• The pruning of the vines in the Clos du Château

    Pruning, pruning, pruning, at this moment in the enclosure of the Château de Boursault.

    Émilie, Loïc and Sylvain, in charge of the many work in the vineyard, are in the middle of a pruning session.

    Pruning is one of the most important tasks in running a vineyard. It takes place from November to March, from the fall of the leaves to the opening of the buds.

    Why prune?

    The purpose of pruning is to structure the vine stock to limit and organize future vegetation, and thus promote sunshine for the bunches to ensure optimal maturity. The vines will be more airy, therefore less conducive to the development of fungi such as downy mildew, powdery mildew or Botrytis.

    The task is huge: Émilie, Loïc and Sylvain will spend an average of 1mn and 20s per foot. There are more than 8,000 vines per hectare, and there are 13 hectares of vines in the Château de Boursault.

    Legend has it that it was a goat that helped viticulture take a big step forward. At the time, the winegrowers noticed that carefully grazed vines gave more qualitative grapes …