The Terraces
Forty-one rows,
three exposures.
Old vines on dry-laid schist walls, farmed by hand because no machine accepts the slope.
A year on the hill.
March
The pruningEvery vine is cut back to what it can carry. Ambition is removed by hand.
July
The waitThe schist holds the day's heat into the night. The grapes darken in their own time.
September
The pickingThree weeks, forty pickers, and lunch that lasts longer than it should.
December
The restThe new wine sleeps in old oak. The valley goes quiet and earns it.