Nos méthodes
- Our cépages
- The Magister network
- The sexual confusion
- The soil
- Grinding of wine shoots
- The twisting
- The contrlol of the indigenous flora
Pinot noir
Chardonnay | Vines from ChampagnePinot Noir (black grape with white juice) This wine grape variety confers to the wine flavours of red fruit; it contributes power and body to the cuvée. Pinot Meunier (also called Black Riesling,black grape with white juice) this vine ist soft and fruity. Its bouquet is intense: it evolves more quickly and gives to the winde roundness. (we don't use this variety in our wines) Chardonnay (white grape) It's the variety of delicacy. It confers notes of flowers and sometimes minerals when younger. Its slow evolution makes it the ideal complement for the ageing process of wines.
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| The Magistaire Network : the reasonable wine growingWe adhere to Magister which is a network of plots of land periodically checked during vegetative period by a technician. This technician evaluates the risks made of diseases or parasites. Each week he informs the wine grower members of the network. Therefore, each can take wise decisions. As an example since ten years we have stopped, with great success, any treatment against acaridans which infested the vegetation during summertime, and we have favoured colonisation of our vineyards by typhlodromes, which are natural predators of acaridans.In 2004 and 2006, we have not used a single insecticide treatment, because the level of pests remained under tolerable threshold and had no incidence on either quality or quantity of the harvest. In 2005, 2007 and 2008 we had to treat some parcels against a bud eating caterpillar just before the opening of the bud, thereafter no other insecticide has been used. Before, vineyard protection was systematic and a cover for "insurance" was sprayed. Now, we are reacting only at the right moment if necessary
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| The sexual confusion :It is an original and healthy method to fight against vineyard worms. In the insect world, especially among butterflies, females attract males for coupling through emission of gas called pheromones. These "perfumes" have been analyzed; their components have been identified and synthesized. This is a collective fight and in Ambonnay about 95% of all wine growers are collectively installing containers during mid-April, which during several months will expel these pheromones of Cochyllis butterflies. The density of these containers is such that male butterflies which are inhaling olfactive information coming from everywhere do not know where to find their females. Therefore there is no coupling, then no harm made by grubs on grapes. This fight is important in order to have a good harvest, because harmed grapes are very sensitive to mildew. Advantages are numerous: First of all for the farmer, because whatever the meteorological conditions are, there is only one application a year. The implementation of this technique is easy and collective, which allows meetings with colleagues which are concluded with a toast all together. For the consumer it is the insurance of no insecticides on the grapes. Finally, for the environment it means the preservation of useful insects (ladybirds, bees, wasps, typhlodromes, etc.) This is an acceptable method within the framework of biological or reasonable farming; All of our customers who are willing to share half a day of installing these containers with us, are welcome to join us.
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| The soil :It is the object of all of our attention. Thanks to it and the weather, Champagne wines are expressing their fine and delicate perfumes. For several years, we have not added any mineral fertilizer to our vineyards. These fertilizers have been replaced by organic additives or very low dosed organic fertilizer. This organic matter is the basis of life and the balance of our soil. Flora is controlled through superficial work or through mowing of grass in the middle of each row.
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 | Grinding of wine shoots :In the old times we burned the wines shoots in dedicated recipients. Most of the time today, we grind these wine shots and lay the residues on the ground in order to nourish the soil. This technique brings about 30% of the organic needs to the soil.
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| The twisting :We once used the necessary racks to bring the fermentation deposit to the neck of the bottle. Until January 2006 we used pallets called rotopals, which allowed us to twist 297 bottles in one time . These pallets were moved manually and each small circular repetitive shock of the rotopals made wine as limpid as with the former stands. Nowadays, we recently bought automatic twisters which can twist 2 pallets at a time, which means 504 bottles per week which would be limpid. Simply speaking, this new piece of equipment gives better results than manual handling because it works 24/7. The quality of the wine is not depending on the twisting mode.
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 | The control of the indigenous flora :We have taken more advance regarding Champagne laws, which forbids the spraying of herbicide on more than 50% of the surface of one parcel. In 2005, more than 90% of our whole surface had not been sprayed with herbicide. It was an awkward choice, because the Champagne weather facilitates the growing of grass, which means many hours of additional work to control it. For that reason we have invested several additional tools that we are using depending on the weather, the existing flora and the time available. If possible we are favouring mechanical grass cutting under the vines and the inter-vine cutting with hydraulic plows, which are "softer" than older mechanical plows. We have also bought a low pressure spraying machine called Enviromist which allowsto spray a local herbicide diluted at 50%. We only used herbicide BASTA, because its active matter is imitating a natural enzyme which acts on leaves only, without killing the roots.. It acts by blocking assimilation of ammoniac through enzyme inhibition, which means that the plant dies from self intoxication and the leaves are fading. This product is without effect on worms and ground micro-organisms. It is an active matter compatible with new security requirements which is respecting the soil, the air and the water.
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