A final photo journal of the year, and this time of the vineyard at Bauduc over the past 12 months. The picture above, with several small deer running over frosty ground towards a parcel of Sauvignon Blanc, was taken on Boxing Day.

A new year resolution is to keep these emails going, and to post more images on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter – see the links below. For stuff like this we’ll use the same hashtags we’ve used before: #yearinthevineyard #margauxterrier #paviethedog and #goosebauduc. The latter is the cat.

All the best for 2021

Gavin & Angela Quinney

PS If you would rather view this in the gallery it's here.

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January and time to prune the Sauvignon Blanc.

Pavie and Margaux helping out.

A pheasant and a daily visit to our bird table.

February and Margaux with some freshly pruned old Sémillon vines.

A clear winter sky in the morning and just when you’re lining up the shot with the dogs, the kitchen door opens so this requires their immediate attention.

After the vines are pruned, the old branches are pulled away.

March. Winter pruning and the pulling away of the old wood is complete.

The ides of March, and Sophie and Ange with old Sémillon vines.

DQ arrived a week earlier from Worcestershire. (Not on foot.)

Mid March and the dogs are needed for some promotional shots to launch the new season wines, right at the start of lockdown.

The critical nature of this assignment was lost on Margaux after a few minutes.

With Diana for the daily stroll.

March still and this is Sandra tying down the branches in the Merlot.

The end of March and a potentially ruinous spring frost. If it had been a few degrees colder the new buds would have been burnt (like in April 2017).

Early April and we’ve been spared by mother nature.

April and the pheasant has a regular date now, so we have to add another buffet table.

April and the vines are most certainly not in lockdown.

Daniel and Nelly replacing old posts.

Mid April and the Merlot is well ahead of the norm.

Regular readers will recall that DQ posed next to the same old vine with Margaux and Pavie, so we could see the changes as the growing season progressed. This was 27 April v 10 March.

27 April and Merlot.

Our restaurant customers sadly had to close their doors, of course, while people at home took up the slack. And some.

9 May and this was the evening scene just before a heavy storm. Thankfully no hail.

May, a week later.

We were really lucky with the timing of the flowering, which took place early during a lovely, sunny period in May.

May and mowing between the rows.

Early June and lifting the vines between the training wires. This is Sauvignon Blanc.

The second week of June and after sun and rain these young vines are trying to take over the world.

Early June and these grapes are at the petit pois stage.

Mid June and Pavie with some youngish Merlot.

Mid June and Sauvignon Blanc.

16 June and the vines have had their fun – the rain is soon to stop completely for the summer.

A break from the sea of green for a second. Mum was allowed out at last, to Bordeaux.

We obviously had to spray the vines to keep the evil mildew at bay.

DQ before and after the trimming of the vines. A week apart in June.

It’s not all hard work. Goose and Merlot, late June.

End of June and time to bring in the hay.

Sauvignon Blanc beyond.

Thinking of other crops, we don’t grow sunflowers – these are just up the road from us. A spectacular start to the summer holidays.

4 July. Margaux and Merlot.

Early July. The borders open up and our farmhouse is finally about to be put to good use. We painted the shutters during the closed period.

Early July.

View from the valley below.

Great to be able to have the cousins to stay.

July and no rain for weeks now.

Not so many visitors in 2020.

But Dom was always there when we needed him to take our wine to the UK to our bonded warehouse.

July and the grapes change colour.

The end of July and it’s time for DQ to head home.

Trimming the Sauvignon Blanc.

Sauvignon Blanc before the ripening month of August.

Second week of August and we’re about to get some rain at last.

Mid August and despite the drought, the vines are remarkably healthy.

Mid August and the evening walk.

Sauvignon and Merlot.

August and the Merlot’s thirsty but not too much. For now.

After mid August rain, this block – see above – is much refreshed.

The start of the white harvest, late August.

Sophie is always there for the picking.

The hand picked Sémillon.

Sandra with Sophie, and Sauvignon Blanc.

The end of August. Sauvignon in the foreground, Sémillon beyond.

A familiar view.

1 September and a dawn harvest.

We’ve posted lots of harvest photos in news and albums on our website. See the foot of bauduc.com

The end of September brought our harvest to a close.

Ange and the hounds, 17 October.

26 October, Sauvignon Blanc.

Ange on her birthday, 23 October.

End of October.

The farmhouse in Autumn.

November and turning the soil between the rows.

End of November. It’s time for the organic fertiliser. Not too much (but a lot anyway).

Mid November.

The fall is over.

29 November.

Early December and Nelly has started the winter pruning.

6 December.

December and Sauvignon Blanc.

December. More about what’s been happening with the wine another time.

With Daniel and Nelly. Our first harvest together was 1999.

December, Christmas. Great to have Georgie back from London for the holidays. Georgie is a teacher by day and sends your orders from our website by night to our warehouse.

The Omen. Have a healthy and prosperous 2021.

The vines need their winter break. Enjoy yours!

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All our harvest updates and newsletters are on Gavin's blog.

You can see pics of this harvest and more in our Bauduc photo albums.