Spring already
SPRING ! Already ?... Spring it is, and coming in advance , too!
The time has come to put on light clothes to get back to the vineyard for“green work”: épamprage – also known as disbudding in some regions – mouchage ( a specific task carried out in the Mâconnais area…when the vine has bled, it becomes necessary to take bits off), tying-up, staple work and finally topping and trimming.
In my village located in Southern Mâconnais, we are also going to put on our best vine clothes for a “charity” day.
Indeed, we are members of an association of women winegrowers called : “Femmes § Vins de Bourgogne” and we advocate special values such as sharing, giving one another a hand (together with our male colleagues and with other women winegrowers), transmitting traditions and helping one another.
Especially with other women: the winegrowers’ wives, that we also call “estates’ spouses”. A phrase which means that these women take an active part in the work of the wine estate, that they often work in the vines, sometimes they take care of the paper and accountancy work of the estates and of course of their homes. But they are not winegrowers, most of the time, they do not feel as such…
In our village, there is a mutual help system which is very well organized by the association: a vinegrower who gets hurt or sick, can have some of his tasks done by other vinegrowers. Thus, the estate will be able to function without hiring extra people. But nothing similar exists in case the winegrower’s wife gets hurt or sick as well. That’s why “bending the canes” – a task mostly achieved by women, during winter, after pruning – is not included in the help system, for example.
Thus, in Fuissé, this unfair situation has led the women to help one of their colleague who was badly affected by a serious health problem. We were 21 women, on February 24th to bend the canes in Véronique’s vines, working cheerfully and chatting, just happy to help.
We had already done it for another winemaker’s wife. And we’ll do it again for green work, harvesting or others if necessary !
We all have a passion for winemaking and express ourselves through our wines. We, at Femmes§ Vins de Bourgogne, wish to represent, without any bias or anger, all the women who work in the vines, in the shadow of a husband, a brother or a son,sometimes. They deserve respect as they are utterly essential to the estates’life and thriving…
Let’s have a toast to these glorious women: Cheers to them !
Sophie Cinier
