More than 1500 hours of work in the vineyards during the growing season allowed us to wait with serenity for the grapes to reach full ripeness. Serge joined us and brought the experience and instinct of a person born in this environment. A tractor was finally purchased, faster than planned, right on time to prepare the soil for our planting (1 hectare / 2.47 acres of syrah and half a hectare of Mourvèdre in Massale selection). We waved goodbye to our cultivator and Solo wheelbarrow. In fact, no one will miss them as they were hard to use. The motorized back-pack sprayers were, most likely, not going to disappear as they are necessary for vineyards located on steep slopes.
With now four full-time employees plus a few seasonal workers, for 10 hectares (24.71 acres) under production, we became part of the standard ratio for a property working towards quality. We were finally able to rent a small cellar in the village for our barrels and acquired our second peristaltic pump: too bad, we just had to keep the old Saxo… We kept taking more and more risk. Still, one thought kept us motivated: produce magical wines…