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 […]
Given my conviction that concrete is the ideal vessel for vinification and storage of our wines, we set out this year to make a major investment in our old winery at Chateau de Nages in Costieres de Nimes. We’ve been at it since early May, struggling to get it in mint working condition in time […]
How can we protect our vineyards from the dreaded vine moth larvae without using insecticides? These larvae can cause significant damage to our grapes and create gateways to disease. To contain the populations of this insect, we use a technique that is approved for organic farming. The fight by “mating disruption” is our answer. In order to be fertilized, the female moths release of sex hormones (or pheromones) that enable males to locate them more […]
I love this period of the year when my winemaking brain is on overdrive, when I project our future plantings, the equipment purchases to come, when I imagine our future vintages. Dreaming is essential, but we have to be careful, because the harsh reality of the world economy can hurt … Since our conversion to […]
As an organic vineyard, we do not use any herbicides or synthetically processed concentrated fertilizers. We rely on compost for nutrients. Under-vine weed control is done mostly with tillage tools (I’ll show you how in an upcoming video). Both tilling and seeding use many of the same cover crop species, managed in different ways. Although […]
See those little bits of red wood sticking out of the ground? Look at them a little closer. They would appear to be just some useless pieces of twigs. But these bits of wood are planted dreams, a parcel of dreams. What will they give us ? I don’t know yet, but I can explain […]
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