like crazy, our wines to sell, all the administration in this tax period season and all what's coming next, I have to acknowledged you that I feel quite overwhelmed.

Just to give you an example, last week, my brother and I have planted 2 000 wooden posts to attach our baby vines that the wind could damage. While doing this, we have pulled out by hand weeds that are in between those babies (in order to both give them food with weed's decomposition and prevent that those weeds take too much humidity from the soil which could kill the baby vine) and eliminated the fruits coming from those young vines. After this project, I did a sulfur spray, scratched the soil to remove the weeds of our old vines (with the tractor this time)... And the week before, we have planted another 1 000 baby vines with the help of Elsebeth Steve and Jacques to replace some dead vines in an existing parcel. In the meantime, I had to invoice the wines delivered (some by myself) report to customs about our stock (this has to be done every month), make sure we will have some empty bottles and corks for the coming bottling...
Hopefully, I have the great help of my brother Jacques and this is very special to be able to share my passion with him.

The good news is that I am still standing up and that our wines have made it to some very nice spots like La Mirande in Avignon, Domaine des Andéols in the heart of Lubéron or the famous natural wine store Le Ver Volé in Paris. Please keep in mind this list and don't hesitate to contact Tim who is our importer and good friend in Houston who can ship our wines to some US destinations

At last, please apologize if this edition has mistakes. As you understood here, I am quite pressed with time but wanted to keep you posted.

Thanks for all your support and all your kind encouragements messages. they are all quite appreciated.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

2008 vintage in sight

Future Carignan grapes in sight for our Dentelle 2008

Dear wine lovers,

On our way back from New York, our dear vines had just started to bloom. After 5 expected heavy rains and they are now really growing fast and our future grapes which will give birth to the 2008 vintage are already here.

Before that, I had just finished to scratch the soil which permitted a better draining and elimination of the first load of weeds which are now composting inside the soil, permitting the microbian life to develop and making our vine roots happy. And it looks like not only the roots are happy in our little vineyard (image a little blurry but it is actually a good thing as I don't want to want to get in trouble)... And it looks like some ladybugs even enjoy a little glass of rosé to celebrate spring !

Back to serious things, scratching the soil is now done by a tractor but our ancestors used to do it with a horse like a friend of mine, Helen Durand from Domaine du Trapadis in Rasteau (available in Oregon BTW), still does in his oldest vines. This method might sound "medieval" but when you think about it, not only you don't burn gas as we all do with our tractors but the horse also contributes to develop this precious macrobian life with their natural "dejections". 

As our vines still give us a small break before it is time to really care about their sanitary state, we continue the promotion of the 2007 Dentelle. After the US West Coat last February, we have organized tastings in Marseilles, Paris and New York City.

Last week, I had the pleasure to receive a very nice order from the famous Brasserie La Mère Germaine in Châteauneuf du Pape where our wine will be poured by the glass.

And since our wines are now listed in wine stores and restaurant, I have decided to mention the places where they can be found.

Also, if you had a chance to taste our wines, you are welcome to leave a comment here.

At last, if you have a delivery address in France and would like to receive a direct offer from us, please email me here.

Thanks a lot for your support and don't hesitate to pay us a visit if you are near our area in the coming weeks.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

First shipments

Our very first shipment going to Houston.

Dear wine lovers,

I know it has been a while (too long) and I feel bad but believe me, I am quite overwhelmed.
After returning from our US visits, we have bottled 7 000 bottles in one day and store them in our small cellar. The first orders arrived and already 2 pallets are their now on their way to New York and Houston (if you live in the Soutwest you can contact Tim to order our wines).

In France, we have done another tasting event in Marseille at our Friend's wine store (Le Vin Sobre) and got lots of success. The greatest news of the week also came from Marseille as one of the very best restaurant "Les Trois Forts" (see the wonderful view at Kristin's blog) has put on their wine list the Dentelle. For a native from Marseille, this is the best reward I could get.

We are just about to leave to drive to Paris and then fly to NYC where two more events are awaiting us and we are very excited.

Then, on the return, our vines should have started to bloom. Pruning is over, including our baby vines were we food lots of ladybugs (two here actually making future ones before we took the picture) while taking out by hands all the weeds around them, vines shoots are crushed and I have almost scratched everywhere.

As you can see, we are keeping busy. In fact, farming grapes on 25 acres and selling the wine might be too much for one person. I hang on but I will surely need some help before I loose too much weight.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

April visits

Dear wine lovers,

After the West Coast, Kristin and I will be traveling in Paris and in New York city this coming April.

Here are the dates and places where we will be thrilled to meet with you :

- April 10th in Paris : Juvéniles Wine Bar from 5 to 8 PM
Book signing and Wine tasting of Domaine Rouge-Bleu + Domaine du Banneret (our Uncle's vineyard in Châteauneuf-du-Pape).
Juvéniles Wine Bar. 47, Rue Richelieu, 75001 Paris - Tel : 01 42 97 46 49
RSVP here      

- April 15th in New York City : Crawford Doyle Booksellers from 4 to 6 PM
Book signing only
Crawford Doyle Booksellers, 1 082 Madison Avenue (between 81th and 82nd Street)
RSVP here

- April 16th in New York City : Union Square and Spirits from 6 to 8 PM
Book signing and wine tasting of Domaine Rouge-Bleu
Union Square Wines & Spirits, 140 Fourth Avenue
RSVP here      

Don't hesitate to forward this page to your francophile and-or wine lovers relatives who live nearby Paris and-or New York cities. We will be more than happy to meet with them too.

