Tillage

Tillage I can get behind, if there's a horse in front @closdescapucins.chinon

As a "horse girl," ploughing a vineyard with horses was something I always dreamed of trying. Thanks to my longtime French friend and fellow horse girl, Morgane, I was sent to the eminent Fiona Beeston at Clos de Capucins, who made this dream of mine a reality.

Fiona got started in the cellars of Bordeaux during the 1970s, when female vigneronnes were scant. She then worked for Steven Spurrier (organizer of the Judgment of Paris) through the late 70s and 80s before acquiring this historic Clos of Cabernet franc in Chinon. The vines are between 50 to 100 years old (replanted post-phylloxera), and Fiona sticks to old school methods throughout the growing and vinification.

Jean François, Romain, and Hervé (men) and Lulu, Gaston, and Terroir (horses) do all the ploughing at Fiona's place. The horses respond entirely to verbal commands in French: to stop, go, turn, line up on the left or right side of the rows, go straight through the headland, or assume their staring position "la place" standing close to the vines. Les chevaux are also paying attention to the plow - if it catches on a trunk, they stop on their own.