Viticulture / Viniculture, Burgundy Flashcards
Most rows in the Côte d’Or run along an ________ orientation, trailing up the slope rather than parallel to it. (Clos de Tart, Clos des Lambrays and La Romanée are notable exceptions.)
east-west
The vines are, by law, tightly spaced: Côte d’Or AOPs stipulate no fewer than _______ plants per hectare, and ____ meter spacing ( ____ vines per hectare) is nearly universal.
9,000 plants per hectare by law
1x1 meter spacing (10,000 vines per hectare)
Cote d’Or vines are ______-trained chiefly in the _______ manner.
Cote d’or vines are head-trained chiefly in the singly-guyot method. double guyot is prevelent in Chablis.
Chablis, AOP law requires a minimum density of ______ plants per hectare. Spacing is wider than in Cote d’or, at ______ meters.
minimum density of 5,500 plants to the hectare, and spacing between rows has traditionally been wider than in the Côte d’Or—1.5 or 1.65 meters rather than one. (However, modern vineyards are being replanted at higher densities, and it is not uncommon now to see 1x1 meter spacing here, too)
Define: Lutte Raisonnée
Type of ‘sustainable farming’ - The “reasoned struggle,” lutte raisonnée is a tempered approach to vineyard management wherein the grower limits chemical applications to times of necessity, rather than spraying recurrently. In 2002, the French Ministry of Agriculture defined lutte raisonnée as a sustainable practice that “enhances the positive impacts of agriculture on the environment and reduces the negative impacts, without jeopardizing the economic viability of farms.”
Define: Lutte Intégrée
Type of ‘sustainable farming’, in coordination or expanding upon Lutte Raisonnee.
If, in addition, the vigneron first uses natural alternatives or methods in place of synthetic ones when combatting pests, they are practicing lutte intégrée—the “integrated struggle.” With this approach, vignerons prefer to employ natural copper- or sulfur-based sprays rather than synthetic ones, and may choose sustainable options like sexual confusion—the release of pheromones to bewilder male insects and decrease their ability to mate—or the release of natural predators as a first line of defense against grapevine pests. Cover crops are frequently employed to minimize erosion and enrich biodiversity, and manure or compost may be substituted for synthetic fertilizers.
Define: Lutte Biologique
Organic Viticulture- cultivating vines organically.
Some do so without any oversight, but others choose to gain certification, through third-party organizations like Ecocert. At the close of 2012, the BIVB estimates between 8-12% of the entire Burgundy vineyard is cultivated organically (or biodynamically); the number grows each year.
Define: Biodynamique
Biodynamic Viticulture: While the biodynamic philosophy is covered elsewhere on this site, it has emerged as an important topic in modern Burgundy. Domaine Jean-Claude Rateau was the first estate in the Côte d’Or to adopt a biodynamic approach—way back in 1979—and the movement gained steam in Burgundy by the late 1980s. The ever-growing list of biodynamique producers in Burgundy now includes heavyweights like Domaine Leroy, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leflaive, Vincent Dauvissat, Comtes Lafon, and Comte Armand. Many are Demeter-certified; others are in the process of converting some or all of their parcels to biodynamic methods. However, it is not always possible to farm in this fashion: among Burgundy’s fragmented vineyards, it is arguably much more difficult to truly adhere to biodynamic (or organic) tenets if your neighbor’s vines are treated conventionally.
Common diseases vines in Burgundy face.
Powdery and downy mildews,
The wood-rotting fungal diseases : Eutypa dieback, esca, dead arm, and grey rot
Pests common in Burgundy.
A species of soil nematodes (Xiphinema index) spreads court-noué (grapevine fanleaf virus), a feared viral contagion in Burgundy that causes significant fruit set loss, stunted vine growth, and yellowing and curling of leaves.
Some bugs are just plain annoying: “ladybugs”—Harmonia axyridis beetles—have been blamed in 2004 and 2011 for green off-flavors in red wines. They secrete pyrazines as pheromones!
Big bacterial disease problem in Burgundy
Flavescence dorée, a disease caused by the spread of phytoplasma, specialized bacteria that are parasitic to plant material. Leafhopper insects spread the bacteria from vine to vine; growth slows, berries shrivel, leaves yellow, and the vine itself may die. Currently there is no cure beyond uprooting the vine and starting anew.
Frost fighting methods in Chablis
Chaufferettes (diesel-burning smudge pots, designed to heat the vines at night) first appeared in Chablis vineyards in the 1950s.
A greener alternative, aspersion, arrived in Chablis in the 1960s. With this technique, vignerons spray vines with water, and hope to protect delicate spring buds in a cocoon of ice, which prevents the temperature inside from plummeting further.
Electric heating cables, which run along the vines and keep the bud zone at a safe temperature when switched on.
Climatic hazards in Burgundy
Frost in Spring, destroying buds.
Hail, during the lifecycle of budding, fruitset, and ripening.
Wet springs can bring rot and coulure (shatter) and millerandage (uneven fruit set).
replanting methods
Selection Massalle: propagate with cuttings from various existing vines in the vineyard
Selection Clonale: selecting certified clones to plant
traditional barrel size in Burgundy, and future sizes
traditional: 228-liter pièce
however, producers are beginning to move to larger-format barrels for Chardonnay: 350- and 400-liter barrels are an ever more common sight in cellars. The larger barrels reduce surface exposure of the wine to wood and leave less of an oaky impression in the final wine. PYCM uses 350L