Kristin and I are really looking forward to meeting with you !

---

Regarding the vineyard...

The pictures of our first bottling (sorry, not in the right order) are available at http://a-la-recherche-du-vin.typepad.com/photos/first_bottling/

And even a video at http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=vtTEF0z_-Q4

Vegetation has two weeks avdance and I am late pruning...Hopefully days are getting longer and longer.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Merci

With Joanne in the Houston wine dinner at the great Brasserie Max and Julie

Dear wine lovers,

"Merci" might be an easy way but it is the right word to thank all of you who came to visit us during our February US events. Kristi and I have been so touched by your kindness and I have been so proud to pour our wines for the first time.

We are back to our dear vines and wines which have evolved with warm (not to say hot) weather. Vine is in tears, which means I don't have much time to finish pruning and our "living" wines are also evolving. Babies ladybugs are here (can you find it here ?) and just before we left, we have put some green compost in our old vines. As for the wines, the Dentelle cuvée will be bottled next week, on a fruit day and raising moon which are the best conditions on the lunar calendar to bottle wine.

And, by the way and even if we know well how relative this is, I wanted to tell you that our Dentelle just got a "silver" reward at the National Agricultural fair of Paris.

Here are the photos and an article of our tour. We will be back in April in NYC and surely at more places in the near future.

Seattle at Abraxus book store article + pictures
Seattle at French American Chamber of Commerce + other pictures
Portland at Cork wine store and Diana and Neil's wine dinner pictures
San Francisco at Palio d'Asti pictures
Los Angeles at Wine House pictures
Phoenix at Vincent farmer's market pictures
Phoenix at Heidi and Doug Stiteler pictures
Houston at Brasserie Max and Julie pictures 

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : As I am just about to send this post, I just receive an email from Jennifer in OR with who I have been emailing. Her post on Rouge-Bleu is so revealing and so true that I can't help mentioning it to you here. "Merci" Jennifer

Collage

Beaten egg whites

Dear wine lovers,

Our "Dentelle" Cuvée is scheduled to be bottled on March 11th, a fruit and raising moon day on the calendar moon, which gives the best conditions to bottle a wine on its fruit and freshness side.

Before this crucial step, it is important to continue clarifying this wine it without too much filtration (which kills all the natural sediments, so important in our natural wine). For that purpose, we have first divided our big 100 Hl tank into two of 50 Hl, aerating it in order to open it, take off the carbonic gas which is naturally produced during the fermentation while adding some organic white eggs. In effect, the albumin contained in the white eggs will accelerate, affine the wine and, leaving its very essential components.

Of course, these white eggs will not be part of the bottled wine since it will eventually deposit at the bottom of the tank which is not used.

This is an ancestral process which enables to respect as much as possible the wine. We will now leave it for 5 weeks and, when we return from our US trip, our wine will be ready to be bottled.

Watch all the steps of this process here.

In the meantime, Kristin and I are really looking forward to meeting you on the places we have organized events. Thanks to all of you who have already responded saying that they would come.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : Our good friends and wine importers in Houston are offering a week in Provence with touring vineyards (including Domaine Rouge-Bleu), visiting typical villages or cooking with a local Chef. For more info, don't hesitate to email Tim at tms@frenchcountrywines.com on behalf of me.

US visits

Dear friends,

Kristin and I have the pleasure to announce to you that we will be visiting this February 2008 the following US towns to present our Rouge-Bleu wines and meet with our dear readers in :
Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Houston.

Seattle : February 12th 2008 - Meet with us either :

- From 2 to 4 PM at Abraxus Books book store located :
5711 24th Avenue NW
Seattle, WA 98107
Phone          (206) 297-6777       

- From 5 30 to 7 30 PM for a wine tasting-book signing organized by the French-American Chamber of Commerce of Pacific Northwest which is sold out now.


Portland : February 13 th 2008 - Meet us at Cork wine shop from 5 to 7 PM :
2901 NE Alberta Street
Portland, OR 97211
Phone :          (503) 281-2675       


San Francisco : February 14 th 2008 - Meet us at Palio d'Asti restaurant from 2 to 4 PM :
640 Sacramento Street
San Francisco, CA 94111
Phone          (415) 395-9800       


Los Angeles : February 15th 2008 - Meet us at Wine House wine store from noon to 4 PM :
2311 Cotner Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Phone          (800) 626-9463       


Phoenix : February 16th 2008 - Meet us at Vincent's Saturday farmer's market from 9 AM to 1 PM :
3930 East Camelback Road
Phoenix, AZ 85018
Phone :          (602) 224-0225       


Houston : February 21th 2008 - Meet Jean-Marc (sorry, Kristin can't make it to this event)at Brasserie Max & Julie for a wine dinner scheduled from 7 to 9 PM :
4315 Montrose Blvd
Houston, TX 77006
Phone :          (713) 524-0070       
Tickets for this wine dinner are available through Texas our wine importer and very good friends French Country Wines. Please email Tim to secure your seats.
By the way, if you are looking for a great week in Provence with touring vineyards, visiting typical villages or cooking with a local Chef, email Tim since he is organizing a tour next April (19-26).

At last, Kristin and I will be in New York City this April 2008 (14th to 17th) and we will post you more details soon about the events we shall organize.

We do hope to have a chance to meet with you then. In the meantime, make a note in your calendar and don't hesitate to tell your francophile relatives to these events.

Apart from the events where tickets are requested, an email to let us know your visit in one of these meetings would be very much appreciated in order to manage as best as possible the logistic.

