Managing the vineyard is a long-term commitment.
The plots we are working on today are those that were planted by our grandparents.
And the ones we plant today will be grown by our grandchildren.
For Maxime Bontoux, the owner of our 3 vineyards, the management of the plots is an essential part of the sustainability and quality of his wines.
However, in a context of global warming, each property must project itself on what will be the pedoclimatic context of tomorrow.
Will the climate always warm up?
Will the soils always be suitable?
Therefore, the choices for tomorrow must be made today.
In 2003, in this state of mind that, he decided to plant Petit Verdot, a grape variety from Bordeaux that used to have a lot of trouble ripening. Today, with the effects of global warming, it is a variety which is reaching optimum maturity and which makes it possible to obtain wines of extraordinary organoleptic interest.
10 years later, the effect of climate change has only grown. He then took the opposite view from his fellow winemakers and planted another grape well known to the Cadurcians(1) and the Argentines: Malbec.
Also named « Cot » or « Auxerrois », it remains more resistant to drought than Merlot, most of which is planted in Bordeaux.
This year, in 2020, still in this quest to improve the quality of our wines and adapt to global warming, we have planted:
– in Saint Emilion (Château Ferrand Lartigue) plants with a rootstock which delays maturity and which will allow us to continue to obtain balanced wines.
– in the Graves (Château Tourteau Chollet) a little-known variety – and which we wish to keep secret to this day.
Better than promoting adaptation to global warming, it will also improve the aromatic complexity of our wines.
But be patient … You will have to wait 3 years to taste the first nectars from these plots.
As you will have understood: Managing the vineyard is a long-term commitment …
In the meantime, taste our « C’est pas G …« , a wine without added sulfite, made equally from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot. [DISCOVER HERE]
(1) Cadurciens: inhabitants of Cahors
