Hello everyone, we’re back and I’m attempting to write more blogs again this year. When I sat, scratching my head as to where to start I thought why not kick off this year by sharing my recent experience in Costa Rica? WHAT A COUNTRY! I was lucky enough at the beginning of February to fulfil one of my bucket-list destinations for 2 weeks. 2 weeks that couldn’t have come soon enough after a mammoth slog to finish the pruning for this year, which I might add is the earliest we have ever had this done so that’s testament to the hard work and help I’ve had this year in the vineyard. The team have done an amazing job and now we wait in eager anticipation to see the fruits of our labour. I’m always reminded of the very first time we tackled the daunting task of pruning 12 and a half thousand vines, to make matters even more interesting, the only experience I had was half a day of training in the field and several hours of YouTube… I vividly remember glancing up at the “finished” Pinot Noir and thinking… that’s it I’ve just killed the vineyard. So it’s always a very rewarding and perhaps an even more relieving day when you see the new buds opening up and all appears to be well. Of course, that’s when the real challenges start!
Anyway pruning this year was a relative breeze compared to years gone by and we actually finished ahead of schedule… this is almost unheard of in vineyard tasks, in fact, it’s even rarer than a day where there aren’t any train strikes in this country… Picture that! And so February 1st rolled around and I was relaxed, the major job for the beginning of the year was complete and I was excited to explore a country I’ve dreamed of going to for quite some time!
Touching down into San Jose there was an immediate electrifying buzz that you get when you experience a completely new country and culture for the very first time, that was almost as immediately replaced with a bolt of fear as I got behind the wheel of our hire car for the first time, in the middle of the night, driving with the wheel and gears on the other side of the car and the other side of the road… the proceeding 20 minute drive was probably the tensest I’ve ever been behind a wheel as downtown traffic in San Jose was a chaotic assault on the senses. I was extremely grateful to get to the hotel for the night, a quick pit stop before the adventure really began and hit the reset button ready for a full day of travel the next day. After that first drive, I grew to love driving in Costa Rica, beautiful winding roads that follow the landscape, climb mountains, traverse the jungle and flow around lakes, it’s stunning. If you are planning a visit, I do, however, recommend a 4x4 as some of the roads, are, to be frank, not roads at all, but that all added to the charm of the place!
I could write pages and pages of all the incredible experiences we had out there. From White Water rafting, canopy zip lining and geothermal springs and pools to hiking around volcanoes, rainforest safaris and ATV adventures. Not to mention the copious amounts of wildlife we saw, in particular birds, which, had Dom (a serial bird-loving member of our team) witnessed, would have quite possibly been weak at the knees. Eagles, Toucans, Scarlet Macaws, Tiger Herons and countless others I couldn’t name with captivating colours that make you stare in awe. I was particularly fond of the Scarlet Macaws, they’re truly beautiful to watch in flight.
As I was saying I could go on and on about the trip but should probably make it at least somewhat relevant to what we’re doing here and I can…
We were lucky enough to visit a regenerative and organic coffee farm, nestled in the hills of Monteverde, deep in the cloud forest region. I’ve always wanted to see the coffee-making process in action from ground to cup - safe to say some of Jon’s enthusiasm for coffee has rubbed off on me, although I’m definitely not quite as into what he would probably describe as the “nitty, gritty” detail of it all and what others might see as the slightly ‘less’ interesting side of it…
We were treated to a fantastic tour of the farm which included, like almost every experience in Costa Rica, a home-cooked meal of traditional rice, beans and plantain, I’ve never eaten so much plantain, come to think of it, before now, I’d never eaten plantain but now, let me tell you I’m somewhat of a connoisseur… Fried plantain, sticky plantain, spiced plantain, plantain chips, plantain for breakfast, lunch and dinner, you name it I’ve had it. ‘Norman’, our tour guide, which struck me as an unusual name for a Nicaraguan coffee farmer proceeded to show us around the plantations in what was honestly one of the most unhinged encounters I’ve ever had. ‘Norman’ - (perhaps the name fitted the personality) had a look that would stare directly into your soul which was always followed by an unholy cackle after each interesting fact he wished to convey. His favourite of the day was to tell me how much the coffee he’d make would fetch after the green beans I'd consumed had passed through my, what he described as “gigantic” digestive system. “Imagine how much we could get out of you,” he said… (insert maniac laugh here). I’ve since done some digging and turns out, this is actually a thing and considered somewhat of a delicacy. ‘Kopi Luwak’ is the world's most exclusive (and most expensive) coffee. The main factor of its high price is the uncommon method of production. It is produced from coffee beans which have been partially digested by the Indonesian palm civet and then excreted. Yes, it sounds kind of gross, but not to worry! I’ve put a link here for those who wish to read more…