Cheers and Happy New Year,

Kristin and Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : See the video of the very first bottling of our samples of Domaine Rouge-Bleu Dentelle. Sorry it is a little dark but, after all and hopefully, we did it in a cellar !

Soutirage

Thick wine lies at the end of "soutirage"

Dear wine lovers,

When a tank has completely finished its malolactic fermentation, it is time to separate the wine from its lies (lies [LEEZ] are the thick deposit resulting from both decantation and fermentation.

To do so, we will use a pump which is first hooked on the highest van level of the tank. Then, we will let the wines fall by gravity inside a case and we will pump the wine until it becomes thicker. Time then to put the lies in some small containers since it is an obligation to bring them to the distillery.

Then, the big cleaning starts inside the tank and again in the cellars since, as you can imagine, lies stain a lot.

The finest lies (the ones which come first from the tank at "soutirage") are also very good to cook with. My Aunt Marie-Françoise uses them to make one of her culinary specialties which is the Provençal "Daube" marinated with fine wine lies :

Ingredients for 4 people :
2 teaspoons of olive oil
10 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (2-pound) chuck roast, boneless, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
2 cups of fine red wine lies
2 cups of chopped carrots
1 1/2 cups of chopped onions
1/2 cup of beef broth
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 teaspoon of chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme
A bit of ground cloves
1 (14.5-ounce) of can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 leaf of bay
3 cups of cooked pasta

Preparation
Preheat oven to 300°F.
Heat olive oil in oven over low heat. Add garlic to pan; cook for 5 minutes until soft. Remove garlic from pan and put it aside. Turn up the heat. Add beef to pan and brown it. Sprinkle beef with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoons of pepper. Cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Add wine lies to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add garlic, beef, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper, carrot, and next 8 ingredients (through bay leaf) to pan; bring to a boil.
Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Take out bay leaf. Serve over pasta. Garnish with fresh thyme

If you are interested in doing this recipe and you don't have a way to get some fine wine lies, you can always use an old bottle of wine that you will reduce with flour.

Here are all my greetings for a beautiful Christmas Season and a happy New Year with, I am sure, some great wines to celebrate.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Wine Club

Charles, one of our "Copains" who helped us so much during the harvest

Dear wine lovers,

In order to respond to the question about "how to get our wines", I am honored to offer you the opportunity to join our "Copains" Wine Society.

This offer includes the following benefits : A one day Rhone wine tour with your servitor (me), tee shirts signed by the whole family, exclusive pictures and videos of Domaine Rouge-Bleu life (which won’t be available at the regular blog), and even the possibility of opting for 6 bottles of my Uncle's Châteauneuf du Pape wines.

So, here is the offer Word or PDF document. Feel free to contact me by email or by phone (+33 6 15 10 52 01) if you need additional information. If you want to create your own "Copains" group in order to split the membership, you are welcome to do this, just indicate to me the number of people in the group so that each of them receives a tee shirt.

Not much happening nowadays at Domaine Rouge-Bleu. We still have a few leaves on the vines which gives me a good pretext for postponing pruning. In fact, I am waiting for some strong frost to start as disease can develop in the woods when you prune with mild temperatures.

I actually spend most of the time trying to find the best companies for the printing our labels (which are now finished in terms of creation - see the final version of Dentelle and Mistral), bottles, corks...
Also, I am putting together a US West Coast wine tasting / book signing tour with Kristin in order to meet with all our "Copains" around a glass of wine next February :
02/12 : Seattle
02/13 : Portland
02/14 : San Francisco
02/15 : Los Angeles
02/16 : Phoenix
I will also be in Houston for a wine dinner on 02/21 and we will of course keep you posted on all those events.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : This proposal is addressed to our US readers. For other destinations, please email me and hopefully we can work this out. I will also put together an offer for France soon.

Wine tasting

One of our old Grenache vines planted "on the rocks" on a typical sunset Mistral day. These grapes participated in our Mistral "cuvée"

Dear wine lovers,

All our tanks have now finished both their fermentations (alcoholic and malolactic). The four filled tanks we have express their "terroir" identity with, of course the grape variety's influence. What is interesting here is that depending on "terroir" and with the same grape variety, the wines express themselves very differently.

What we have thought before harvest has come true. Our Carignan, harvested at low yields, gave a very smooth and fruity tank. The Grenache, if they were planted "on the rocks" or on sandy limestone soils, give either red fruits or roasted hints. And Syrah has given us its typical blackcurrant aromas. The small amount of Mourvèdre and Roussane bring complexity and freshness.

And a common point of all our tanks is that, besides good levels of alcohol, we have been able to reach high acidity levels (around 3,8) which not only permit the wines to balance alcohol and not feel it but also to insure a promising aging. That is the result of very low yields and organic farming where vines have given their best to produce vines with two major components which are sugar and acidity

Enough talk for now, let's put these words into You Tube video

And here are the details of what you have just seen :

- Domaine Rouge-Bleu "Dentelle" red 2007. This "cuvée" is mainly made from Carignan (63%) and with a Grenache blending (27%). This wine is "on the fruit side" : Fresh, smooth and elegant are the words to characterize it and it will be available in April 2008.

- Domaine Rouge-Bleu "Mistral". This special "cuvée" is mainly made from our 55-year-old Grenache (68%) with a blending of Syrah (17%), Mourvèdre (9%), Carignan (4%) and Roussane (2%). 15% of this blending is now aging in old barrels. It is powerful with complex notes, evolving from black fruits (figs, blackberries) to cacao and roasting hints. We will bottle it before the 2008 harvest in order to release it at its best for the 2008 Holiday Season.

