WWOOFing at Château Brandeau

The second week of our February vacation, we decided to get the real WWOOF experience by staying about a week in the vineyards of Château Brandeau. This is the same winery that we WWOOF'd at before Christmas. We were both really excited to learn a little more about the vines and the work involved.

Our main job this week was to "tirer le bois" (translated "pull the wood") and is essentially ripping the vine prunings out of the trellis wires. We usually did this for about 3 1/2 hours in the morning before it go too hot. This was pretty physical work!

Katie shows off the proper technique (and asks did you buy tickets to the gun show?)

After pulling out the vine cuttings, we placed them in the middle of the rows. Some vineyards burn the vine cuttings, but here at Château Brandeau, they use another method using a tractor with a grinder to grind the cuttings into little mulch pieces.

Some of the animals along the way as we headed out in the morning.


In the afternoon, we were assigned less taxing jobs like weeding the gardin and turning the soil.

Then feeding the weeds to the chickens.

Another job was to feed the horse.

Another afternoon, we helped label some Château Brandeau 2005 for an order that was coming up. Good thing we had some experience with this stuff when we helped our good friends at Château Ross back when we lived in Tennessee. If you live in Tennessee and haven't tried their wines then you are missing out! Check them out! Click here. If you visit them, tell Ross and Deborah that Ben and Katie say "Salut from France!"

Some of the finished products.

Another afternoon job was to "caler la vigne" (translated "to fix/secure the vine") which is done after the pruning and pulling of the cuttings, to check if the vine stalk is still securely attached to the bottom trellis as seen in the video above.

An example of what it looks like when done.

The sun starting to set in the vines.

After a long week of work, our bodies were sore but still had a smile on our faces. We done good kid, we done good. (btw, Katie DOES NOT approve of this picture.)

Finished with work and waiting for dinner, Katie and I sat out on the patio. I decided to grab the guitar and serenade my wife.

"throw your feet up in the air"

uhhh

that's better.

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It was a great vacation and it felt good to do some physical work. We also learned some more about behind the scenes at the vineyard.

Pessac-Léognan Portes Ouvertes and Marché de Noël

This weekend, Katie and I headed to the sub-region Pessac-Léognan Portes Ouvertes (open door) of the Graves AOC wine region. This region is on the edges of the suburbs of Bordeaux. We took a combination of tram, bus and our own two feet to get around. We had a good time visiting the chateaux, tasting and learning about the areas wines, and walking from chateau to chateau. In all, we figured that we walked about 5 km, about 3 miles - great way to burn off some liquid calories.

Man, I am a lucky guy! My beautiful wife striking a pose in front of the first winery, Château Pape Clément.

Now that is a talented groundskeeper.

The Chais of Château Pape Clément where the wine goes through its primary fermentation.

Foie Gras?? So, as I mentioned above, the wineries and vineyards of this region are definitely surrounded by urban areas. This canard or duck was in someone's front yard! How random. Pictured here, hissing at us as we walked by on the sidewalk.

Us :0)

Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion - across the road from the famous Premier Cru Château Haut-Brion.

I had to take a picture of these Christmas decorations because it remined me of back home.

After visiting a few wineries, we headed downtown to walk around the Marché de Noël.

Many of the buildings around Marché de Noël have white lights in all the windows that creates a very beautiful effect - only thing missing is some snow. Here is the L'Intendant which is a famous Bordeaux wine shop with a huge spiral staircase going up three levels. The staircase's walls are lined with famous Bordeaux wine bottles. The higher you go up - the higher the price of the wine.