Season after season

Alain Moueix and his team use biodynamic methods for the entire vineyard: above all, it is a question of taking care of the soil and ensuring its natural balance.

Bringing out the best qualities in the soil and the plant in its natural environment is achieved thanks to preparations made with vegetal, animal and mineral matter administered at specific times in the year's cycle.

Various experiments have enabled the observation of cosmic influences on plants' growth.  This research shows that these influences occur according to a certain rhythm directly linked to the positions of the moon and sun in relation to the constellations. 

So, depending on the days of the year, the plant will give precedence either to its roots, its leaves, its flowers or its fruit.  An annual calendar indicates the actual positions of the sun and moon.

All work and treatments carried out on the vines can be optimised by choosing dates indicated in this calendar: in fact, symbiosis must exist between the various organisms which are the plant, the earth and the cosmos. 

But it is sometimes necessary to step in to help the plant, using natural products such as Bordeaux mixture or top-quality sulphur, completing them with plant-based treatments in the form of infusions, decoctions or homeopathic dilutions.  

With the assistance of his team, Alain Moueix has established these biodynamic principles and methods that follow the recommendations of the lunar calendar and whose results are real and beneficial in every way. 

Season after season, the team at Fonroque is attentive to the terroir and the vine in its environment: a natural entirety treated with respect and conscientiousness. 

In autumn, harvests (picked by hand and placed in plastic crates) have recently been completed and the vine requires care and rest: this is the ideal period to provide the soil with elements that are necessary to avoid any deficiency during the vine's next period of growth (composts mixed into the soil, use of vegetal coverings).

Adding “Maria Thun” compost encourages the process of decomposition in the soils during winter.  It encourages microbial life and the formation of clay-humic complexes, a decisive process for ensuring the vine's well-balanced growth and controlling yields, the essential key for producing good quality grapes. 

After flowering in the month of June, comes the process known as berry set: pollinated flowers become tiny green grape berries, and then summer begins.

Later, the whole team will carry out leaf-thinning to allow the grape bunches to take advantage of a favourable micro-climate.  The process known as “green harvesting” involves removing certain bunches of green grapes and it is done with great precision: it is used in the case of excess and imbalance, which is far less frequent now thanks to biodynamic viticulture.

Subsequently comes the veraison period, when grape berries change colour; this is the beginning of the ripening process.  The vine stops growing and its shoots change colour too, from green to brown.