Weeding the vines and between the rows

Period: spring-summer

It is not common today to use chemicals to eliminate weeds. This is a very serious matter. Due to the use of various herbicides and pesticides, first of all, the workers in the agricultural sector themselves suffer : these products represent a risk to their health.

The de Pitray winery has abandoned the use of herbicides, and the removal of weeds is carried out mechanically. This is not a marketing ploy but rather a deliberate decision, which, of course, is reflected in the cost of the wine produced.

Grape ripening

Period: June-August

Summer starts with flowers. According to local belief, the grape harvest begins 100 days after the flowering of the vine. That is, in our case, in mid-September, but this is not always true.

What is blooming? This is the second-to-last phase of the growing season, in which the flower separates, the stamens straighten, the pollen spills out and the bush is fertilized.

Growth of grapes in early July

The beginning of the ripening of berries occurs at the end of July (as illustrated in the photo). The grapes change colour, and at the end of August the grapes will gain sugar. Very soon, the berries will reach maturity and the collection will begin.

Harvesting

Period: September-October

Noisy peasant harvest festival.
Fun, laughter, fervent songs ringing!
And Bacchus juice, igniting the blood,
All the weak knocks down, bestowing a sweet dream.

A very busy period for a winemaker. They do not sleep, do not eat, and pray for precipitation not to fall. The ideal scenario is to collect the harvest on a clear day, under the caressing rays of the sun so that the equipment does not break … Oh, these assembly machines, everything can happen. Saint Valery and Vincent, please, help! Don’t turn away, help the winemaker!

The goal is to harvest each variety at their optimum technical maturity. The start date of the collection is decided collectively by the winegrower, the owner, the oenologist.

The collection starts with Merlot, then moves on to Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon.

In the farms of Bordeaux, a large vineyard is divided into parts that differ not only by varieties but also by the age of the vines. We do not take into account the peculiarities of the land here, but it plays a huge role. Of course, grapes are first harvested from young plants (younger than 15 years old), then they move on to mature vines.

In Bordeaux, two types of collections are used – manual and mechanical. In the winery de Pitray, the collection is mechanical.

And then a new process begins: ‘The Birth of Wine.’ And that’s another story…

The vine waking up after winter

Period: March-May

March. Tears in the vine, or apiary, is the natural state of vines in spring, marking its awakening after winter and the transition from a passive state to an active one. The tears of the vine begin with the heating of the soil at a depth of 25 cm above 10°C. The vine feeds, draws water and the juice rises from the root system along the trunk to the tips of the shoots, where wounds have formed after winter pruning. The vine is awakening.

In late March-early April, the brownish scales of the buds open in the rays of the warm caressing sun and tiny leaves appear.

In early April, the first leaves appear. Each bud will ‘give birth’ to a shoot. The vine develops very quickly. Spring is the very period when the expression ‘grows by leaps and bounds’ is true to life.

By the end of May, grape inflorescences are formed. This is a moment for a miracle – the birth of a berry, a future harvest. Cultivated grapes (vitis vinifera) have small, bisexual, greenish flowers collected in a loose or dense panicle.

The Birth of Wine

After being harvested, the grapes are transported to the winery and sorted on the sorting tables. the grape is crushed (the crushing consists of breaking the grape berries to extract the must without crushing the seeds). Next, a mixture of grape juice, skins, pulp and seeds is poured into large vats. At this stage, different grape varieties are not mixed.

Alcoholic fermentation takes about 7 to 10 days. During this time it is necessary to control the temperature in the vat so that it does not rise above 32°C, otherwise the yeast, which converts sugar into ethanol, will die. The fermentation process releases carbon dioxide, which pushes the grape skins, pulp and seeds up to the surface, forming a so-called ‘cap’. Grape juice has no colour, as all fragrances, colour and tannins are in the skin and seeds. To extract these elements a winemaker makes a mixture of the must and the cap, which is followed by maceration. The flavoured bordeaux must is separated from the grape skins, pulp and seeds, then further fermentation takes place. After this, wine is transferred to oak barrels where it ages from 8 to 24 months. During all this time, the wine evaporates through the pores of the oak, so the winemaker must constantly refill it to avoid the wine turning into vinegar.