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 […]
A few days ago, while walking a row of our parcel of baby Mourvèdre I couldn’t resist taking this picture. It shows how exceedingly well our September cover crop seeding has taken off. The intelligent use of cover crops not only respects our appellation’s engagement to ensure ecological diversity in our vineyards: the mixture of […]
As you know, alcoholic fermentation is a key step in the genesis of a wine. In addition to the quality of grapes or the selection of the vinification process, the container in which fermentation occurs will play an important role in the development of a wine. Like the musical instruments in an orchestra, the […]
Pruning is a delicate and crucial task for the lives of our vineyards. It determines in great part the evolution of each vine with respect to its growth, health, form, and the quantity and quality of its grapes at harvest. The objective of pruning is to train vines to produce without excess, in order to concentrate the natural sugars and flavors in the summer, and evenly distribute the grapes on the vines so that they can […]
At this period of the summer, each night we come home late at night, we are greeted by families of stone curlews who nest in our olive orchard next to the mourvedre. With their long thin legs, their disproportionately big head and their huge yellow reptilian eyes, they are like no other bird. The only […]
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