Domaine de Montnègre : exploitant de vins du Languedoc

It is there that everything begins. For us, the work in vineyards is essential and participates a lot in the future quality of wines.

I - From November to March: The cutting

From the fall of leaves, between November and March, we are spending every day outside in our vineyards for the cutting. According to vines, we cut court, in tumbler or in cordon of Royat. It is the cutting which is going to allow us, partially, to master the returns so that grapes selected at the end are in optimal quantity.

II - From April to August: The life starts again

As soon as the bud break happens, green points, where from leaves will go out, appear ; everything goes very fast, vine shoots can increase several centimeters a day.

Then flowers appear and open: the bloom lasts only some days in the discretion, just the time when comes true the fertilization

Then appears the grape, it is the “nouaison”; we are at the end of the spring.

The summer begins its work : grains grow until contact, we say that the wine grape closes. There is not more than to wait that the color of the grain turns: it is the “véraison”.

During all this period, the wine grower watches and accompanies his vineyard: plowing, “épamprage”, “palissage”, protection against the diseases and the parasites, potential “ébourgeonnage” : all that jobs have to be realized early in the morning not to warm the grapes !

We are right in summer, plants end their growth, fruits are there and ask only to mature under the sun.

It is the nature which makes the main part: the surrounding scrubland deposits its delicate flavors on grapes and more particularly on the skin: it is from this skin that we extract the aromas and the tannins which will give their character to wines.

III - September: The grape harvests

It is the key moment, the vineyard is going to give its answer: every day, we are going to sample some grains and we analyze them to determine the optimal maturity, we do it for every vine and every vineyard. It is necessary to find the balance between sugar and acidity, and to seize the maturity at its best moment.

Depending on the year, we can have 4 weeks between the grape harvest of the 1st vineyard and the last one (always the mourvèdre which is a particularly late vine).