Vines

The growing method is traditional and respects the environment. The greatest possible care is taken from the vines.

The golden rule at the domain is: “Lovely grapes are needed to make good wine!”

The average age of vines at the estate is relatively high. Vineyards are made up of low yield vine types from massale selections. This heritage is preserved by the yearly replanting of missing vines so as to maintain vineyard production potential. We also put the emphasis on working the soil. Plowing aerates the soil and obliges the root systems to seek nourishment deep down in the earth, allowing optimal expression of the particularities of each land.

In winter, pruning is adapted as a function of the vigor of each vine.

In the spring, each vine is meticulously de-budded by hand, only leaving a sufficient number of shoots for a reasonable crop of grapes.

The vines are then lifted and tied down to keep the branches inside the trellis wires, while being careful to spread them out to limit the entanglement of their vegetation.

For the same purpose, the secondary branches (between hearts) located at the level of the bunches are cut with pruning shears to promote their aeration.

With the same aim, secondary, lateral branches (between hearts) at grape bunch height are cut off with secateurs to improve aeration.

Still in the context of obtaining grapes with good maturity, we favor green harvesting, if necessary, by removing a few bunches so that each vine is well balanced. We also carry out leaf-thinning for better aeration of bunches and thus limit the risk of developing botrytis, so as to obtain perfectly healthy grapes.

Protecting the health of the vineyard corresponds to the principles of viticulture in the respect of the environment: the choice of active treatment products and the moment of application are a function of the volume of vegetation, the virulence of fungal attack, vineyard pests and meteorological conditions .

To define harvesting date, we carry out regular checks on grape maturity via grape sampling.

Harvesting is manual and sorting done directly in the vineyard to avoid any unnecessary trituration of grapes. Our regular teams of harvesters who come back to us year after year are well accused of this task.

The grape harvest is quickly transported in crates to the vat-house.