A lot need to be taken in account when you want to elaborate a compex wine with great potential. Each step will bring something to yur wine, abnd it will start far before the vinfication process. On the field in the middle on the vines...

Let's remenber the key steps :

                  1. A strict pruning

                  2. Working the soil

                  3. Growing vines

                  4. Protecting the vines

                  5. The grapes harvest

1. A strict pruning

Our pruning is quite strict and selective to guarantee the right number of clusters and better air circulation. This is a very complex process. Each plant needs in fact a special treatment. Pruning is not unique method for each plant. The goal is to be able to determine for each plant what will be the right balance between its capacity and its allocation for the year. In the vine work all is a question of finding the right balance. In each rule, man need to look after the spirit of the rule rather than the strict application of the rule. At the Domaine, we apply two methods for vine training: the goblet and Royat cordon pruning.

• The goblet is used for all old non-trained vines. This older method is still worthwhile and has the following advantages : better resistance to wind and drought and less sensitivity to wood disease (diseases that can kill the vine).

• The Royat cordon pruning method is used for recently wire-trained vines. This new training technique offers many advantages: it makes it easy to train vines in height, therefore increasing the amount of leafing exposed to sunrays, making the grapes richer in colour, tannins and sugar. Moreover, as the grapes are well exposed to light they develop more aromas and improve the sanitary condition of the berries.

2. Working the soil

We only use those natural products that are harmless for the environment, preserving the essential subsoil microbic life: bacteria, insects, and earthworm. The latter are essential for a proper airing and enriching of the earth ; as an example, a normal density of inchworms will “plow” 300 tons of earth per hectare in a single year. To encourage this natural action, we incorporate organic matter in our soils : wood and plant debris, straw etc.

It is essential for the soil to be alive and active for the elaboration of complex wines : the roots must reach the depths to feed on the mother plate. As a result, the soils become much less sensitive to erosion, which is one of the greatest plagues of modern times, a plague that threatens the future of agriculture. Not so long ago, a good vineyard was considered one without weeds, and these criteria would distinguish the good wine grower from the bad. All this was ludicrous and lead wine growers to using increasing amounts of chemical weedkillers, which became more and more powerful and destructive to beat an also increasing weed resistance. For us, having weeds in our vines is, on the contrary, the evidence our soils are alive. Moreover, these weeds protect the soils from erosion and shelter the predators of harmful insects.

In fall, for example, we let vineyards get completely invaded by weeds until springtime : this protects the soil from erosion for months, nourishes the soil through a natural decomposition process, sheltering and nourishing a considerable amount of fauna. From hares to little bustards, a protected species listed in Annex II of the Bern Convention. Little bustards choose our vineyards for a halt every year, feeding on the permanent great variety of insects in our lands, before continuing their migration.

Furthermore, in the past few years, we have even voluntarily and permanently planted weeds on all the parcels of land that allowed it: these vines are just mowed from time to time for upkeep.

3. Growing vines

This work must be carried out when the vine is growing.

It is no doubt in this aspect that we are the most traditional in the good sense of the term: we carry out this whole phase by hand, as wine growers used to do before the all-machine trend. Modern practicality drew many growers away from this wise and reasoned tradition for economic reasons, namely labour costs.

• The disbudding phase consists in eliminating all the stems and branches that hamper the bunches of grapes, they favour ventilation and grape maturation while considerably diminishing disease hazard. Moreover, they enhance colour, structure and rich aromas. This is a slow, tedious job that requires considerable time and man labour.

• Green harvesting aims at cutting down the number of grape bunches when in excess. The task team can be just as large as the one actually harvesting in fall; these drastic measures control our yield, between 25 and 45 hl/ per hectare, depending on the vintage.

• Pollarding, normally carried out to reduce the effect of wind intake from the frightening mistral (extremely violent wind that comes from the North of the Rhone Valley) is reduced to strict necessity to keep the maximum possible leafing.

• Thinning : leaves hiding clusters are removed, improving ventilation and berry maturation. This reduces the risk of disease and increases berry concentration. This task is carried out manually over a few weeks.

4. Protecting the vine

After having tested an “organic” approach, and then a biodynamic technique; we finally shifted for another technique, which truly preserves the environment : durable agriculture.

We strongly believe a few things are worth recalling concerning “organic” to agriculture : indeed, a regular use of copper to protect a vineyard generates insoluble problems. Today, it is proven and indisputable that copper is extremely harmful for the environment: it is a heavy metal that nothing can absorb, it concentrates in the soil after each treatment and can wind up making the soil totally sterile.

Later, it goes deep into the subsoil and pollutes groundwater ; as was seen in Germany, some areas totally forbade the use of copper when many wells turned out polluted. As for Switzerland, it has limited authorized amounts to such an extent that it's nearly impossible to use copper at any time of year ! From now on, we have decided to apply our own methods, based on our experience and are willed to preserve the environment, by introducing to recent concepts that considerably reduce damageable interventions.

• Reasoned pest control allows us to treat vines at the opportune moment only. This control calls for careful observation of the vines, literally with a magnifying lens, thus almost halving treatment. This treatment is only carried out with up products that are quickly biodegradable for the action of sun and micro organisms in the soil.

• Integrated pest control is a much more complex technique, which aims at using the ecosystem without man-made intervention. The equilibrium is hence naturally found between parasites and predators. Installing natural shelters for auxiliary insects is one of the measures applied in this technique.

This durable and sustainable concept of agriculture is, in our opinion, the only one which truly respects the environment and helps produce greater wine quality today. At the same time, we invest effort and energy for the quality of our soils and their biological life. Our reasoning is quite simple : if the soils are well, then the vines shall be healthy and less sensitive to disease, capable of defending itself, with its own natural means. Thereafter, we only intervene with chemical treatments in the event of severe attacks.

This reasoning, though simple as it may be, implies an acceptance of crop loss every year.

5. The grape harvest

We are extremely strict concerning grape selection and hand harvesting, we are strongly against the use of harvesting machines for our wines.

Indeed, harvesting machines are blind when collecting grapes, and therefore naturally cannot select them : grapes, whether half ripe or damaged, will be picked at the same time as good mature grapes. Machines can more often than not also harvest the small stems (in the upper vine shoots which definitely do not help to the realization of great wines), vine shoots themselves and great quantities of leaves.

As this harvesting method often consists in a violent shaking of the stumps, berries break off the bunches, and all burst into shake: the juices are consequently oxidized and the aromas altered. Conversely, everything is sorted and controlled. Specific instructions are briefed to all the harvesting crews before their departure to a specific parcel on what is to be picked, left or eliminated. The sorting is then carried out a second time by more specialized workers.

We use special case on the field in order to avoid the grapes to be damaged during the transport. Each case has a capacity of 11 kg that allows the grapes to be in prefect condition before arriving at our wine storehouse. The goal is to avoid grapes to be crushed to early and be in position to exactly determine the time when the fermentation process will start. We don’t want some uncontrolled early fermentation process.

Due to the wealth of grape varieties and lands, harvesting can be carried out at different times, according to the maturity and opportune moment of each vineyard. To monitor this harvesting, we carry out over 100 controls before and during harvest, for the parcels.

As a conclusion...

All these operations, (working the soils, early thinning, special care brought to the vines and harvest) multiply costs by two or three compared to traditional chemical and machine wine growing. We are however certain it would be unacceptable and shameful to waste the prestigious lands and appellations inherited by our forefathers, because of intellectual laziness or greed, and not treat these lands as they deserve.