Reflections on 2024 from Stephen Cronk
As both a farmer and Chair of the RVF
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
Niebuhr
This year on our farm has been particularly challenging, with severe frosts taking our all our Grenache, hail in August taking out all our Rolle (Vermentino) and then 6 months of rain in 48 hours causing flooding across a large swathe of our vineyard. A friend said “Hey, you haven’t had a plague of locusts!” to which I replied “They’re on their way from Corsica”. Hence the need to search for serenity and lean on stoicism even more this year.
One thing that makes me fully optimistic is our ability to bring life back into our soils and our vineyards. Why Mother Nature is so forgiving when we really don’t deserve that I don’t know, but thank goodness she is. One thing I noticed at the World Living Soils Forum held in Arles in October, was the conversation about regenerative has moved above-ground more, and nature restoration was a key topic. Although soil remained central and an area where I’ve been happy to see big improvements on at our farm. It’s so heartening to see regeneration in action.
It’s also been amazing to see our team in action and how incredibly effective they’ve been. Becky and Anne are trailblazing the regenerative movement in wine production and I’m really proud of some of our achievements. This year we launched the RV Guide which has 400 members signed up to it, with 180 vineyards, around 140 visible publicly. We have ambitious plans for 2025, including in South Africa, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina, France, Portugal, the UK and more… but could do so much more with more resources (hint, send this to someone who has the means to support us!). Our awesome Trustees have continued to inspire and guide and, all in all, it feels like we’re making a difference.
Here are some of the open farm days, panels, talks, webinars, podcasts and presentations we’ve been involved with this year:
- World Living Soils Forum session on Provence plus hosted networking drinks with the Porto Protocol
- USDA International Climate Viticulture Symposium’s panel on associations supporting growers
- Domaine Day at Domaine Mirabeau to inspire local growers in Provence
- Open farm day at Everflyht vineyard in England
- Dutch Wine Academy’s 50th anniversary session on sustainability
- The Wine Society’s Future of Wine panel as part of their 150th birthday
- London Wine Fair launch of the RV Guide
- Sustainability in Drinks panel
- UK’s Wine & Spirits Trade Association’s Technical Committee session on RV
- Spanish Embassy with Miguel Torres and Jancis
- Napa Green Future of Water workshop
- French TV on sustainability in drinks
- Bloomberg Radio on regenerative viticulture
- OIV presentation on climate change and viticulture
- Sheep in Vineyards session in England
- Wine Scholar Guild – 2 webinars introducing members to RV and greater depth
- Prowein talk on RV in collaboration with IWCA
- Groundswell regenerative festival’s panel on RV plus pasture cheese and regen wine tasting
- Porto Protocol webinar on O’Neill Vintners & Distillers’ 3 year transition journey
- Porto Protocol webinar on Agroforestry (first in series we are doing with PP)
- UK Wine Show podcast series of 3 recordings
- Mimi Casteel interview with Nicole Masters
- Institute of Masters of Wine education session in Australia
