Sustainable development

GO INTO AN ORGANIC PRODUCTION

The semi-desert climatic conditions and the absence of phylloxera allow us to limit preventive phytosanitary treatments as much as possible.

Our current standards are already very close to the French AB qualification and we have decided to continue this transition in the next 3 years.

The main diseases to be controlled are downy mildew and oidium.

We use products adapted for vines with low deficiency duration, changing the active ingredients in order to avoid resistance. We also work with calibrated machines with low volumes of water per hectare in order to avoid spreading the products on the soil.

CANOPY MANAGEMENT

We control the vertical positioning of the green shoots with the following objectives:

Increase the photosynthetic efficiency of the plant.

Increase the balanced exposure of grapes by increasing the concentration of polyphenols in the fruit.

This task is carried out with particular care to avoid grapes burning in the afternoon sun (west side of the canopy).

Irrigation

Our estate is equipped with an automatic irrigation system (drop by drop). The purpose of the irrigation schedule is to apply to each planted plot the amount of water necessary for optimal growth of the vines (12 leaves per plant), while avoiding excessive vigour which would reduce polyphenolic concentration and increase the risk of disease. We carry out periodic maintenance and calibration of the equipment to ensure a stable uniformity coefficient at the valve level.

CLIPPING

In the plots destined for the elaboration of our top-of-the-range wines, we carry out trimming, which consists in cutting the tips of the green shoots positioned vertically at a height of 20 centimetres above the last supporting wire (structure wire).

This task is done manually to avoid unnecessary cutting of green shoots that protect the grapes from sunburn.

Control and Maturity Tracking

We carry out a follow-up and control of maturity with the objective of measuring the main physicochemical parameters of the grape that subsequently define the quality of the wine. This monitoring is carried out for several weeks analyzing the following parameters:
  •   Berry Weight.
  •   Alcohol to produce.
  •   Density.
  •   Anthocyanins
  •   Total polyphenols
  •   Maturity index of tannins.