Les Reliques

Les Reliques (Les Reliques Red – Les Reliques White)

Wavre - behind the Quatre-Sapins neighborhood - Former cow meadow

Soil: loamy-sandy rich in humus.
Planted: 2019
Number of vines: 1300
Grape varieties: Solaris - Souvignier gris - Divico - Prior - Monarch - Seyval - Rayon d'or - Maréchal Foch - Léon Millot - Muscaris

Barely had the collective plot been planted when my gaze turned to the neighboring meadow. Since Dominique and Henri had already agreed to move the cows a little, Jade and I asked them if they would agree to move them a little farther.

They said yes.

In 2019, we planted there The Relics. This time, we wanted to make the plot a true testing ground. The rows were laid out across the slope and slightly more spaced, with a supporting wire placed a little higher. Every other row was planted with own-rooted vines, without rootstock, in order to observe their behaviour under our conditions. Three control rows of Vitis vinifera, about forty vines, were also planted to compare them with the resistant grape varieties, Poulsard, Pinot Noir, and Savagnin. 

It was no longer just a question of checking whether the vine could grow here, but of understanding how it wanted to grow here — and how far we could accompany it without constraining or treating it.

This is where the dream began to take a little more space in the landscape, and much more in our lives.