Work in the vineyard

In mid-October, the season is coming to an end; the vine, like other plants, is about to enter its winter dormancy. Some grape varieties have already lost all their leaves.

The vine is beautiful at the end of its cycle. It quietens down, we leave it alone, the sap returns to the roots, and we wait patiently for the right moment to begin pruning.

The vine and us, settled deep in a breath…

The vine is a climbing plant whose aim is to climb trees as quickly as possible and spread by offering its fruit to birds, which carry the seeds far and wide. To harvest its fruit more easily, people domesticated it by planting it in rows and pruning it like a bonsai, turning it into small, gnarled shrubs cut back to their framework every winter, somewhat against its nature.

Pruning is wonderful all the same. We dream about it, wait for it impatiently as soon as the harvest is over, and throw ourselves into it when it opens its arms to us for three or four months.

We theorise about it, make a whole subject of it, compare methods among winegrowers while remaining convinced that ours is far better than theirs, that we have perfectly understood the vine's vascular system, and that our secateurs will please it and allow it to live beautifully and productively for decades, long after we are gone.

My friend Eric Dubois tells me that his Gamay had never produced so well as when he forgot to bring in his two draught horses and they took it upon themselves to “prune” it.

There you go...

Work in the cellar

Making wine is a subtle blend of two trades: washing large containers and working as a plumber and pipe fitter.
Can you wash up and connect pipes? Then you know how to make wine.

We work without a safety net, as they say. In other words:

1. without selected yeasts, which make it possible to complete fast, straightforward fermentations on schedule and can give the wine a particular aromatic direction;

2. without adding sulphites, which in small doses help stabilise the wine and in larger doses mummify it.

We believe it is possible to do without them. When it is done well and deviations do not overwhelm the grapes, the fruit can be expressed with remarkable clarity.

There is only one way to achieve that: never compromise on hygiene. Steam and hydrogen peroxide are our best allies.