At this time of the year, it is the pruning that occupies our days in the vines. That is because our 11.15 hectares allow us to do this, we make the decision not to prune until the month of January, only once the vine plants are deeply installed in their winter sleep. On our hillside, each plant has its own unique identity. At one glance, the pruning hand must be able to analyze its morphology and its vigour. It must be the same for the 65, 000 vine plants ingrained on our landscape.
Our guiding principle remains the flow circuit of the sap, and the watchword is the search for balance. The sap flow will guide the choice of which canes to leave so as to conserve the most direct flow. Each secateur gesture must be wisely considered to avoid any plant stalk injury.
The balance is created between the number of buds left the year before and the number of canes that are well developed. In this way, by a painstaking observation, the pruning hand can determine the number of buds to keep for the current year, for a descent development at the stalk and of its grapes.
In its life, a plant stalk will have seen a multitude of pruning hands, will have produced hundreds of clusters and will have been accompanied a thousand times by the hands of our winegrowers. That is why each gesture counts and no gesture is innocuous. The pruning is one of the most important stages that sculp our plants, guide their growth and ensure their perennity.
By Clément Baudon
