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September 2009

Cold weather, rain, drought... The seasons are back!

A cold winter followed by a damp spring and a hot summer. What is unusual?! This trend, more the exception than the rule these days, perfectly describes the situation in 2009.

Indeed, the cold snap at the beginning of the year delayed the budding of the vines until late March. The very rainy spring helped replenish the underground water reserves, which had suffered from a particularly dry year in 2008.

However this situation caused a severe parasite attack of Oidium and Mildew. Thanks to the commitment of over 80% of the vineyards to ’conduite raisonnée’ and regular inspections by the Mont Tauch technicians and growers, an efficient and adapted strategy was put in action early on.

The summer with its July storms and cool nights benefited from the hot period in August, which was timely for the good development and ripening of the harvest.

 

Premuim selection scheme for 50% of the vineyards...

Each year, the vineyards that take part in the Mont Tauch quality selection scheme or ’cahiers de charges’ (nearly 1000ha out of 2000ha) are inspected by the vineyard technicians from the end of June and throughout the summer up until the harvest. Considering the overall healthy aspect and limited yields, 74% of all patches entered into the scheme were accepted. This groundwork allows the winemaker to seperate out the grapes according to their potential and therefore adapt the vinification process. 

 

Remote sensing to differentiate each batch...  

For the last three years, in partnership with the ICV (Institut Coopératif du Vin), Mont Tauch has been using Oenoview, which distinguishes from aerial shots of the vineyards the homogeneity and strength of the plants within each patch. This technique is used on 300ha of the vineyards in ’conduite raisonnée’ in addition to the inspections carried out by the technicians and enables the grapes to be seperated into two distinct batches of equivalent quality potential.

 

Sustainable development is becoming increasingly popular...

The growers are moving forward in their commitment to sustainable development, initiated at Mont Tauch over 5 years ago. 80% of Mont Tauch’s 2000ha are now certified ’Terra Vitis’ and qualified for ’agriculture raisonnée’.

Every year, audits of individual growers ensure the actions recommended by the Mont Tauch vineyard technicians are implemented. For instance, mechanical work of the soil has in many cases been preferred to the use of chemical weed killers and the areas surrounding the vineyards now remain green all year round.

For this year’s harvest, Château de Montmal, owned by Mont Tauch, begins its conversion to becoming an organic vineyard. The wines will be added to the ’organic range’ that Mont Tauch is offering to its customers since the beginning of the year.

 

An early harvest...

The system set up by Mont Tauch to follow maturity and put into practice several times a week by the technicians, showed as early as mid-August the harvest was going to be early: high sugar content for all grape varieties but with notable acidity (high level of malic acid).

Thanks to the favorable weather conditions, the decision was taken to increase the minimum degree requirement for the different quality levels of reds to harvest at the best possible polyphenol maturity.

The harvest started at Mont Tauch on 27th August with the white varieties and the Muscat, continuing through to the end of September with the red varieties and Carignan in particular.

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