Vine handling
At the estate, we prune using the Guyot Simple method. This involves leaving a cane with 6 eyes (buds) and a spur with 2 eyes positioned lower than the cane. This method of pruning allows us to lower the base of the vine so that the vines do not grow too high, while remaining aligned in the row. Pruning helps to maintain the vineyard and control yields.
Seasonal workers come after us to burn the wood that has been cut during pruning.
Whenever the weather permits, we try to go over the vines with a high-clearance tractor to make holes to replace dead vines. This allows young plants to be planted. It’s important to renew the vineyard little by little each year to reduce the number of missing vines.
At the same time, damaged stakes and wires are changed and repaired to ensure that the trellising is in good condition for the coming season.
At the estate, we’ve been working the soil for years, first subsoiling (which involves ploughing deep into the soil to break it up) and then griffage (shallow ploughing to awaken the soil). We use organic soil improvers to make up for certain deficiencies in the vines.
Next, the canes left over from pruning are laid down and attached to the cane wire.
The vine starts to grow, and disbudding can begin. This involves removing the least well-placed buds. The vines are then better aerated and the grapes better nourished. We find that this technique improves the quality of the wine.
To protect the vines from fungal diseases, we carry out phytosanitary treatments. We use integrated pest management and are HVE3 certified, which means that we intervene only when really necessary.
The vines continue to grow, so we lift the wires and tie them up to control the growth of the vines. The branches have a tendency to lie down and break, so we have to intervene quickly in order to arrange the shoots in the row as they grow.
The trimming begins. We cut the branches that are sticking out in order to aerate the rows.
The grapes are growing and need sun to reach optimum ripeness. We then thin out the leaves on one side of the vine (the side facing the rising sun) in the plots that will be sold in bottles. This technique aerates the rows to reduce the risk of rot and exposes the grapes to the sun.
Once the green harvesting and treatments have been completed, we bottle the previous vintage and prepare for the harvest.