Flowering of the vine.

The flowering of the vine is close to be over on our parcels of Chardonnay. Unfortunately, and despite all the informatic possibilities, we will not be abble to take offer you the delicate smell that spreads in the vine routes. On the other hand, we can help you to understand the phenomenon.

The flowers are 5 stamens and a pistil and their flowering take place in 3 times.

-The fall of the flower cap. It's a natural shield that covers the flower before flowering to protect them. It will be ejected by the pening of the stamens.

Some caps are still in place.

- The pollination. The bags of pollen will open and the grains will fly with the wind to fertilize other flowers...Unfortunately with this wet weather, the risk of lost of pollination is real.

-Fertilization. The grain of pollen will stick at the top of the flower and fertilize it.

Mildiou ! Mildew !

The blot of oil is the first sign

What an hawfull weather for our mood and for our vines.

We are mid-June and the anticyclone did not appear. It's raining every day for several weeks and the weather is heavy, hot and humide. Nothing like those conditions to help the spread of fungal diseases such as mildew.

This fungus grows on the leaves and then will proliferate to the other leaves and win branches and then the grappes to destroy..

The fungus is install in the leaf.

For now, development is content and only a few vines from some plots are affected. But, we need to take specific care and be very vigilant to not see appear the oil stains on the leaves, sign of contamination by the fungus. .

The grappe is contaminated.

Berrys are "frost"

The fruits will die.

Some grappes have been affected. They turn black by the tail bend down and covers of something like frost or mold. At this stage the bloom will never happen and the grappe will die.

Blanc de Noir or Blanc de Blanc.

This spring is strange. Weather change every days from the best to the worst. This monday morning was grey, dull and cloudy. Hopefully, the visit of our English friends brings us a touch of color and happiness to help us to beggin this week in better conditions. Thanks you .

Salmanazar

Two Salmanazar will soon go to Italy.
Those very big bottles contains 9 litres, as much as 12 regular bottles of champagne.

The middle one is the regular size.