Le Ry

Le Ry (Le Ry Complet – Le Ry Blanc)

Wavre - in the Bawette district on the land of the Ferme équestre du Ry - Former horse pasture

Soil: light, sandy-loam, dry, not very vigourous
Planted: 2020
Number of vines: 650
Grape varieties: Solaris - Maréchal Foch - Souvignier Gris - Artaban - Divico - Cabernet Cortis - etc...

With Jade in 2020, we planted this very small vineyard of 700 vines on a south-facing slope of the lands of Philippe and Béatrice Visart's equestrian farm. We wanted it to be extremely beautiful, notably by training it with heavy, irregular stakes made from split local oak, rather than using metal; we wanted to perfectly respect its natural setting, because it is one of the prettiest and most bucolic corners of Wavre, with its sunken path of Bierges, the magnificent view towards the Beumont woods, the beech forest, the gallops of horses in semi-freedom... a truly incredible place, it feels like being somewhere else, it is a real joy for passersby.  

It is truly incredible to choose a piece of land because it speaks to us, because we feel that we have something to experience there, to look for the owner, go see him to explain the project, obtain his agreement to plant and make wine there. 

I never really understood the winemakers when they talked about the understanding and the specific functioning of each of their plots. And above all, I told myself that here in Belgium, in a small area with only one type of Brussels soil, it probably wouldn't concern us.

And yet… In our multi-parcel vineyard project, there is "le Ry," the smallest, the prettiest, planted with ungrafted hybrids on an old horse pasture, with yellow sand, starting at a pH of 4.3, highly draining. After three seasons of fighting for survival, of doubts and replacing the dead plants, vigour and dynamism are finally here. Nature always tends toward balance, it seems, and this vine seems to be proof of that. Recent soil analyses have shown that the soil acidity is decreasing on its own, with very few inputs. We work it differently, it is drier, riper and more demanding, the grapes taste different, and the aromatics emerge differently.
I look forward every year to what awaits us there.