Old tired and past their best

18.11.07 This is the reason for planting new vines. The vines which we have taken out were close to 100 years old, tired and rotten at the root. Sometimes change is a good thing.

Real progress made today

18.11.07 Another early start, and a serious problem with the rotivator meant that little or no more rotivating could be done. A huge amount of rock was moved and then a neighbour came to the rescue with his beloved tractor! It made light work of the soil and will allow the terroir to get water over the coming weeks. He believes the soil is excellent and will be ready for planting. Thank god!

Rotivating and sorting rocks....

17.11.07 Back on the island from Athens for 3 days. Rotivating started early yesterday and will continue through to tomorrow. I think I under estimated the amount of work that the vineyard needs. There is still a mountain of work to be done until planting the new vines. Each night I am feeling more exhausted than the previous, but the desire to get the vineyard looking perfect is driving me on.

Work Commences on the vineyard

24.10.2007
An early start this morning. Clear weather after a few days of rain and strong winds. The first rains of the winter, which has helped the vineyard. The JCB digger firstly dug out the 100 year old vines and then set about skimming the top soil and weeds. A lot of soil needed to be moved and a lot of manual digging and rock sorting also took place. Hopefully tomorrow this time tomorrow the digger work will be finished and the soil will have been rotivated.

Vitus Vinifera

20.05.2007
En Primeur

Dear Mr. Maitland-Makgill-Crichton
I will like to inform you that your order for 750 Syrah grafted in 1103
P rootstock is allready in our system.
Please inform me 1 week before your delivering time to send you the plants
I beleive that is better to arrange in this period the delivering day.
The cost for each plant is about 1.4 � per plant
Kind Regards
Vitro Hellas Plants. Greece