3. Roussillon has long been a productive wine-growing region
3. Roussillon has long been a productive wine-growing region (Image 3 of 7)
Rich: How long did it take you to find your ideal vineyard? How many trips to France did it entail, and what did you find to be the most useful ways of tracking down suitable French land?
Monty: As a wine expert I knew where I’d get the best value. Roussillon in France has tremendous soil for making complex wines (sandy granite in my case – some of the oldest vineyard soils in France, geologically speaking), a great climate for doing it organically/biodynamically (windy, and dry means very few pests and diseases) and lowish prices as lots of old boys are selling up. This is because the vines are on steep slopes which make mechanisation hard. Mechanised vineyards attract those who want to make quantity, not quality, for the supermarkets. That doesn’t interest me. So it was a perfect fit.
Rich: Did you investigate planning permission and so on for the ramshackle building on your vineyard?
Monty: No – renovating an existing building proved easy as there was no need for planning permission. But I didn't do anything major with the building.
Rich: What made you decide against renovation and instead to rent a property in the local village?
Monty: The shack has no power or running water – to get that done would have required major major investment, planning, and plumbing! There was no chance. But as a place to camp out, have a BBQ, watch the stars and Persied meteor showers last August with Silvana my partner, and make my presence felt to the local wild boar, to deter them from eating my grapes in the run-up to harvest – it was perfect.
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