Vineyard Work

Didier Barrouillet at the WheelClos Roche Blanche, Touraine (Loire)
I stopped at Clos Roche Blanche winery to buy a few bottles. The estate is located near Mareuil sur Cher, not far from the Cher river. If you look at the satellite picture and navigate properly a bit on the upper left you can see the winery and the vineyards on the otherside of the wood.
Catherine was already in the deep cavernous cellar under the hill with a few visitors and I joined the party. Beautiful tasting of whites, of a rosé (Pineau d'Aunis) and of reds in the cold cave, guarded as usual by the quiet dog Pic and his mother. I came initially for whites but couldn't resist to grab a few reds in addition to some "Sauvignon N°5 after I tasted l'Arpent Rouge 2007, a red Pineau d'Aunis which is virtually sold out now (If you find some, buy it blind!) . On the nose, pepper, red fruits, cherries, morello cherries and clafouti, with an additionnal touch of liquorice in the mouth, a beautiful and surprising wine. At 6,5 Euro it's a steal. I would have liked to buy also a few bottles of "la Closerie" 2006, a red blend of Cot, Cabernet Franc and Gamay but I don't have much room on the motorcycle, it will be for my next drop. This last wine has its three grape varieties harvested together and macerated together, so that their respective yeasts blend too, then the resulting wine stayed one year in casks in these.
While we were downing a few generous pours of CRB's last wines, Didier was alone doing some delicate spring work in the vineyard, a few meters over our heads.

Pif Runs on the Dirt RoadA vineyard is like a garden. It is full of life and looks as if it could live by itself but it needs permanent attention, especially when the vigneron has chosen to let a rich bio-diversity live between the rows.
I decided to pay a surprise visit to Didier Barrouillet and see from close what he was doing in the vineyard.The vineyards of Clos Roche Blanche are on the top of the hill and to reach them you just need to walk the dirt road across the woods on the slope. Pic the dog gets sudddenly excited by the prospect of a run, and he shows me that he is good at other things than just laying in the cellar and listening to the noisy comments of chatty, happy tasters. This dog is a real runner...But seeing that neither Catherine or his mother followed suit, he soon turned back, leaving me alone on my way to the plateau. The Vineyard after the Machine PassedOnce on the plateau, I walk toward the tractor at the other end, looking at the furrows and earth clods with grass left by the tractor. This vineyard is organicly farmed with biodynamic practices and it sure doesn't look like many vineyards in the region. What a grass, it seems it was time for a bit of haircut here. The grass has been growing quietly for months and this happens to be the first plow of the year. Didier says that as long as there is a risk of frost, plowing could have some adverse effects. Mid-may is usually risk-free for beginning to work on the vineyard soil. He says that there will be 2 or 3 such plowings. In spring, the vineyard managers also have to work in a window opportunity between frost risks and damp soils : don't even think to drive a tractor in the vineyard when it has rained, it would be a nightmare. Didier Barrouillet Manouevering the TractorDidier Barrouillet stops his monster a couple of minutes to explain his task of the day. Asked about the particular type of plowing, I thought it might be decavaillonnage, but he says that he precisely avoids this plowing technique. Decavaillonage consists of returning the outer layer of the soil, which he considers is disturbing the microbial life of the upper soil. Didier says that he wants to preserve the upper horizons. In an organicly-farmed vineyard like Clos Roche Blanche's, the upper soil is intensely alive, not only with its weeds and vegetal diversity, but also with micro-organisms, bacteria and insects and what he looks for is just to aerate a bit the soil and cut the roots of some of the grass. He calls this plowing a flat plowing, this is a type of plowing that preserves both the aerobic and anaerobic microbes that make this soil alive. I am learning new things here, I thought whatever plowing was good but there seems to be nuances here. Under the Tractor : the Blade briefly surfaces on the leftI followed carefully the tractor as it sliced the upper soil. Didier keeps his hands firmly on the wheel while bending on the side to check that the vines are not endangered (even though the blade is automaticly guided away from each vine) . You can see the blade emerging briefly on the left. He put only one blade on the plow this time because there's so much grass that it makes too much traction with 2 blades and big blocks of grass come together. Because he uses only one blade, he has to make two passages on each row, one side after the other. The furrows on the picture above seem to have been plowed at once but each side is actually worked one after the other. In a flat plowing, the grass clods are just separated from the lower soil by the blade and left almost on the same spot. The only thing with this flat plowing is that the weather has to stay dry for a few days thereafter because if it rains, the grass could re-root right away. With a dry weather, the grass will dry and will turn into something very positive for the soil : Mulch. a Few Rows Ahead...The particular block on which Didier Barrouillet works is an old-vines Gamay plot. The vines aren't that big but they're still about 40 years old. This picture shot a few rows ahead of the tractor shows how well the girls are in their grass... Didier says that the flat plowing could also cut the superficial roots of the vines, the ones that feed on surface water and are responsible for excessive yields, but as the estate is organicly farmed since 16 or 17 years, they got rid long time ago from these upper roots. Didier says that he remember that back then the vines didn't like too much when he terminated this easy-quench. They had to adapt in spite of their age and look deeper for their nutrients. Of course he keeps the grass untouched in the middle. He says that it helps increase the competition from, say 6000 or 7000 vines/hectare to a virtual 10 000, which is optimal for the grapes. Found a Fossil in the Plows...Didier says that he needs a week to do this job all over the 18 hectares of the estate. The next such plowing will be in late june or early july, and he will use two blades this time, which will make the work easier and faster. Organic farming needs a lot of work, but with its 18 hectares, Clos Roche Blanche still manages to have most of the work done by two people, Didier himself and the permanent worker of the estate.
Before leaving him continue his arduous task, I ask Didier about the 2007 harvest (many organicly-farmed estates had disastrously-low yields because of the poor weather conditions and Mildew). He says that the yields were lower in 2007 but not that much and that mildew could be countered. In 2008 he notes that the foliage and growth on the vines is nearly 2-weeks late because of the cold weather in march and april, but he says that this is not a bad thing.
I found this sponge fossil in the moved earth and brought it to Catherine who keeps a nice collection of fossils on Clos Roche Blanche's windows (you'll find it there if you visit). Many of these sponge fossils have the shape of a water drop or a fig (I initially thought these were figs fossils) and they date from the remote era when a sea covered the region. Pif resting at its usual place in the officeDon't stare at me like that ! Lazy dog has missed many nice things as well as a healthy run between the rows.

Comments

[michele colline]

Wonderful article, thank you. I live in Montepulciano(SE Tuscany)and follow the vineyard work of the locals(7/10 of a hectare and they sell to the local co-op besides making their own wine) behind our house. Even so, I never realized plowing was so nuanced. Depends a bit on the land I suppose as here the soil gets dry and quite hard and plowing(after the initial Spring one for cover between the rows)is always done if rain threatens...presumably...so it can soak in and not flood down the slopes. I have also discovered that if you have to do any work in the vineyard, try to be the one on the tractor! It is taken-for-granted hard work.

[putnam]

Aww. Good dogg!

Great article. You really captured the life teeming under the canopy. And the wines absolutely cannot be beat.

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I think wonderful.