SAVING OUR SKINS
Copyright Caro Feely, 2014
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Praise for Saving Our Skins:
'Caro Feely has written a careening memoir in Saving Our Skins. So impassioned that it could inspire you todrop all security, move to the backwaters of France, and bet your life, all for the love of making wine.'
Alice Feiring, author of Naked Wine
'Should be required reading for anyone who loves wine! Even a teetotaller will drink up every page of Saving Our Skins, for the fascinating behind-the-scenes of organic farming. Making good wine is truly a labour of loveand respect for the earth often, we learn, at the expense of the wine farmer. Caro takes us along in her grapestained pocket to experience the picking, the pressing, and the profit questioning: can her family afford tocontinue making natural wine? We quickly turn the pages, eager to find out and we can't help but root forCaro et compagnie as they creatively keep on top of things, namely a precious heap of grapes!'
Kristin Espinasse, author of French Essais, Blossoming in Provence and Words in a French Life
'In Saving Our Skins, Caro's courage and determination leaps off every page, redefining what it means to bebrave when you're at the mercy of the weather, uncertain cashflow and endless, often puzzling, Frenchbureaucracy. Caro has produced a beautifully written sequel which in turn seduced and terrified me about theprospect of owning an organic vineyard in rural France. I thoroughly enjoyed the urgency of her writing Ineeded a rather large glass of wine when I'd finished. Bravo Caro.'
Samantha Brick
'Caro Feely understands that winemaking is an art, a science and a business. Saving Our Skins entertains andinforms as it tells the story of her family's struggle to make a living making organic and biodynamic wine in thesouth of France. Required reading for wine lovers everywhere and anyone dreaming a vineyard dream.'
Mike Veseth, author of Wine Wars and Extreme Wine and editor of The Wine Economist
Praise for Grape Expectations:
'Captivating reading for anyone with dreams of living in rural France.'
Destination France
'I was moved and delighted by this book, which has vast and useful amounts to say about wine and the passionof wine-making, about France and the great adventure of family life, and above all about the trials andchallenges that build a marriage splendid book.'
Martin Walker, bestselling author of the Bruno, Chief of Police series
'Really liked Caro's book; it's not the usual fall in love with France story, it's warts and all including horrificaccidents! Definitely the best and most realistic tome coming from the 'A Year in Provence' genre.'
Joe Duffy, Irish radio personality
'bright, passionate, inspiring, informative and absolutely delicious'
Breadcrumb Reads blog
'Filled with vivid descriptions of delicious wines, great food a story of passion, dedication, and love'
Bookalicious Travel Addict blog
Author's note
This is a true story. However, for privacy, certain characters have fictitious names and sometimes the order of events has been changed a little to suit the pace of the book. All speech is based on memory and aims to capture the gist of what was said at the time and the sense of the character speaking.
About the author
Caro Feely is a wife, mother, daughter, wine educator and tour guide, organic farmer, and speaker on wine and ecology. She lives in Saussignac in the Dordogne on the farm where this book is set.
Dedicated to my family, Sen, Sophia and Ellie, with all my love.
'Now this is a story of nature, of love, of family, of not giving up. A call to arms for the earth, for the vines, theflowers and the trees, for us.'
Contents
Part One
Root
In biodynamics we talk of a root day when the earth forces are powerful. It is a good time for a seed to takeroot, for root-related activities like hoeing around the base of the vine, and for us humans to feel rooted.
Root days occur when the moon is in the earth constellations Capricorn, Taurus and Virgo. It is easy to confusethese astronomic constellations, a reality visible in the sky, with the star signs of astrology that use the samenames. They are different.
We found that the earthy elements in our wines were reinforced on root days; the forest floor, the truffle. It wasa better day to open an aged red wine than a young fruity one.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.
Wendell Berry
Copyright 1983 by Wendell Berry from Standing By Words.
Reprinted by permission of Counterpoint.
Chapter 1
Diamonds of Destruction
The vineyard was dressed in shimmering diamonds; delicate buds perfectly highlighted with bling. From the window the vines looked like emerald clusters trellised on silver cords. It was silent, almost as if it had snowed: even the birds were in shock.
Sen and I walked from the eighteenth-century stone farmhouse to the first vineyard a few metres away, our footsteps crunching ominously. Up close, the buds were like fairies dressed in pink and lime cotton wool, then wrapped with silver spun sugar. My stomach cramped with fear.
We had been in the vineyard business long enough to know that the glitter came at a high price. On a winter's day it was beautiful; on a spring day after 'bud burst' it was devastating, fatal to the young shoots. Friends often spoke of a late spring frost fifteen years before that had destroyed ninety per cent of the region's harvest. My mind scrambled to the implications as I gazed at the scene.
