Young Hedgehog.

It seemed to me I have heard noise in the vine at the end of the day, but we had so much rabbits, hares and birds that surround us, I was not so much interested. And then, i saw this young hedgehog close to the terrasse looking for some worm or inscetes.

Dress code : Green with yellow polka spots.

The summer trend is green with yellow polka spots in our vineyards. If contamination of the leaves is real, we are plesed that the much drier and hot weather of the recent weeks allowed to limit the development of mildew. Te leaves are much affected, grappes have been largely spared. The Chardonnay of Villers-Marmery are doing very well, and the counting shows a little more affected grappes in the plots of Pinot Noir of Verzy and Verzenay...But the proportion is perfectly acceptable. Phew !

Lace of the Writter.

It is called "The Writter" or the "Gribouri", but his real name is the Eumolpe (Bromius Obscursus). It is an insect whith a close appearance of the scarab beetle. He is dark black and mesure 5 or 6 cm long. It appear from the end of april and eat the vine leaves by cutting them into small strips with its mandibles. These cuts are looking like letters and font. It's the reason why its nickname is "the Writter". It can also bite the berries and buds.

Herbaceous growth

The sun (finaly) of these few days, coupled with the large reserves of water contained in the soil have inflatted our berries. Clusters are still green and so they also came have the benefits from photosynthesis.

despite this nice and fast évolution, nature does not catch up time lost because of the lack of sun and heat of the last 8 weeks. Harvest is announced with at least 1 week on delay from the average dates.

Tasting comments of our Blanc de Noirs.

We have just been informed that our Blanc de Noirs was rated by two great sommeliers and champagne lovers on the more and more popular webesite "Champagnifique". (www.champagnifique.be)

The comment is very nice and we achieve the score of 91/100 with a potential score of 93/100... The cuvée is one of the best.

http://www.champagnifique.be/wordpress/?cat=665

We are proud and honored  to obtain such a very good score on such a serious website.

Thank you Ed Hodson and Michiel Demarey.

From Australia...by car.

We just had the pleasure an d the honor to welcome Avril & Ray, from Australia. They are crossing the world in their pick-up truck modified in a camping car.

They arrived in South Africa to cross African continent by the West side.
Then cross Gibraltar to reach Europe.
Spain, France and Belgium to join England and spend few days for the Olympic Games.

Already 11 month passed to travel and still 13 to go back by the East side of Europe and Africa.

Bonne route.

Summer ploughing.

Heat and rain this summer do not only promote fungal diseases, herbs also love humid soil. They proliferate and grow very quickly. Such a year, it's better to avoid them to extand in the vines.

In this case, it's our good ol "Bob" who returned to action. "Bob", it's the name of the tractor built in 1979 by the "Bobard" company on which whe installed the ploughs. It's lightweight and equipped with low tread tires. It's perfect to take care ofthe soil and avoid compacting it after being aeretad and opened.

Between the front and rear wheels, a traditional system, with "V" blades opens the soil in the middle of the road of vine.

 

On the sides, a flat blade articulated and equipped with a reminder spring go under the vines and collapse when it come in contact with the cep.

 On the back, three claws open the soil again after the tractor goes..

With this system, the roots of the plants and herbs are no more in contact with the ground, and so they naturaly die..