At last, regarding our label and since no one has been largely approved (many congrats by the way to Ryan who won the poll), I have finally decided to follow my heart, listening to many comments I received. With Florent, our graphic designer, we have been able to modernize and bring out this old Carignan grape vine which represents so well our terroir and the spirit of our wines made from old vines. We are not 100% done so all comments are always welcome, we can always make it better.

Please accept all my thanks for your participation (label submission, vote) to this big brainstorming.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Griffonnage

Scratching ("Griffonner") the soil on a beautiful fall day

Dear wine lovers,

Our current Indian summer has permitted our vines to keep on accumulating sun energy since not all the leaves haven't fallen on the ground, showing us their beautiful colors which change from each variety.

Before life stops for a few months, it is still time to stimulate life and think about the future :
- Stimulating the underground microbian life, which is one of the reasons I follow the biodaynamy concepts, can be done now by scratching the soil. This way, oxygen aerate it and permits to compost dead leaves. I also use a special preparation MT 500 (mainly made from cow ...) to ameliorate this organic decomposition.
- Replacing the dead vines by news ones. Even if the baby vine will be planted next spring, it is now time to make the future holes so that the hopefully winter rain (which we now need so much) will create water reserve for the future planted vine.

When I am done with these tasks, I will have completed a full year of vine care. I am almost impatient to start pruning just to have this great accomplishment feeling.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Grapillons

Grapillons from Carignan before late harvest

Dear wine lovers,

I thought we were done with harvesting and pressing...until I recently realized that the sanitary state of the "grapillons" in our vines was just very interesting.

In France, there is an old tradition of picking those grapes left at harvest time, since those "grapillons" were not ready then. Grapillons are small grapes that came out of vines 2-3 weeks after the first "real" ones and that's the reason why they are not mature during regular harvest time.

In the ancient times, those grapillons were usually picked by poor people who would make their wine. For us, those grapillons harvested are now over matured and will provide sweet wine, considering the high level of sugar that they content. Yesterday, some very good friends came over to renew this tradition and share good times with us. Like for the first of our regular harvest, Mistral was blowing strong and it was great to remind our exceptional harvest conditions.

Back to our cellar, we had to crush those grapes with our feet like it was done by our ancestors and I could count with the great help of my wife's best friend, Susan , for this fun task. During the picking, we might also have disturbed a few ladybugs that came with us to inspect the cellar.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : The label poll is about to give its outcome. We will surely consider carefully the results and will include some ideas to affine our label.

Assembler

Our cellar with full tanks and a few used barrels

Dear wine lovers,

Now that all the grapes have been pressed, it is time to fill the tanks at 100% their potential (note that during the winemaking, they are filled up to 80% with both grape juice and marc) since the wine can't be in contact with air.

This means that we have to make choices about which tank must be blended to the other one, having in mind that we are planning to elaborate two kinds of wines.

To help us fill the tanks, we will use smaller ones like these used barrels that will welcome our best blend for 10 months.

Our wines are now aging and the most urgent works in the cellar is almost done. That gives me time consider marketing aspects :

- We are leaving the label poll give its outcome (so it is still time to expression your opinion) and at this point I would like to thank you SO MUCH for your massive votes (about 1,800 votes so far) and for all the comments left which help a lot in the final decision.

- At last, I am working on a wine club offer for our dear readers in order to respond to all the requests we had on how to get our wines.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Back to labels...

Dear wine lovers,

As we are almost done with pressing the grapes, I am now back to what occupied my mind before the harvest (which seems an eternity ago)...

We have received a lot a suggestions, comments and submissions, thank you so much !

Here are all the submitted labels. When you get to the label album, click on each image to see it bigger.

IMPORTANT : For those who have sent their piece of art, please make sure the label is the right one. Also, it is quite possible that I may have made a mistake or forgotten some. So please let me know if I should modify something before we do the "official" poll next Monday.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : At this time, label submissions are closed

Press time

Syrah "marc" which will be pressed soon

Dear wine lovers,

When the grape juice has fermented into wine and after it has macerated long enough, it is time to separate the wine from its "marc" and press it.

First, we have to pump the wine to put it in another tank and then we have to fill the press machine with the marc, pulling it and even going inside the tank to recuperate as much as we can.

Then, the press starts and stops when the wine which drops has too much vegetal hints.

This operation takes a whole day for one tank and it is very physical. As a great reward we get lots of nice flavors but unfortunately I can't give you a sample of this through this blog...but next spring, we should have our first vintage ready to ship !

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : We have closed the submission for labels. Thanks for all of you who have posted and emailed with ideas. We will put online the photo album and the poll next week.

Working the wines

Mr Delhome father (87 years old man who proudly says that he only drinks wine) tasting ours

Dear wine lovers,

Now that all our grapes are in the cellar, it is time to work the fermented juices. And this task essentially consistS in pumping the juice at the bottom of the tank and pouring it on the "hat" which is the solid part composed by the skins and the stems of the grapes.

Some grapes like Syrah have a tendency to "reduce" which is the opposite of oxidation and then, we will also aerate this fermented juice while doing this "remontage".

What is also important is the follow the density curb which show the diminution of sugar since it is transformed into alcohol and make sure there is no stop which could mean that the bacteries have a probel working. Also, it is important to make sure the temperature initiated by the natural fermenation remains below 28°C (82°F).

