Our philosophy is to preserve the heritage of our ancestors – the quality and diversity of our terroirs – in the aim of being able to pass it along to future generations.

For more than 15 years now, we have been protecting the biological diversity of our soils. Depending on the vineyard, either we grow crop cover between the rows of vines or we use a plough and grape hoe to remove any weeds.

By making the rounds of all of our vineyards several times per week, we are able to carefully weigh the need to spray or not which thereby reduces environmental impact.

Not only does this environmentally friendly approach to vine management protect the vines and the terroirs, it also allows us to produce better quality grapes.

Our motto: Tradition and Progress
We combine the know-how gleaned from our ancestors with the technical developments of our generation.

The photos below illustrate the type of work carried out in our vineyards and at the winery throughout the year :

March 2012 : once pruning was finished at half of March this year, it was time to bend the fruiting canes by attaching them to trellis wire

End of November 2011 : pruning began

When the vines are dormant it is the time to prepare for the next year's harvest. In fact, future vine production is determined by the pruning of each plant. Our 6600 vines planted per hectare all receive the same care in the aim of producing high-quality grapes.

We perform single Guyot pruning on our vines.

On each vine-trunk we leave :

- two small pieces of wood with two buds (known as spurs) which establish the shape of the vine and prepare it for the following year's pruning

- one cane with six buds which will bear the year's fruit.

Harvest 2011 : this year, the warm spring has encouraged a earlier ripeness of the grapes.
On our estate, the harvest has begun on the 07th of September 2011 and ended on the 15th
of September 2011.

2011 : Harvest with my brother, my father and my employees.

1971 : harvest with my father and my grand parents

Driving reasoned (June-July 2011) : we watch over the sanitary state of the crop. This year, small rain and East-North East wind allow us to reduce the treatments against diseases.

Hoeing (June-July 2011): the plough attached to the tractor turns the soil in the middle of the row. The person sitting at the rear of the tractor activates a blade that cuts any weeds that may be growing at the foot of the vines.

Trimming (June 2011): this year, the vegetation has three weeks lead.

The objective is to cut the extremities of the fruiting canes in order to encourage the sap to flow toward the grapes. This is done all summer long.

 

Tying down the branches (end of may 2011) : this operation consists of lifting up the branches and attaching them to wires so that they do not get broken by the wind.

Vine flower  (25 may 2011) : According to the old-timers, the date the vine is in full flower determines the harvest date; we usually count 100 days after flowering which means the harvest this year will begin at the beginnig of september, three weeks early than last year.

April 2011 : Springtime is the season for planting new vineyards or for replacing dead vine stocks.