Heaven! Grass in the Vineyard?
 If
you have been driving by the national road N74 for the last 10 years,
you have probably noticed that the colour of the soil has changed: from
a naked brown, it is progressively turning to green here and there,
almost all year long. Look at the picture showing my Echezeaux on
the right side...
Yes, grass grows again in some vineyards and this deserves a few
words of explanation. No, we are not turning lazy or careless,
quite the opposite, as keeping grass demands more work. So why do
we let it grow?
Grass presents numerous benefits if you can control it properly.
I realized this the hard way in 1994: the grapes were outstanding, with
beautiful, healthy berries. Suddenly, heavy rain came, and I saw
our grapes growing too quickly then rotting. Walking around, I
noticed that some parcels covered with grass, very unusual at that time,
did not develop the same problems: grass had absorbed the excess water.
And later, when I tasted the wine coming from those parcels, I was
impressed by its balance, its concentration.
So I began to research the subject. I experimented, pushed my
mower between the rows of vines, hours after hours. With a few
years of experience I conclude the following.
- Grass is a good way to control yield because it competes
with the vine and slows its growth. And a controlled yield is
one of the secrets for balanced and harmonious wines!
- Grass also hinders the development of the vine roots at the
surface, so the vine roots must go deeper to find what will
make the essence of the wine. It explores more fully its terroir
and express much better its substance: the secret for wines with
character!
- Grass absorbs excess water, like in 1994, or during violent
thunderstorms. This avoids having the finest particles of soil
to be washed away and accumulate at the bottom of the hills.
Here lies the secret to maintain our terroir and transmit it to our
children.
So for all those reasons, at the Domaine Naudin-Ferrand, we have
developed a harmonious grass cover in our vineyards. And as Nature
is smart, we trust it: allowing the grass to grow, we have seen first
grasses that lighten the soil to grasses with a fine surface root
network. Occasionally we need to intervene, but all in all, grass
manages itself!
This is why the Orchis mascula, a wild orchid growing in the "En
Bully" parcel, can grow for the pleasure of visitors.
Now, when you will see grass in a vineyard, you can think that the
winemaker is probably a poet.
Claire Naudin
Août 2008 |
