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Vine growing
Château d'Yquem has had a weather station for 140 years and has never recorded higher levels of rainfall between April and May than in 2020.

Tuesday July 28 2020

Château d'Yquem certified organic by 2022

Announced as a matter of course on May 13, 2019 by Bernard Arnault, chairman of LVMH, the switch-over to organic farming at Château d'Yquem
Vine growing
The neighbour has admitted to firing the shots

Monday July 27 2020

Provence winegrower shot at with a rifle for spraying by night

“Today it’s a tank, tomorrow it’ll be someone’s head”, warned Laurent Grimaud, secretary general of the Var (...)
Vine growing
Veraison will soon be with us, bringing relief for winegrowers.

Tuesday July 21 2020

After many months of disease pressure, France’s vineyards are now in fine fettle again

In the very early-ripening areas, the first clusters showed signs of veraison around July 5. Everywhere else, the cluster closure stage is (...)
Vine growing
“We have also observed a fertigation effect, which reduces the amount of fertiliser applied by 50 to 70% depending on the amount of water used”, says Hernan Ojeda.

Friday July 17 2020

Using treated waste water to irrigate vines in Languedoc

Global warming has transformed irrigation into a matter of survival for vines in the driest areas of Languedoc in the South of France. The (...)
Vine growing
“We will be able to tell our customers which agents the strains are resistant to, whether these resistances are weak or strong, and help them choose their plant protection products”, explains Jérémie Brusini.

Thursday July 16 2020

New DNA analysis to treat downy mildew less but also better

‘Baas’ for ‘Biology as a solution’ is the name of the Gironde laboratory due to be set up in a few weeks' time. (...)
Vine growing
Julien Denormandie has his sights squarely set on ensuring glyphosate is banned at the start of 2021. His ministry will soon publish the results of an inventory showing progress on purchases of herbicides.

Wednesday July 15 2020

New French Agriculture Minister determined to end use of glyphosate by 2021

During government question time on 8 July, France’s new Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, was questioned by Aisne MP Julien (...)
Vine growing
'In the name of showing respect for tradition, our industry has come to a standstill”, says Vincent Malherbe.

Thursday July 09 2020

Vincent Malherbe, vineyard manager for Moët & Chandon: “Each winegrower and Champagne shipper should be able to test new techniques ”

In your magazine ‘Partenaires’, designed for winegrowers who work with Moët & Chandon, you invite Champagne to experiment (...)
Thursday July 02 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
“The system's power of 120 to 140 kW/ha guarantees efficiency down to -10°C. When it is switched on, the temperature is kept at between 15 and 20°C along the trellising wire”, explains Fabien Queffelec.

Electrically heated cables return to Chablis to ward off frost

Next spring, workers at Château Grenouilles, owned by La Chablisienne, will not need to be constantly on hand to light candles or heaters (...)
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Wednesday July 01 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
Thorvald measures 2.4m x 1.2m and moves at a speed of 1.5 metres per second.

An autonomous robot that eliminates downy and powdery mildew overnight

Robot Thorvald has passed its final tests on Chardonnay with flying colours. This spring, it went through the rows of vines and projected (...)
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Wednesday June 24 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
The French company feeds its Tenebrio Molitor worms on cereal by-products.

The first insect-based fertiliser released in the French market

After four years of research in partnership with several institutes, including Bordeaux Sciences Agro, Ÿnsect has become the first company (...)
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Friday June 19 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
290 disease resistant grape varieties will be planted. In three years’ time, the twenty best will be replanted on a larger scale.

Martell plants 123 grape varieties resistant to powdery and downy mildew

As you drive by, the chances are you won’t even notice the 0.5-hectare plot. But to Martell, it’s worth its weight in gold. “On (...)
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Thursday June 18 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
In addition to the leaves, symptoms are also very visible on the clusters.

Bordeaux wine growers struggle to keep on top of mildew

“Every anti-mildew spray costs money and adds to the prevailing gloom”, comments consultant winemaker and director of EnoSens (...)
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Friday June 12 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
“Regenerative farming involves agroecology, agroforestry, permaculture...” specified Bernard Pineau.

Martell, Mumm and Perrier-Jouët head towards phasing out pesticides

French vineyards, “are in an interim period where we are moving away from chemicals. Weed control and systematic treatments are over. (...)
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Wednesday June 10 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
For vine flowering, there is a critical 2-week period.

Temperatures during flowering in 2019 determine 2020 crop yields

For years, research has on various occasions shown a connection between a given climatic factor, such as temperature or rainfall, and key (...)
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Friday June 05 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
The red grape variety Rebelia and the white grape variety Recybel.

Alain Bouquet’s first disease-resistant varieties listed in the French catalogue

This is the latest step towards recognition of the visionary work by late French researcher Alain Bouquet on grape varieties resistant to (...)
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Wednesday May 20 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
Time for excitement. On social media, winegrowers have put aside the stress caused by mildew and the inaccessibility of many vineyards to share their best shots of vines in bloom.

Unprecedented - vines bloom exceptionally early across France

Several weeks ahead of schedule, winegrowers have been witnessing the start of flowering in vineyards across France. In the Entre-Deux-Mers (...)
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Thursday May 07 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
“Can you visualise the cameras that follow the ball from the top of large football stadiums? The cable robot works based on the same principles”

A high-tech puppet in the vineyard

In tomorrow’s world, four masts fixed on removable bases could divide your vineyard plots into squares. At the top, winches would wind (...)
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Wednesday May 06 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
A combination of early vine growth and the coronavirus epidemic has made the need for seasonal workers for the 2020 harvest urgent

Lack of foreign seasonal workers causes concern that the French wine industry will run out of manpower

Vines are growing as fast as fears of not having enough manpower to keep them under control. “Some ministries are hell-bent on the idea (...)
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Friday May 01 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
“The majority of vines affected are not like in this photo”, pointed out Philippe Abadie.

Hail takes care of the harvest over thousands of hectares in Bordeaux

After frost and snow, the vineyards of Bordeaux have now had to contend with rain and hailstorms. Late afternoon and into the night on Friday (...)
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Thursday April 30 2020 - Vine growing by Vitisphere
For PDO and PGI wines, “given the impossibility of carrying out some of the checks, products can be awarded an Official Sign of Quality and Origin provided firms are accredited and every aspect of specifications, including the obligation to declare, are complied with”, said INAO.

Physical checks on PDOs and PGIs suspended during lockdown

Singling out the issue for organic Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)-labelled products, France’s (...)
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