Normally we start pruning our vines when the leaves have all fallen towards the end of year, the work them carries on at a leisurely pace until they are all pruned. The snow also delayed this and when the vines started coming into bud we realised to get the work done we would need help. Luckily this arrived in the form of a Bulgarian called Dimitar. We have been so lucky to find him as without him helping and advising us with the vineyards we would have struggled this year.

April arrived along with the first guests of 2009 at Wisteria Cottage, the weather improved immediately and our vineyards and fruit trees bloomed producing very vigorous and sturdy growths. Apparently the vines benefit from a good prolonged freeze every now and then as it kills all the diseases.

The builders returned to repair the roof and all the tiles damaged by the snow; we also had special metal hooks put in to stop the snow and tiles sliding off the roof. The builders have continued to do different jobs throughout this year, culminating with loft insulation at the end of autumn, and have almost become part of the family.

In May my mother became unwell and was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia, it was such a shock as despite her age she has been very healthy and active. So she started chemotherapy and my sister and I visited as often as possible to help support my father. Bob and I became like ships passing in the night sometimes I would fly into Bristol airport one day and he would fly out the next, this continued until October when she was a lot better. So despite becoming very seriously ill during treatment she has fought this dreadful disease and at the moment she seems to be in remission, so we are hopeful that her resilience continues.

Life here passed into summer holidays, the grapes ripened and we organised to sell them to Campari, again there was no time to learn how to drive the tractor so we relinquished this to Dimitar. Ed and Ollie began their long summer vacations spending time, with the friends they have now made, at the pool, playing tennis or football at the local sports areas or at one of the many evening social events that are held in the towns and villages in our area of Piedmont.

We had a succession of really nice guests to stay at the cottage including those from as far away as Australia and Canada. We hope that next year even more people come and stay as word spreads.

August and early September the grapes were harvested, unfortunately I was in the UK when the chardonnay and moscato was harvested, so Bob was in charge and apparently learnt some Bulgarian as Dimitar brought in some of his friends to help out. The harvest came to 13.5 tonnes, which is a lot of grapes whichever way you look at it. Most have been sold to Campari but we decided to keep the Dolcetto and an equal amount of Barbera (red grapes) as our neighbour had kindly offered to make some wine for us; as a 50/50 blend we have been told that it will be classified as a Monferrato Rosso. This is now fermenting and we are due to sample the wine for the first time before Christmas, which we are looking forward to. Next year we hope to have about 300 bottles of red wine to drink and share, which is quite exciting. If all works well we will try and make some chardonnay following the 2010 harvest.

It was an interesting experience taking the grapes to the winery, first the tractor and trailer complete with harvested grapes is weighed, the grapes are then sampled for their sugar content and provided it is above a specific number they will accept your grapes. Otherwise you have to take them away – and as they neither keep nor get any sweeter once harvested, this would be a disastro!

The grapes are tipped into a huge stainless steel container which has a corkscrew like blade at the bottom which breaks them down and then the juice, skin, pips and pulp pass along a tube and into large vats. Then once empty the tractor and trailer are weighed again and then you discover how much your grapes weighed. You also then get some idea of how profitable your yield is. Later, the winery disposes of the solid leftovers to local distilleries where it is used as the basis for making very nice grappa – a powerful Italian spirit which keeps the cold out and, reputedly, also keeps colds and flu away. There are two excellent distilleries nearby and we have sampled quite a lot of their products.

Campari pay for the grapes in two instalments, the first of which we have just received. In the UK this would be done by cheque or bank transfer but in Italy you are invited along to a winery and given the money in person. This was accompanied by a gift box of six various bottles of Cinzano (who are owned by Campari) which was rather nice and will be enjoyed over Christmas.

Our two prospective new vineyards were deep dug last year, and then lay fallow, on advice, throughout this Spring and Summer, when the ground sported an interesting range of wild flowers which attracted many butterflies. Then in October we rotavated the ground ready to plant the new vines (about 1,500 of them), which will take place in February or March 2010.

We have already ordered 500 replacement vines for some that had died throughout the vineyards. After the previous owner stopped making wine 9 years ago he stopped replacing them, so we have some catching up to do. A neighbour has taken up one of his vineyards as he wants to ‘retire’ and he has kindly donated his wooden posts to us, which will save us having to buy some. Despite the fact that he is ‘retiring’ he still has more vineyards than us. Another neighbour was selling the rights to his Moscato vines so we have just purchased these, which will allow us to plant the Moscato bianco vine which produces a sweet sparkling wine called Moscato d’Asti DOCG, and is also the grape used to make what was once called Asti Spumante but is now known simply as Asti.

As for the family Ollie has grown tall and skinny and is now the tallest of the boys despite being the youngest. According to our plumber he is slowly picking up the local dialect and speaking a small amount of Piedmontese, which is still quite widely spoken in rural communities. Ollie has adapted quite well to this whole move and seems to know everyone. He managed to get in some skiing with the school this year and is hopeful they do a longer trip next year, due to his height that will mean a new skiing outfit (so for sale one hardly used outfit!) He was also lucky enough to visit the town of Urbino in Le Marche which is the birthplace of Renaissance art and architecture. Ed decided that he did not want to return to school, so we searched for a way to allow him to study at home and have discovered International GCSE’s, so next year we will find out if we should have kept him in the Italian system or not. Luckily he still has some social life so still keeps up his Italian.

Despite it being our first year with cottage guests, our first year wholly in charge of our own vineyards and also my having to spend time in the UK we have found some time for relaxation. We always make a point of visiting the local pageants, and this also year travelled a bit further afield to check out some more, including a spectacular one in Susa with archery, jousting and tug of war with the townspeople all turned out in period costume in the colours of the six different borgo, literally boroughs, that make up the town.

Together with our Guernsey friends (who we have to thank for painting all the shutters at the cottage) we visited the tulip gardens at Pralermo Castle in April. In early January we went to see the Hot Air Balloons again at Mondovi – about 30 of them in total. In March we followed the Milan – San Remo Classic car rally again. We managed to slip in one last visit to the coast and had a delightfully hot day on a near empty beach on the Riviera in late September. Amongst other highlights, our eldest son Robert and his wife Rachel came to stay for a week at the end of October.

We have also made a point of getting to know Turin better, a city whose beauty always surprises our guests. This spring the Turin shroud is being revealed to the public and bookings for visits can be made on line. This does not happen very often so if you would like more information, click on this link here.

Now the newsletter is done it is time to get the Christmas decorations out. Bob has plenty of wood laid in for the fires, and the other thing we plan to do before the end of this year is visit the Turin (and/or Genoa) Christmas markets. So, now that I have brought everything up to date, all that remains is for me to wish you all a very Merry Christmas from all of us here in Piedmont, and, of course, a prosperous New Year.

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