Erratic Weather, Delicious Poulsard and a 250/280-gram Midnight Blue Bengaline Weave

The weather has been a little temperamental at the start of this year’s champagne harvest. It was close to 30 degrees (86°F) on Thursday, but more like 14 degrees (57°F) on Friday after a freak thunderstorm Thursday night. My neighbor told me that some of her friends even had localized incidences of hail in their vineyards, which is devastating at this time of year. Saturday was dreary and damp, with a steady rain falling the whole day. It turned sunny yesterday and it was vaguely sunny again today, although the afternoon was quite grey. Apparently this is perfectly normal for Champagne, as nobody seems very concerned. Also, the cold nights and cool mornings are good after the rains, as this prevents the spread of rot.

Besides fretting about the weather, I drank a lovely, old-vine poulsard from Julien Labet last night: you might well ask why I wasn’t drinking champagne, but this wine’s silkiness and vibrancy of fruit would seduce anyone: loaded with fresh berry flavors, it has a lovely, supple texture that makes you just want to drink more of it.

In the meantime, I broke down today and bought five meters of cloth — the legendary J & J Minnis is closing out their Rangoon book for some inexplicable reason, and as I’ve been wanting to make up a summer-weight suit from Rangoon for some time, it’s my last chance to do so. Anyway, at a mere £16 a meter, you can’t possibly go wrong. I’m hoping it’ll wind up as a quarter-lined, 6x2 double-breasted, for those summer evenings when one is compelled to appear elegant. Now if I can just figure out how to fund the next part....