While doing this, I see our wines evolve to change flavor everyday and I have no words to tell you the joy it provides me. At this time, we have 7 tanks and they have all their identity. Tasting them everyday give me the idea of the best blending we could do and at this time I am thinking about a fruity-smooth-fresh "Cuvée" made from Carignan-Syrah-Grenache and a more structured one mainly based on Grenache with a small amount of Mourvèdre and which would age partially in used barrels.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS :
- I am still very behind on answering emails so please forgive me but I do have my hands full.
- Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragements, please be sure that they are always very much appreciated.

Harvest is over !

Dear wine lovers,

Here is the link to see the photo album of the first Rouge-Bleu harvest :

http://a-la-recherche-du-vin.typepad.com/photos/harvest_2007/

...and a few videos :

Téléchargement SansTitre_0006.wmv
Téléchargement SansTitre_0007.wmv
Téléchargement SansTitre_0012.wmv
Téléchargement SansTitre_0013.wmv
Téléchargement SansTitre_0011.wmv

We had the best weather conditions I could have ever hoped.

Our grapes are now fermenting and the few tanks that have already finished their alcoholic fermentation are very promising.

Now the cellar work starts with the best ingredients we can get.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : I way very behind on answering emails. Please allow me some time.

Vendanges !

A few harvest white grapes...an a ladybug (that we did not put on the tank !)

Update Sepetmber 15th

Found the right cable...

Go see album pictures at

http://a-la-recherche-du-vin.typepad.com/photos/harvest_2007/

-----

Dear wines lovers,

I can't find the right cord the retrieve the harvest pictures (this picture above was taken with my mobile phone)...so here are a few videos as I do have the right cord for that :

Téléchargement SansTitre_0006.wmv

Téléchargement SansTitre_0007.wmv

When I find it (hopefuly soon), I will do a photo album with a new post.

Mistral and sun always give the best grapes and that's just what we have now ! We are very lucky and our grapes are now fermenting.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : I will not be able to answer emails before 2 weeks from now, I hope you understand that our grapes come first.

Back to the drawing board

Dear wine lovers,

I had not scheduled another post before the harvest but after all the comments and emails received on the label's poll, I could not help telling you THANK YOU so much for all the gold mine feedbacks I got.

You have really permitted me to make up my mind which was not 100% sure about the first label (The one on the left) even if I had my personal reasons to like it.

I am back to much more traditional ones now and the one above has no more anti-conformist notions but really reflects the way we work. Of course it is not the final one but, at this point, that's the one I would submit if we were on September 30th.

Please continue to comment and offer labels : width size at 7 cm (2.8 inches) and 10 cm (4 inches) for the height.
Please send your wine art labels before September 30th to jean-marc@rouge-bleu.com (JPEG format at 200-300 dpi).
We should produce no more than 3,000 cases per vintage and our target markets are high end retail stores and fine restaurants.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

PS : J-5 for the big day of starting harvesting and weather forecasts are just perfect...

Wine label submissions

Haven't voted yet? Click here to choose which bottle you prefer.

PS : Note: the first label was made by a graphic artist; the second and third were pasted together with my own means after brainstorming session

Dear wine lovers,

Ready to help us design our label ?

In reference to the opinion poll listed at French-Word-A-Day and while designing the wine label, please keep in mind this information :

Besides personal reasons, we have chosen the name Rouge-Bleu for the following points :
- The colors (red and blue) are typical of Provence (red earth, blue sky, Mediterranean sea...)
- The red is the color of our wine, the blue, the color of our grapes

Have a look at the different posts on this blog to infuse your creativity with our wine phylosophy : Working organically and with a biodynamic influence.
The terroir (combination of soil, climate and local tradition), the rouge-bleu colors, and a modern design should be the "ingredients" of this label.

The label should be rectangular : the width size at 7 cm (2.8 inches) and 10 cm (4 inches) for the height.

Please send your wine art labels before September 30th to jean-marc@rouge-bleu.com (JPEG format at 200-300 dpi). All labels will be viewable online so that readers may vote on them in the October poll.

Please post any questions in the comment box or by email and I will respond.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Vendanges vertes

"Green" Mourvedre grapes harvested (note the bird nest also found in the vines)

Dear wine lovers,

In 3-4 weeks and depending on what mother nature decides on weather conditions, we should start the harvest.

Before that, I trained my clippers and all other harvest materials by doing some green harvest on the Mourvèdre, a grape variety which needs very low yields if we want to bring it to maturity. Seeing those grapes on the ground (and also to avoid that our Dog Braise eats them and gets sick), I had the (silly) idea to try to vinify them, just for fun but before anything to launch the very first fermentation in our "new" cellar (built in a 400 years farm) and then install some natural ways to start the fermentation of our coming matured grapes.

Of course, with a potential of 4% alcohol, it has taken some time and some extra sugar but after a week, the must started bubbling and the very first 2007 rosé was fermentating.

This rosé is now done with about 10% alcohol and a huge acidity. And even if it looks nice, I will certainly not put it on the market !

Next edition will happen after we start the real harvest, which should happen in 3-4 weeks. All your positive thoughts for mild weather conditions will be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Véraison

Grape berries turning color : Véraison

Dear wine lovers,

With about 10 days advance, some of our grapes have started to turn color. This has started last week with Syrah which are now quite advanced compared to Carignan which have just started. Grenache and Mourvèdre should also do their "Véraison" soon.

