A year in the vineyard at Chateau Lestevenie
January
Pruning, pruning and more pruning of around 48,000 vines, about 45 kilometres of vine rows altogether . Some pruning is done with manual vine pruners and some with the electric pruners. With the electric ones if you do not wear a still glove you will end up like many older vignerons around here, minus a finger or two.
February
Pruning still! Manage woodland, thin trees.
March
Finish pruning. Pull out the pruned wood. Replace old broken posts and worn out wires.
April
Vines start coming into bud .Tying the vines to the wires. Weed control. Bottle previous year’s wine.
May
Buds are shooting and growing fast. Flowers visible as tight bunches. Epamprage is a now amajor job. It means removing all the shoots sprouting from the wrong places e.g. the bottom of the vine and excess ones at the top. Some vineyards do this chemically with a topical herbicide but we choose to do it manually. First anti-mildew spray.
June
Small bunches of grapes are now visible. Some vines will start reach the top wires and the rest of the vine shoots have to be lifted up and contained with wires. This is called levage. Continue spraying against mildew etc. Mow grass strips between vines as late as possible to allow the seeds of wild flowers to set .
Haymaking. Our hay is used to add organic matter to the vines’ soil as well as for feeding horses.
July
Vines are now high hedges of green with grapes developing. Trim leaf growth. Last mildew spray. Vineyard tours and lots of people visiting for wine tastings. Labelling and boxing of bottled stock.
August
Red grapes start to change colour. All grapes gaining in size and sweetness daily. Prepare chai for harvest. Take a few days off !
September
Start to sample and test for exact day of harvest. Normally our harvesting sequence is Sauvignon Blanc in the first or second week, then Merlot for rosé, then Semillon for dry white, then Merlot for red, Semillon for moelleux ( semi-sweet white). The whites are pressed straight away, rosé after a few hours and reds after a few weeks.
October
Normally our Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon are not ready until October. This harvest is relatively simple, weather permitting, as the harvested grapes are pumped straight in the tanks, kept as cool as possible for a long slow fermentation on their skins.
At the end of the month we start to hand-pick the late harvest Semillon for our special sweet dessert wine, Saussignac as the vines leaves start to turn golden too.
November
Pressing of final reds, filtering and racking the wine. Constant tasting and analysis for fermentation progress. Repairing wires whilst letting them down ready for pruning.
December
Start pruning again!
Keep warm and enjoy a toasting in front of the fire with a glass of 2011 red.
January
Pruning, pruning and more pruning of around 48,000 vines, about 45 kilometres of vine rows altogether . Some pruning is done with manual vine pruners and some with the electric pruners. With the electric ones if you do not wear a still glove you will end up like many older vignerons around here, minus a finger or two.
February
Pruning still! Manage woodland, thin trees.
March
Finish pruning. Pull out the pruned wood. Replace old broken posts and worn out wires.
April
Vines start coming into bud .Tying the vines to the wires. Weed control. Bottle previous year’s wine.
May
Buds are shooting and growing fast. Flowers visible as tight bunches. Epamprage is a now amajor job. It means removing all the shoots sprouting from the wrong places e.g. the bottom of the vine and excess ones at the top. Some vineyards do this chemically with a topical herbicide but we choose to do it manually. First anti-mildew spray.
June
Small bunches of grapes are now visible. Some vines will start reach the top wires and the rest of the vine shoots have to be lifted up and contained with wires. This is called levage. Continue spraying against mildew etc. Mow grass strips between vines as late as possible to allow the seeds of wild flowers to set .
Haymaking. Our hay is used to add organic matter to the vines’ soil as well as for feeding horses.
July
Vines are now high hedges of green with grapes developing. Trim leaf growth. Last mildew spray. Vineyard tours and lots of people visiting for wine tastings. Labelling and boxing of bottled stock.
August
Red grapes start to change colour. All grapes gaining in size and sweetness daily. Prepare chai for harvest. Take a few days off !
September
Start to sample and test for exact day of harvest. Normally our harvesting sequence is Sauvignon Blanc in the first or second week, then Merlot for rosé, then Semillon for dry white, then Merlot for red, Semillon for moelleux ( semi-sweet white). The whites are pressed straight away, rosé after a few hours and reds after a few weeks.
October
Normally our Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon are not ready until October. This harvest is relatively simple, weather permitting, as the harvested grapes are pumped straight in the tanks, kept as cool as possible for a long slow fermentation on their skins.
At the end of the month we start to hand-pick the late harvest Semillon for our special sweet dessert wine, Saussignac as the vines leaves start to turn golden too.
November
Pressing of final reds, filtering and racking the wine. Constant tasting and analysis for fermentation progress. Repairing wires whilst letting them down ready for pruning.
December
Start pruning again!
Keep warm and enjoy a toasting in front of the fire with a glass of 2011 red.