Normally at this time of year I would be in the Loire Valley, opening my house up for summer, preparing it for the rental season (I rent it out for 16 weeks each year) and making some visits in the region. My regular May tasting with Mathieu Baudry has become something of an occasion in my tasting calendar. It was on my way to see Mathieu two years ago that I took the picture below, of Cabernet Franc flowering in Chinon, on June 1st, in vineyards on the warm soils of the valley floor. Flowering this year is more advanced and if the weather and the vines keep on track we are heading for a very early harvest. It would have been great to visit and check out the flowering vines for myself.

But of course I can’t. This year, of course, like so many others, my plans have been curtailed by the restriction on our movements consequent upon the arrival of SARS-CoV-2 and the curious and sometimes deadly range of illnesses it induces under the Covid-19 banner.

Here in Scotland our lockdown imposes a 5-mile limit to our movements, and as we have only just entered phase 1 of the route map out of lockdown, and this limit will not be lifted until phase 3, I expect this will remain the case for another six weeks. In addition, any idea I might have had about making an illegal dash for it in the style of UK political advisor Dominic Cummings would have fallen foul not only of English law as well, and the fact that the French border was closed, but my intended ferry sailing from Portsmouth was cancelled anyway. I didn’t fancy swimming for it.

Locked down in Scotland over the past two weeks (I had planned to leave on May 16th) I have continued making updates to Winedoctor, but I am going to take a break from it this week. I shall try to find some time to enjoy some of the fine weather forecast for the next few days, before the traditional Scottish summer returns with rain expected on Wednesday. It will also free up some time to do some more tasting; I have two large deliveries (and no doubt a few small ones too) of Bordeaux 2019 samples expected during the course of the next few days, and they will take some time to get through. And if I can squeeze it in, I will start putting together my Bordeaux 2019 report.

Normal service, whatever that is, will resume June 8th.