This important step permit to evaluate an approximate harvest date which is usually 40 days after Véraison. Also, at this point, the berries start to increase their sugar level while decreasing their acidity and are now much more resistant to all vine disease, which means less treatments and, at last, some rest for farmers.

This is the period where all villages around do their "Fête du Vin". The most famous is "la fête de la Véraison" in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The last years, I was attending it without really realizing why farmers have such a relaxed look on their face. Now, I know...

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Manual works

Your servitor "sulfating" manually

Dear wine lovers,

Before our grapes turn from green to red, we still need to take care of them since they are still very vulnerable. At this time period and also because we want to work organically, we have to work manually.

Our Carignan grapes are very week towards Oidium. Using our tractor that pulls the sulfateuse would damage some vine shoots and would not permit to spray straight on the grapes. Since the surface we have is small, I decided to use the traditional manual sulfateuse last week which allowed me to be much more precise while spraying the grapes.

Due to all the rain we had, our baby vines have been completely surrounded with "weeds". Leaving them would damage our vines because those herbs would drink all the water in the soil. But since we don't use chemical weed killers and since our décavailloneuse can't recognize a baby vine and would kill them, we have to remove those herbs by hand. Look at my son Maxime on this video which, for some reason is upside down but this way it seems easer to do it, to see how we worked this out.

Doing this job, we found a lot of lady bugs which keep on giving us faith in our hard manual tasks.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

The longest week

A rewarding sunset at the end of our longest week

Dear wine lovers,

Last week was when days were the longest of the year and boy, we did need that extra time to work !

It started on Sunday where, after another 80 mm of rain during the week, I HAD to go and put copper and sulfur in the vines. You can see evidence of this by looking at the right sleeve of my tee shirt. Working organically is great for the vines but when the weather is that humid, they are not protected more than a week from our dear Mildiou and Oidium fungus. During that long day, my "sulfateuse" lost power and it took me 3 hours to fix it in order to finish by sunset.

Then I returned to Les Arcs-sur-Argens to help organize the big move. During
that time, another move took place (!) when 13 concrete tanks and an old press machine who belonged to my cousin made it to our cellar here in Sainte Cécile. Thanks to my brother, Jacques, who welcomed them, I have some pictures to show you.

When we moved on Thursday, I discovered, with the biggest joy, that we have
almost everything we need to harvest in September !

The remodeling of our 300 year old farmhouse continues as well. Our friend Michel removed and, by recuperating old tiles, created a brand new Provençal roof on half of the total roof surface. Plumbers and electricians are also working hard to make good use of these long days.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Emotions of a newbie vine farmer

Damages of hail on a future grape...

Dear wine lovers,

What a week !

After all the rain that we already got, we had another two big storms last week and the last one included hail ! I was working in the vines at the time and just had time to take shelter inside my car to watch the ice bullets fall from the sky. Of course, this will have no consequence on the quality of our wine since the berries are still green and it actually will cut the yield and increase the quality but when you see this hail fall, loudly hammering the car, the sensations are just indiscrible. This time, we were actually very lucky since hail also touched surunding araes provoqiing 30% damages, which compared to the 3% we had, is nothing.

While that hail was hiting so hard, I was thinking about all the work already done and all the posible damages. I prayed...and the hail stopped.

Well, after these two storms, it was necesary to go fight the mildiou fungus but the problem was that there is no way yoy can go inside the vines when they are so wet. Once again, the "newbie" vine grower that I am can't explain the feelings and frustrations but what I can tell you is that it does hurt to consider the extra potentail damages of this fungus. Hopefuly, I has sprayed copper the week before and most of all, our ground is very rocky which is a great block to prevent this bad desease since the draining is quick and which also permits to reduce the time before you can venture back to the back once muddy ground  and use the heavy tractor. And, finally, I have been able to spray copper earliest in order to prevent posible contamination, even if I almost flipped over with my tractor.

Today, after this memorable week, I felt much better. Even if I am a newbie vine grower, I have already experienced those feelings and will hopefully consider the next events with more wisdom.

In France, we call the ladybug "la Bête à Bon Dieu" referring to her "sagesse". Keeping on seeing them everyday all around me, especially in those difficult times, always makes me feel grateful to have the chance to live my dream.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Coulure

Grenache stem without fruits...That's "coulure"

Compare it with Grenache stem with fruits.

Dear wine lovers,

I remember last winter when I was pruning the vines with the help of Jérome that he mentioned the issues of Coulure, especially for the Grenache. At that time, this was an information among all the ones I was trying to digest.

Well, now that all the issues in the vines happen, I do understand what it means. That's the abortion of the flower which won't give fruits...Grenache, and especially old ones have this tendency, especially when the weather is unsettled like it is now and believe me, it broke my heart when I saw the damages. All was going too smooth so far and even the big rains we had 5weeks ago were great. But now, we alternate storms and strong mistral which also break the new vine shoots. Then, cold temperature with Mistral permits the oidium to develop and humidity brings mildiou, two fungus that can also reduce the future crop.

Last week, trying to prevent oidium issues with Carignan (they are very sensitive), I even poured some sulfites by hand, received some in my face which this made my eyes "couler" (cry)...especially when a big storm washed everything at night since I spent the day for nothing...

For my first year, I would have preferred easiest weather conditions. On the other hand, this "coulure" and this broken vines shoots will surely concentrate the resting grape. And since we should not have drought issues, we might be able to produce a great vintage...if the weather conditions come back to a more regular level.

At last, these rains will permit the seeds I planted 2 weeks ago to germinate. Watch this "artisan" seed planter in action !

