Tagged with "viticulture"
Harvest time – so how do we know when the grapes are ready to be picked?
It may seem pretty obvious, but in fact a great deal of care needs to be taken to ensure the grapes are ripe for the particular wine you plan to make. We started our harvest this year in early September, as the first of our grapes became fully ripe. So, what exactly is ripeness in grapes [...]
Ploughing a vineyard by horse
One of the more unusual developments in winemaking has been the re-introduction of ploughing by horse. The horses work a busy seven to eight hours a day and it typically takes 18 hours to plough a single hectare of vines; two trips are made for a full row of vines, so that each side of [...]
Vineyard damage after 13 minutes of hail
Nearly 6,000 hectares of Cotes de Provence and Coteaux Varois vineyards (between 70% to 100%) were destroyed after a heavy hail storm hit south eastern France 27th May 2012.
Machine harvesting grapes in Provence
We harvest our grapes between 3am and 11am so that we can benefit from the cool of the night. We also get to see some lovely views of dawn breaking over the hills of Provence. In this film we show an efficient a modern machine harvester in action in the vineyards around the village of Pourcieux.
Vineyard hazards with Gavin Quinney – Rot
In this series of videos, Gavin Quinney (the English owner of Chateau Bauduc) discusses wines and winemaking in Bordeaux. Here Gavin talks rot.
‘Green harvesting’, trellising and effeuillage with Gavin Quinney
In this series of videos, Gavin Quinney (the English owner of Chateau Bauduc) discusses wines and winemaking in Bordeaux. Here Gavins discusses ‘green harvesting’, why he ‘de-leafs’ his vines (effeuillage is a far prettier word) and how and why he trellises the vines.
The meaning and relevance of terroir with Gavin Quinney
In this series of videos, Gavin Quinney (the English owner of Château Bauduc) discusses wines and winemaking in Bordeaux. Here Gavin explains what ‘terroir’ actually means and, far more importantly, he explains why it is so important in producing good quality grapes.
The importance of ripe tannins with Gavin Quinney
In this series of videos, Gavin Quinney (the English owner of Chateau Bauduc) discusses wines and winemaking in Bordeaux. Here he explains the importance of making sure that the tannins in the grapes are actually ripe.
Minerality in Wine
Wine people often refer to ‘minerality’ when describing the taste of wine and here Angela Muir MW explains her view on minerality and why it is so difficult to pin down.
High-speed de-budding (ébourgeonnage).
In order to keep the quality of wine high (and to comply with the AOC), these vineyards are obliged to achieve certain maximum yields (i.e. how many grapes each vine can produce) and so each year the vines have to undergo de-budding. This also has the additional positive effect of spacing out the growth so [...]
Removing Spring water shoots
The mechanical solution to vine rubbing (ébourgeonnage) in an organic vineyard is explained here by James from Domaine Begude. Water shoots develop from the old parts of the vine and do not usually produce grapes. They also tend to compact the vine and prevent proper sunlight penetration and air flow. Although water shoots can be [...]
Fancy rubbing 120,000 vines?
Our old friend ‘vitis vinifera’ is a vigorous plant and it will do it’s utmost to sprout new buds each year with the aim to grow and flourish. But winemakers need to keep the vine under control and this is one of the activities required each Spring to focus the new growth where it is [...]
Weeding in an organic vineyard
Domaine Begude’s vineyards are treated organically (i.e. without the use of any chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides) and here we see the décavonailleuse (mechanical weeder) in operation, keeping the weeds at bay.
Harvesting grapes by hand
Here we see the traditional, age-old method of picking grapes by hand. So many modern vineyards are switching to machine harvesting, but with 40 year old bush-vines like these, machine harvesting is just not an option. As you will see, it is extremely labour intensive and so very expensive.
Sustainable viticulture in winemaking
Angela talks about various types of more sustainable viticulture (i.e. growing vines). Here she discusses organic and biodynamic as well as other variations on a theme.