Pruning...is over.

We are giving our last moves of pruning shears in the vines. After more thang Three months of work, the pruning is going to end.

With 25 shots of pruning per foot and 9 000 vines per hectare, it is needed time to cut our 37 plots, sometimes in Chablis, sometimes n Cordon de Royat, which are the only two modes allowed in rthe Grand Cru and Premier Cru vineyards.

Chablis is prefrered for Chardonnay

Chablis : 2 or 3 branches with 5 buids each cover the space of the vine.

Cordon de Royat is better for Pinot Noir.

Cordon de Royat : A main branch with "coursons" of 2 buds.

Why pruning ?

Plant family of the vine is akin to the liane. Therefore, of course, the vine want to produce wood. Think about that the added length of the branches of 1 vine would exceed 50 meters if do not prune.

So we are pruning for :

-Control of elongation of the branches that would then become too fragile and break under the wind blows and the weight ofthe grappes.
-Limit the number of buds to balance the number of grappes for a perfect maturation.
-Divide the branch in the vine space to avoid having too much branches and leaves which, in summer, promote the developpement of diseases due to moisture.
-Obtain grappes beacause of the right selection of the woods.

Juste remember that to give a fruit, the buds of this year must grows og a bud of last year, and moreover, only the first 5 buds of the branch are fruiting. The selection of the bearing branches are paramount.

The last moves of pruning shears

Visit of our importer of Italie (region of Brescia)

Sylvia and Stefano

Visit of the cellar.

We just had the pleasur to welcome Sylvia and Stefano, our Italian importers for the region of Brescia. They were in France for few days ans stoped at home to taste some cuvées of Champagne. It was the first time in Champagne for Sylvia, so we introduce her to the vines, the cellars and the vinification methods of Champagne Henriet Bazin.

We had a very good time, with real lovers of champagne, gastronomy and terroir.

Franco-Italian twinning !

The caterpillar from the BOARMIE butterfly

We met her yesterday while pruning. It's the catterpilar of the butterfly called BOARMIE. It certainly spend winter hide under the bark and now wake up with the warmest températures..

Frozen to be invisible.

This caterpillar is very good in camouflage. It's colour make it hard to see, and it's freezing when it feel any mouvement, like a twig.

Like a twig.

Those hibernating carterpillars are gnowing the buds when they are opening, killing the futur branch, with leaves and fruits. 

Back from our United-States show (New-York and Chicago).

Marie-Noëlle présent 4 of the 8 cuvées.

We are just to return from the US. New York and Chicago are beautiful cities, impressive, incredible, especially when you arrives from a village of 600 people lost in the heart of the vineyards of Champagne.

View of New-York from "Top of The Rock"

Empire State Buildind is in the middle.

The city of Chicago and the Lac Michigan from the 103rd floor of the Willys Tower.

We had good time during the tastings, and the aromas of the Champagne Henriet Bazin seem to have conquered many tasters and oenophiles.

After the visit of New York and points of sale renowned such as Chambers, Astor Wine... We have proposed our winegrowers Champagnes to local professionals.

Importers, distributors, retailers, restaurateurs and journalists came to taste our wines: 3 champagne grand cru and a premier cru 2006 vintage.

A good taste, good contact, we now need to touchdown !

The Organization was similar to Chicago: visit of points of sale, retailers or restaurants and tasting for professionals. As for New York, Chicago shows a real interest in champagne and our cuvées from the terroir collected a beautiful success where our stand will not spousal afternoon.

We now have to contact back all the potential importers an distributors to make those beautiful meetings turns into a partneship so that Champagne Henriet Bazin crosses the Atlantic.

See you soon !

To New-York and Chicago

Tomorrow morning we will take off to spend 4 days in New-York and 4 days at Chicago to meet importers for Champagne Henriet Bazin.

news and pictures soon.

Winter is here, at last !

A frost stapple.

 

After a month of December and January very warm, with temperatures above 0°C, winter is finally installed on Champagne. He arrived with his panoply of makeup and dressed the nature of frost, and a bit of snow. But not enough for a ski ride on the slopes.

Beyond the beauty it gives to our landscapes, the season is very important for our vines.

 

The frost that paralyze centimeters of soik killed bacteria, insects or larvae enemy of the vines. Cold imposes a dormancy and avoids a too rapid startup of buds. While the phases of freezing and thawing will open the soil and enable it to aerate naturally.

Visit of our importer from Singapore.

Alexandra and Jocelyn are tasting the cuvées under the advices of Marie-Noëlle.

Vincent and Fadilah are ready to taste.

We were pleased to receive the visit of Alexandra, and Jocelyn, importers of the Champagne Henriet Bazin to Singapore. They were accompanied by Fadilah and Vincent responsible for communication and development of activity on the island

 

As a first step, the Vineyard has been the honour with OEnoVasion (www.oenovasion.com) to discover the richness of our landscapes, to explain implementation of the vine to present soils, subsoils basements and landforms. In short, the terroir of Champagne and its many singularities

 

Back at home, our hosts discovered or rediscovered the wines of the range to courses of an educational tasting based on what we had seen in the vineyards.  Mono grape variety or blendings, soils and subsoils, orientation or grades have taken their extent in aromatic declinations of the wines of the Champagne Henriet Bazin.