For now and ever, I will certainly be watching the sky more often and while doing this, pray for nice weather.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Epamprer

Carignan vine "épamprée"

Dear wine lovers,

May is when the vines grow at their fastest and some grape varieties, like Carignan, need to be "épamprée".

In effect, even if the pruning was very short, 3 or 4 new vines shoots per "porteur" (where the new vine shoots start from) are usual with this variety. In order leave air circulate inside the vines and around the grapes and in order to give to the leftover vine shoots more energy, it is necessary to eliminate some vines shoots. At this time, the amount of future grapes is just on potential but since any weather event could happen before the harvest. It is then important to both eliminate some vines shoots called "gourmands" since they don't hold grapes and then make sure to leave enough grapes in case some bad events damage them naturally.

Besides this "épamprage", I also planted some "phacélie" and some "seigle" in order to prepare a parcel to be planted with baby vines this fall. These plants both have tow great assets. : They naturally disinfect the underground from old roots and can be "paturées" by sheeps this fall who will also amend the soil whil eating.

At last, our future cellar is almost done. My brother Jacques who is an expert with plaster boards is giving his best, contributing also to the success of our venture.

I keep on seeing lot's of ladybugs in the vines which always please me. Today, strong Mistral is back in the Rhône...It might make damages in the vines. More info about it at next edition...

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

désherber

Our "décavailloneuse"

Dear wine lovers,

I am often "amused" when I hear some vine owners say : My vines are "clean". For them, it means than there are no "bad herbs" and the reason they think this way is because they have been "brainclean" by "Mr Roundup".

Of course, those "bad herbs" might eventually take some water from the vines which will make them suffer more but this is for the best of the grapes and eventually those bad herbs will disintegrate, contribute to the microbial soil life and give natural food to the vines.

In order to regulate those herbs, I have chosen to use a traditional "décavailloneuse" used by ancients before "Mr Roundup" decided that a dead soil would be better to the vines. The result is great even if the use is not that easy to use + takes a lot of time since you don't want to damage the vines with the tools. But this is for he best and I am sure our dear vines will appreciate the effort.

Our vines keep growing fast. Some of them are about to flower and the bees we now have might welcome should be able to find abundant food to feed the Queen, themselves and, why not, give us a small amount of honey. The future grapes start to take shape and I continue to see ladybugs which always pleases me so much.

At last, our cellar is almost ready to welcome the tanks. When they are, I will almost feel like this queen in its bee house !

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Ebourgeonner

Unwanted vine shoot which will be "ébourgeonnée"

Dear wine lovers,

Last week, we had the joy to have "beau temps" (nice weather) which actually now means that it rained the whole week !

110 mm in 5 days, about what we got since the beginning of the year, this is just gold. And the rain came at the right time, when the vines growi about 110 mm a day and just when I needed to worry about watering our new baby vines just planted a few weeks ago.

The new issue now is to know if we are going to come back soon to hot weather which means a lot of humidity in the vines and development of fungus such as Mildiou. But since the mistral is now blowing, it dries the soil, preventing naturaly this bad disease, which will make us the economy of a copper treatment. And this same mistral is even helping with ébourgeonnage since it breaks those unwanted bad vine shoots. See how Mother Nature does a great job...

And in order to prevent the wind to break too much weak vine shoots (especially for Syrah) we have to put down the wires that are surrounding them like my son Maxime does here.

Before that blessed rain, time had been dedicated to "ébourgeonage", which means to take off the new green vine shoots that are not wanted. In effect, the vine would dedicate a part of its energy to produce an unfertile vine shoot instead of putting its power in the future grapes.

In the meantime, our future cellar is taking shape and the new soil which will welcome our tanks is almost done.

At last, Rouge-Bleu is proud the welcome its very first bee house. If all goes well, it will host a queen tomorow.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Sulfater

My "Sulfateuse"

April 22nd

Dear wine lovers,

This week has been dedicated to vine treatment in order to fight its worst enemy : Oïdium. Since I am working organicly, it is very important to prevent and doing so, it is possible to use products that both respect vines and environment.
The ones I used are sulfites and "prêle" that I have infused and they have been sprayed thanks to this my "sulfateuse".

Also, this week, my son Maxime and I have also planted another 70 leftother vines and I decided to insert inside an existing parcel where vines are planted every 2 meters. As we will harvest low yields , I thought this would permit us to plant more vines in the same parcel. Of course, this baby vines will struggle to find water but after alln thuis is how they will use their genes go as deep as possible.

We are still counting the buterflys in order, once again to treat the issue at its root using soft methods. At this point, it seems that the firts generation (there will be 3) is not that big this year, which means that the second and third could not make too much damages

At last, I want to share with you the beauty of nature : Here is what I hear in the morning when I wake up and here is what I see from my terrace...

More to come next week.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

2,000 more babies in the family

April 13th

This week, Rouge-Bleu is proud to announce you the birth of 2,000 baby Grenache vines. They have been planted in the best conditions : The soil has been prepared 3 years ago and has been able to rest. It has received a special biodynamic preparation which will help the roots to go down as quick as possible in order to find water and then be autonomous. Right away their plantation, they have each received 4 liters of water thanks to Jean-Marie's big tractor which can hold to cans of 800 Liters each. Moreover, mother Nature has helped giving us 2 days of rain which will also benefit to all their old brothers and sisters.

Have a look at this video (1,3 Mo) to see Jean-Marie plant a vine !

