Winegrowing

Why Handpick wine grapes? Hand harvesting brings a different spirit. Picking is joyful and intense, rather than panicked and noisy. The selection and care of handpicking translates into better [...]

Biodiversity in the vineyard and in the garden In this article, Caro Feely explores biodiversity, why it’s important, how wine growers are encouraging it, and how these actions can be applied in [...]

Trees and hedgerow project in 2023/2024 After much research, a course in biodiversity on the farm, reflection and planning in 2023/24 we planted 85 trees and hundreds of mixed hedgerow plants to [...]

Biodiversity in the Vineyard –Birds at Chateau Feely Twenty nine bird species were sighted at Chateau Feely organic vineyard farm in South West France in one week in June 2024. This impressive [...]

Veraison: when grapes turn from green to red Véraison, is the French term for the change of colour of the grapes that is used by English speaking winegrowers – usually spelt without the accent as [...]

Follow your Dream Caro Feely, co-founder of Chateau Feely, author of 6 books, Accredited WSET Wine educator and RYT500 Yoga Teacher was invited to speak at the Women in Wine Expo in Porto May [...]

Spring in the Vineyard Beautiful Vine Shoots The vines started to bud mid March and leaves formed before the end of March. Around April 16 the growth slowed down with a few frosty mornings. Sean [...]

Fires in Gironde- smoke in Saussignac A few of our subscribers have asked whether the fires in the region are effecting us so this is a quick post with an update. The fires in Gironde (near [...]

Hail damage vines repair and respair On 2 June 2022 we were hit with a devastating hail storm. This update two weeks later is filled with hope. The photos below show before and then two weeks [...]

Hailstorm on 2 June 2022 – damage and photos We are reeling from the after effects of a hail storm a week ago – at around 6am on 2 June 2022 a hammering on the roof like an attack had [...]