Agroecologie: to head for ours organic wine

30 April 2019

80% of wine work is done in the vineyard!

Let’s be winemakers, artists and wine makers who pay homage to our terroir!  Tradition of Great Languedoc wines in the AOP of Malepère on the ground of the Dominicans facing the ecological transition:  Since 2013 when the vineyard was taken back we have undertaken an agroecological approach which consists of using the functionalities offered by nature acording 3 main points and we are in the 2nd year of conversion to organic farming.

1. Biodiversity. By this we mean the diversity of grape varieties (9 on our vinyard: Grenache Noir, Syrah, Marselan, Merlot, Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay), that is to say re-explore the diversity of grape varieties, aboriginal or secondary. It is also to privilege and valorize the functional biodiversity, such as the auxiliaries present in hedgerows and grass strips or the trichogrammes, or the bats, the owls which participate in the natural regulation.

Haies Merlot

2. Preserve the soil. Work the soil according to the soil structure and access to water and nutrients in the soil. Soil management and biological quality are being rediscovered! Mechanization combined with manual work is involved. Bring organic matter and make it available by aerating the soil among other things, just like biocontrol. A variety of means is to develop.

Chardonnay spring 2019
Travail du sol avant pluie

3. Reduction of phyto products. In order to find alternatives to herbicides, pesticides and synthetic fungicides, cover crops (green manures, grass under rows), biocontrol (here Isonet, pheromone against the bunchworm). Agroecology makes it necessary to have a global approach at the scale of the territories: it puts us as viticulturist in the heart of the territory, and actor of the landscape! By landscape, we mean for example water management, or the establishment of sexual confusion in the vineyard + mutualization of weather station and probe for the soil, and the need to regroup among producers … But also communication with local residents on practices such as phyto and spraying.

Biocontrôle ISONET Merlot Spring 2019

Agroecology is therefore a more complex and autonomous viticulture. It requires more technicality and innovations, especially digital and in practice!