Wine tasting tours in Provence near Avignon
Wine tasting in Vacqueyras and other A.O.C. wineries
GROWING GRAPES ORGANICALLY:
THE YEARLY CYCLE AT "LE CLOS DE CAVEAU" IN VACQUEYRAS
In the months of October and November, it is time for the vineyard's autumn facelift. The dead vines must be pulled up, as a preventive measure for disease, and some wires and posts will need replaced. We must also perform routine maintenance of the border areas and make new holes for the young replacement vines to be planted in spring.
Ploughing the soil into mounds around the base of the vines, known as chaussage, helps to protect them over the winter. Vigorous pruning begins in early December to limit the output to 30-35 hectolitres/hectare, this ensures the long-term health of the vines. The pruning process ends in March with the young plants - as the saying goes, "Trim early, trim late, but there is nothing better than trimming in March." The long stems are cut leaving only two future buds. The trimmings are nowadays ground and left on the soil, supplying up to 1/4th of the nutritional needs of the plant.
At the end of March or beginning of April, with the warming of the soil we organically fertilize along the rows. In order to optimize the biological dynamics, the organic manure, the trimmings and the previously seeded grass are buried with the soil removed from the foot of the vines in a process called decavaillonnage. This is a highly technical procedure by which the vine stocks are uncovered as the earth mounds that offered winter protection are ploughed into the rows between the vines. This also reduces the risk of "French roots", meaning too close to the soil's surface. We finish by doing a final weeding by hand in order to do the best possible job.
In May, we do ébourgeonnage: some vines might overextend themselves, and when there are too many buds developing, these will need removed one by one. Our situation, on the slopes of the Dentelles de Montmirail makes the environment dryer than in the plain, minimizing the need for interventions or treatments. For oidium, which is rare here, sulphur from vegetal sources works very well needing only two or three light applications in the whole season. It also supports and improves the blossoming process. Mildew is also relatively rare here; various copper-based mulch mixtures are used to keep it in check, although we are limited to 4 kg of copper ore per hectare per year. In light of the excellent biological equilibrium that can be found on the estate, no insecticides are actually needed. Before any intervention in our vineyard, we carefully weigh up any potential consequences on the ecosystem. We are very pleased that over the last 20 years, since going more organic, the amount of insects and birds has greatly increased in a dramatically visible way.
Towards the end of June, several passages of the griffon (light airing plough) are necessary in order to lighten the soil and control the weeds from competing with the vines. Other work, done by hand at this time includes the removal of undesirable young shoots and trimming and tying up the vines in order to expose a maximum number of leaves and grapes to the sun. July is the last month we work on the soil. Le sarclage is a particular plough which runs a horizontal blade 5 cm below the surface, literally slicing the roots of the weeds. Young vines also keep us busy, they need tied and their small unripe grapes need removed (young plants can get worn out in the long-term, if they are allowed to produce grapes before they are mature).
At the end of August, it is time to sow the green fertilizer (the winter cover of fertilizing grass) in order to enrich the soil and reduce erosion.
ELABORATING THE WINES : AN OENOLOGICAL TOUR
September, a highly anticipated month: after a year of work the vines produce their quality grapes, the crucial moment arrives for the harvest. After analyzing the grapes in the various parcels, we decide on this year's strategy for picking each variety and each field, an important element in the particular character of each vintage.
Towards the end of September, a team of eight vendangeurs begin to hand pick the grapes. The entire vineyard takes them to mid-October. As soon as the grapes are picked they are quickly transported to a cellar nearby where they are placed into a retinol press. This machine removes the wood (or stem) of each bunch and gently bursts the grapes for an optimal extraction (pellicular maceration pre-fermentation). The grapes are then poured into cement vats to undergo alcohol fermentation using indigenous yeast strains carefully prepared several days before the harvest by letting leavened grape juice ferment. We work with yeast from the land that is linked to a specific crop year (i.e. it is different each year) and also use this process in the later malolactic fermentation. The alcohol fermentation process lasts 10 to 15 days during which we will regularly pump some of the juice from the bottom to the top, or temporarily remove a larger quantity in order to sink the cap. After the alcohol fermentation, the skins, the pips and the wine are left together and worked upon for a full fermentation which takes another 10 days. The final natural burst in temperature, plus a pouring off and pigeage allow for an optimal extraction and setting of tannins, polyphenols and anthocyanins.
Towards November or December, the malolactic fermentation takes place naturally. After this the wine changes vats leaving behind deposited coarser sediment (no filtering). A further six months with the finer sediment allows for the tannins to be coated thereby lending more body to the wine. With a minimum amount of racking and fastidious attention we can maintain a maximum amount of natural CO2 gas, a protector of the wine. This work greatly helps reduce sodium dioxide levels.
Bottling, one to two years later, on the domaine, by a service provider allows us to benefit from the latest equipment: rinsing and filling the bottles, equalizing the gas levels, corking and marking the batch numbers with microdots on the bottles. Afterwards, the bottles are stored standing up for three to five days before being laid down on pallets to let the natural cork do its work. Not until four to six more months of storage have passed are our wines ready for sale. A minimum of two years is necessary to offer you all of the best qualities of our Vacqueyras. The aging period keeps the wine from suffering thermal shock (tartaric acceleration) and avoids stripping it with excessive filtering. This respect for our wine allows us to create a unique product through honoring the nature of the terroir and the intrinsic complexity of this "nectar of the gods."
Watch a beautiful film showing "One year in the organic vineyard of Le Clos de Caveau" in Vacqueyras.
Chose your player below : either .avi or .mov (quicktime)
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