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Ladies and Gentlemen, friends and clients,

This year, once again, Seppi Landmann's Vineyard was rewarded with nice awards in prestigeous competitions as well as flattering judgments and excellent marks in the Ranking of the Best Wines in France (see page "Prizes").

The vintage 2009 is in line with the other "famous 9" like 49, 59, 89; a great vintage that will go down in history. The weather conditions have been all but normal, with the month of July counting almost 9 days of rain out of 10, and the month of September without a drop of rain from the 5th onwards. It was almost to late to harvest the "crémant" in the beginning of September, as it turned out to get an alcohol content close to the upper limit. Later, because of the dry September and beginning of October, the "Grands Crus" stagnated and it was necessary to wait for some rainfall in order to let the noble rot develop and to let the alcohol percentage get wings... That's why, as every so often, the wine-grower with nerves strong enough to wait and to spread the harvesting over the period of two months will be rewarded with beautiful late harvested wines and exceptional "Grains Nobles". As for me, I'm very satisfied with the quality of my Vallée Noble wines and my dry Grands Crus Zinnkoepflé, but even more so with my Vins Liquoreux. Particularly the Pinot Gris SGN, harvested with 24,8° potential alcohol.

A few words about my quarter of a century as a wine-grower and my 60th birthday celebration that took place 3 fantastic days and 3 fantastic nights with jubilating crowds of wine-lovers. Moderation wasn't exactly the order of the day! You will find the whole event described on the page "fete6025". I was happy to share these moments with more than 300 people.

Friday 4 September was the day dedicated to professionals and to politicians. In my usual way I had to express loud what was on my heart, even if others mumble the same thing silently: the 0,5 g. drink-drive limit has eradicated a big part of the conviviality among the French, as it is impossible to match such a ridiculously low drink-drive level with any festivities, in family or in the village.

Our ministers and chairmen of regional councils have at their disposal one or more private chauffeurs and don't always understand the problem of the issue. They can't realise the brutality of the controls and the fact that the ruling anti-alcohol integrism alienate more and more the French even from the one little glass shared between friends. And the fact that the French become more and more introvert, sad, even quarrelsome, doesn't escape anybody and particularly not the foreign observers, who used to see the French as cheerful, light-hearted and with an ability to face problems with a joy of living that made a good example for others. In fact, since when is meaningless violence regularly increasing in our society ?

The criminalization of alcohol in the blood when driving and the excessive police controls have killed the reasonable wine-drinker. The consumption of strong, imported alcohols is thriving and we, the French, have become world champions in consuming whisky, not to mention drugs, anxiolytics and tranquilizers of all kinds.

Our vineyards are pauperized while the unions stay surprisingly silent. In this way 12% of the properties in la Gironde will have disappeared by the end of this year, and this is only the beginning. Until what point will our representatives let France sink into alcoholism caused by anything except wine? Until what point will they let the wine-producing part of France fall apart in a country that's more and more schizophrenic, and where the power of nuisance has been given to people who one can call sick without being much wrong.

You, who belong to the decreasing part of the population who are still regular winedrinkers, feeling like the dinosaurs did before dying out. Remember that in other countries of our planet, the respect for and the knowledge about wine is on its way to catch up with us and, one day, others will dethrone us from our envied position as an international model for viticulture...

Hope to hear from you soon

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Your own WineGrower Seppi Landmann