Our "décavailloneuse"

Dear wine lovers,

I am often "amused" when I hear some vine owners say : My vines are "clean". For them, it means than there are no "bad herbs" and the reason they think this way is because they have been "brainclean" by "Mr Roundup".

Of course, those "bad herbs" might eventually take some water from the vines which will make them suffer more but this is for the best of the grapes and eventually those bad herbs will disintegrate, contribute to the microbial soil life and give natural food to the vines.

In order to regulate those herbs, I have chosen to use a traditional "décavailloneuse" used by ancients before "Mr Roundup" decided that a dead soil would be better to the vines. The result is great even if the use is not that easy to use + takes a lot of time since you don't want to damage the vines with the tools. But this is for he best and I am sure our dear vines will appreciate the effort.

Our vines keep growing fast. Some of them are about to flower and the bees we now have might welcome should be able to find abundant food to feed the Queen, themselves and, why not, give us a small amount of honey. The future grapes start to take shape and I continue to see ladybugs which always pleases me so much.

At last, our cellar is almost ready to welcome the tanks. When they are, I will almost feel like this queen in its bee house !

Cheers,

Jean-Marc Espinasse - Domaine Rouge-Bleu