2016’s growing season was exceptionally favorable to the vine. Nature has given us a vintage that won’t soon be forgotten. After a mild and slightly rainy winter, a cool wet spring triggered a somewhat delayed bud break (marking the end of winter dormancy, bud break is the moment when the new leaves push through their […]
The trade press is just beginning to talk about a topic that greatly concerns many winemakers here in France – the sharp increase in vine mortality due to what is euphemistically called “wood diseases.” Every year, an average plot in France can lose between 1.5% and 3.5% of its population (in a decade that means […]
Here in Costières de Nîmes, the Volques are our wine-making ancestors. No one can deny the contributions made by the Romans in our beautiful area, but when they arrived here in 121 BC, they found an epicurean civilization that had already been cultivating vines for 4 centuries — the Volques Arécomiques. This Celtic confederation founded […]
A wine owes its character to the potential of its soil and how it’s interpreted by the winemaker. I often compare winemaking to music — the results depends both on the musical score and the musician. Reducing the equation to just these two parameters is a simplification that I can easily overlook, but it ignores […]
The vineyard I’m looking at from my window this morning is shaggy with chaotic vines, bristling with wild weeds and mottled by spots of mildew from the recent rains. Some years back I would have thought “what messy work” and today I find it just beautiful. I learned to take care of vineyards before understanding […]
Winemakers have used sulfur since the Middle-Ages. Ever since the invention of the sulfur wick in the seventeenth century, which was essential for the preservation of ageing or traveling wines, sulfur has been closely associated with winemaking. As a matter of fact, there is no way to banish entirely sulfur from wine, it’s a natural byproduct […]
Did you know that in France Mourvèdre used to also go by the name of the “Plant of Saint Gilles”? Check out this extract from the Pacific Rural Press in 1881 ! In fact, Mourvèdre used to be a principal varietal of our region’s vineyards, especially around the abbey of Saint Gilles, where the monks […]
As nature awakens and the 2014 vintage begins, I wanted to share with you some of the things we do in our vineyards to preserve the delicate balance of an entire ecosystem. Much of our appellation, Costières de Nîmes, still enjoys a rich biodiversity, which is why it was chosen as one of four sites […]
I’d like to introduce you to an occurrence called shattering, an event that happens in the lifecycle of a vine that is often perceived as bad news but can instead be a factor of quality. I made a little video about it a few weeks ago while I was in a young Grenache vineyard (4th […]
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