Also, this week, I have been measuring the arriving of small buterflys (Eudémis and Cochylis) which will soon give bith to future grape enemies. Depending on how much we count and the daily progression, we will have to be careful and use some bio preparation to limit them.

Our vines keep on growing fast now. Some varieties now reach their 4th leaf and will need to recieve their first prêle tea to fight "Oïdium" mushroom next week, on "périgée" day (special day where Moon is the closest to Earth)

At last, the remodeling of the cellar and the farm keep on quick. Can't wait for the tanks to arrive...

"A la semaine prochaine" then for updates on Rouge-Bleu vineyard.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu

Before April 2007

March 29th
As you may know, 5 month after our November 2nd commitment, we have finally signed along with 24 "investor friends" the final deal on March 19th to buy 20 acres of vines and a Provencal farm in order to create a bio winery near Cairanne, on the great "terroir" surrounded by Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Dentelles de Montmirail and Mont-Ventoux.

Since we we are now owners, we have started right away the remodeling of the farm, dividing it into a winery and a private part. The first thing we did is to create the cellar entry door.
Regarding the works on the vine, pruning is at last over, I have also crushed the vine shoots thanks to my pre-historical crushing machine and I have put on the soil the first bio-dynamie preparation made from cow dung ! In fact, whereas most of the local "vignerons" around me use their tractors to kill the soil with pesticides, this preparation is going to reinforce its microbial life... Do you think that a vine prefer to develop its root system : a living ground or a dead one ?
At last, today, I dug the soil in order to put it in contact with air also to permit the hopefully future rains to be better drained as deep as possible. During that day, I almost laid the tractor on its left side...

March 13th
Found some lots of ladybugs while pruning in the vines...which means that they have been treated with respect and that live is there !

March 14th
Vines are blooming...too early. Hope we won't get frost in a few weeks !


March 5th
Our business plan has been approved by two banks and we are now sure to close the deal which is scheduled March 19th. So I won't cry even if the vines do, but this is actually normal. We say that "la vigne pleure" when vegetation re-starts at spring time. This year, it is quite early given the warm temperatures we have had this winter.
Last week, I also had my first tractor drive lesson...

February 18th
Not much new this week...pruning is still the master word. I did receive our first biodynamie preparation that we will pour on the soil once we finish pruning, which should hopefully happen before the end of February.

February 12th
Because of a few rain drops, we have not been able to prepare one of the two parcels for its plantation and have decided to postpone this to the end of 2007. For this, we will plant some vegetation in order to regenerate the ground and let it graze this fall with sheep which will then produce some great natural dung.
Under and after the rain, we have continued pruning with the help of Laurent (video - 1 MO), a friend who tried the traditional pruning way with shears, and the more efficient one of Jérome (video - 2 MO) who speeds much more…

February 5th
Under a cold and very windy weather but with hopefully the sun, I continue pruning (video 2 MO).
This week, we will prepare a vine parcel for a future plantation by taking out of the soil of the dead roots of the former vines.

January 29th
Crazy weather...After almost summer last week, winter is back at its worse visage here : Cold and windy. We have pruned but with much less fun. In the meantime, we have started to receive our first materials and especially this antic vine shoot crusher.

January 22th
Last week, I have continued to prune our vines and we finished the 2,5 Ha of old Grenache parcel. I also had the pleasure to be proposed to maintain another 2,5 Ha of the same parcel which had been divided in two a few years ago. These 51 years old Grenache will definitely form the base of the future vine which insures even more its quality.
This week will be exciting since we are buying the tanks. As a commercial guy I have always sold and buying can be fun sometimes...More on this next week.

January 14th
I continue to prune our vines with the help of Jérome who owns vines in Cairanne. Since I have the chance to get lots of information from an experienced vine grower, I try then to think about the future "bio" fights against summer diseases (Oidium and "Vers de la Grappe"). Any ideas ?
This week was very warm for a winter day (I was in tee shirt the afternoon) and hopefully this won't continue because vines need to rest at this, time period and certainly not bloom. My days were sometimes distracted by the shows of the "Patrouille de France" (1 MB vidéo) which was practicing with their jets just above our vines !
In the meantime, I still consult to buy the concrete tanks in order to get the best deal, having in mind that we have space limits. And we have bought from the previous owner the tractor and all the material to work the vines.

January 4th
We are continuing pruning our vines with some cold beautiful weather where Mistral brings incredible colors at sunset.

About Jean-Marc

I fell in love with wine when my uncle decided to buy three vine parcels in Chateauneuf-du-Pape to re-create the family vineyard, Domaine du Banneret, which originally dates back from many centuries.

As a CPA, I initially made the financial plans for the bank loans and participated to harvests. It was during this joyful epoch that I met with my future American wife, Kristin.

I then started then to offer our wines to US importers and embraced the wine world.

Now, besides Domaine du Banneret where I am also involved in the wine making, I distribute a portfolio of french "soulful" wines in the US and do wine education oriented on "terroir".

In my dreams, I have often imagined that running a small vineyard all by myself (from caring at the vines to the distribution aspects) would actually be a realistic and profitable project, apart from being a dream. And whereas I was not expecting this to happen, I was offered in November 2006 20 acres of very old vines in a great potential area. And thanks to the confidence of friends who invested with us in this venture, Rouge-Bleu was born...

Besides wine, I am also in love with my family. It is composed by my wife Kristin who is the wonderful writer who created the very famous site French Word A Day and who pushed me to write, my son Maxime who is a fan of Zinedine Zidane and Tony Parker and my adorable daughter Jackie who can outswim us all.

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse