I recently discovered the US sitcom "Cougar Town" on French Television. The relatively recent introduction of Digital television in France has brought us access to US and British shows in their ...
Thierry a mis en place une politique de remplacement de nos plus vieilles vignes sur 10 ans, donc tous les ans nous arrachons une parcelle pour la replanter au printemps Thierry has implemented a ...
Working with nature has its ups and downs, and we don't all react to weather patterns in the same way. While city dwellers were crowding the outside cafés terraces and enjoying the sunshine during ...
Nothing to do with champagne, but since today happens to be my birthday, I thought I'd mention that in France February 2nd is the day they celebrate "Chandeleur" a very old Christian feast day, ...
Did you know that Saint Vincent is the patron saint of wine growers? Traditionally in many French wine growing regions a mass is celebrated followed by a "Vin d'honneur"( reception) afterwards, ...
Good luck to our friends Hind and Jerome who are launching their cool new product - colored ice cubes ! - this week at the Monaco International Clubbing Show (if you look REAL close, you can see ...
LIving nextdoor to the winery as we do does have it's benefits - no time wasted on commuting to and from work, for example, but it has disadvantages too. For instance, it's hard to stay away from ...
Ca y est, les vendanges sont terminées. Hier nous avons pressé le dernier marc pour 2011. Bien sûr, ce n'est pas vraiment la fin - Pour la vinification, ce n'est qu'un début - il reste encore à ...
Nous voilà à mi-vendanges et heureusement, plus de mésaventures. Le pressoir a été réparé rapidement et surtout il fait un temps parfait pour vendanger - ni trop chaud, ni froid et pas de pluie - ...
It's beginning to feel like we're jinxed ! After another day of rainstorms yesterday, where we once again had to resort to our "chenillard" to get the grapes out of the vineyards, today the wine ...
Had a few minutes of free time today and was able to read some of the blog postings written by fellow champagne makers in the Marne, (brought to us curtesy of Alastyn), and was struck to see that ...
Après la canicule, le déluge ! Cela a commencé dans la nuit, avec un orage à tout cassé vers 4 heures, nous réveillant avec une ENORME éclat de tonnerre et la foudre qui a bien sûr fait sauter le ...
Just a quick update - harvest has started as of today, under a beating sun and temps in the 90s. The three week advance we had due to the unusually warm spring have led us as predicted to one of ...
Cette semaine c'était le tirage, ou mise en bouteille des vins 2010. A un mois et demi de la prochaine vendange, il était temps qu'on vide les cuves pour faire de la place à la nouvelle récolte ! ...
It's quite interesting to follow what's happening across the channel - it looks like the fledgling English wine industry is following in Champagne's footsteps in trying to establish some sort of ...
Devinez ce que c'est ! - Can you guess what this is ? Grean peas? Des petits pois? Wrong ! C'est faux ! I picked a few grapes which are now in what is called the "pea size" stage and had a little ...
Petite mise à jour : Je ne vous apprends rien en vous disant qu'ici dans l'Aube, comme dans la plupart des régions viticoles de France, la vigne est en avance. Les premiers bourgeons sont sortis ...
Maintenant que la période des gelées est derrière nous, il ne reste plus qu'à traverser la période des orages d'été avec ses éventuels risques de grêle.......entretemps, voici quelques photos ...
Just read two very interesting news releases - the first, dated May 5th, mentions that the British Royal family have decided to jump into the UK sparkling wine production band wagon and will be ...
Thierry and I had the honor last Saturday of attending our very first chapter event of the elegant Academy of the Coteaux de Champagne, which was held at the town hall in Troyes. The mission ...
Something's not right with this picture- we've had 3 whole weeks of sunshine and the past few days have felt more like summer than spring - feels like we're living in the South of France! But this ...
This weekend we'll be commemorating the 1911 uprising of the winegrowers in the Aube region. It's really an integral part of understanding the history of Champagne and especially its growth and ...
After a bit of "Blog hibernation", and now that the sun's been shining for two straight weeks (well, a little overcast today, but the temps are still mild), I think we can officially say that ...
Malgré tous les encouragements de notre syndicat j'ai bien entendu attendu LE DERNIER MOMENT pour me lancer dans la "procédure" concernant le fameux "DAE" (document d'accompagnement électronique ...
Back in the office after a few days break at home, and I already have a long list of things to do which I don't really feel like doing, mainly involving administrative tasks I must complete for ...
Aujourd'hui, seulement 3 jours depuis le début de 2011, les journaux ne parlent que du sondage BVA sur le pessimisme des Français (ou plutôt leur manque d'optimisme?) Mais qui ont-ils sondé? ...
"Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" Must say I felt pretty heroic last Saturday when I drove into Paris ...
A few pictures taken this weekend on the road to Essoyes Quelques photos prises ce weekend sur la route d'Essoyes Quelques restes de raisins....."les bouvreux" A few grapes still left on the vine, ...
Just had our first snowfall here in Gyé, a bit early for the season, but the white snow covering is certainly better than the drab and dreary November we usually have! It doesn't really matter too ...
Seeing as we're on a military theme here, I thought I'd mention that yesterday was a legal holiday in France, in honor of the signing of the Armistice in 1918. Even in our tiny village of 500 ...
Today marks the 40th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle's death, and there was a commemoration ceremony at his family home in Colombé les Deux Eglises, just a short drive from our village. You can ...
Now that the harvest is over I have a bit of time to "surf" the internet. This is a link to a recent British study which has just been published showing that moderate drinking (one or two glasses ...
Ca y est, les vendanges ont commencé ! Déjà 4 jours de fait - presque la moitié- sous un soleil magnifique! Les raisins sont beaux (quelques foyers de botrytis ici et là, pas trop méchants) et ...
Le début des vendanges arrive à grands pas, mais chez nous la date exacte n'est toujours pas décidée.. Les premiers prélèvements pour mesurer la maturité ont été effectués, et les degrés son bons. ...
Hier j'ai eu un petit visiteur qui s'est caché dans un des trous d'un pupitre au bureau : Yesterday I found this little critter crawling out of one of the holes of a riddling rack we have in the ...
C'est la semaine de la rentrée, et comme tous les ans, c'est aussi la semaine de la sortie du Guide Hachette! Nous avons bien reçu le courrier nous annonçant qu'une ou plusieurs des cuvées que ...
Just took a quick tour of the vineyards with Thierry, and learned a new word : "Millerandage" - that's what happens when the flowering is compromised by cool temperatures, creating uneven maturing ...
Ca y est, le tirage est terminé ! Le vin des vendanges 2009, plus du vin de réserve, est enfin mis en bouteilles. Il va falloir attendre encore 15 mois au minimum (voir plus pour la plupart de nos ...
This is the story of how Thierry and I met..... WITHOUT the help of Google.... C'est l'histoire d'une rencontre entre un Vigneron Champenois et une Américaine....AVANT l'ère d'internet !
We recently participated in a professional tasting sponsored by our trade organization, in Dusseldorf.We met lots of interesting (and interested) people from the German wine business, and made ...
Originaire de Chicago, je vis et travaille avec mon mari Thierry dans notre domaine en Champagne
_Originally from Chicago, I now live in Champagne and work with my husband Thierry in our vineyards and cellar.