All jokes aside, Norman was great fun and we had a fantastic time learning about the entire process. What resonated the most with me, was actually how similar a lot of the processes they were implementing were to what we’re trying to do here. Diversifying through agroforestry - planting companion plants to go alongside the coffee plants to help fight disease and build the plants natural immunity whilst also offering shade in the hotter months. Using organic teas and sprays to fight fungus (yes coffee plants get diseases just like grape vines). Working with nature, rather than fighting it. It was great to see wildlife roaming the site, Coati (large raccoon-like animals), Agouti (almost like capybaras), Monkeys and of course countless birds. We may not have quite the same breadth of visually attractive animals around but we certainly are encouraging a huge amount of wildlife here.
The tour was, of course, rounded out with a coffee sampling, my favourite being 'Natural process' coffee. In the natural process, coffee cherries are harvested and then set out straight away to dry in the sun skin-on, meaning the beans receive flavor from the fruit pulp and sugars as part of their development. Drying in the sun with the skin-on is very different from what’s known as the “washed” process, where coffee is run through de-pulping machines and washing channels to have the fruit removed and the beans inside cleaned of any fruit and sticky mucilage before being laid out to dry. Sorry Jon if I’ve not explained that well… Anyway it was delicious, sadly Norman didn’t have any excreted coffee laying about to try, maybe next time…
Of course, part of me getting the go-ahead for this trip was some not-so-subtle pleas from Jon to bring back some coffee to taste, I was happy to oblige of course and so if you’d like to come along and taste it yourselves and learn in far more detail than I can convey, the incredible journey of coffee from bean to cup, book onto one of our barista experiences with Jon who will be all to happy “spill the beans” literally… You can book one of the experiences using the link below:
What else can I tell you? Well, the results are in after a very challenging 2024 season which can be adequately summarised with: Started really wet, continued to be pretty wet and ended, yep you guessed it… WET! Anyway, despite the challenges, the year was another great learning curve and one that I’m sure will set us in good stead for the future. We ended up with a small but of good-quality harvest and the low temperatures through the growing season resulted in lower ripeness but increased acidity which will be perfect for sparkling. So that’s what we’re doing with the 2024 vintage, exclusively sparkling, which those of you who are fans of our sparkling will be pleased to hear!
And as for the upcoming 2025 season, as ever, I’m really excited! It’s a new challenge, albeit, I’ve got my fingers crossed for a little more sunshine this year. I’m going to be attempting the cover crop experiment Mk II so stay tuned for that, we’re also looking to incorporate even more organic approaches such as the use of Biochar, which I’m very excited about. Biochar is a charcoal-like substance made from organic materials that have been heated in a low-oxygen environment. It's used in soil to improve fertility and sustainability. We’re going to use this in tandem with our continued development of organic herbal teas, rich in nutrients and properties that will hopefully aid in the fight against disease, further reducing our use of fungicides. The horticultural team are planting some fantastic plant species to aid in this so look out for them on your next walk around the vineyard or better yet, take a tour with the team to tell you all about everything we grow here and the purpose and how you can utilise them in your own gardening practices. You can book these here:
The coffee in my cup has just about run out as I’m typing this and so on that note, I’ll end it there. Look forward to seeing as many of you here again as possible as we embark on another exciting season and until next time…
Cheers! Or as they say in Costa Rica, “Pura Vida”.
P.s. If you’re wondering what “Pura Vida” means, translated literally it means pure life or the good life but in Costa Rica it’s used for quite literally everything, if you’re heading out there and learn one bit of Spanish, you can get by with just this one phrase… I’m not kidding!
Comentarios