FrançaisOfficially organic
Going for organic certification
Carignan Vineyard
We have been farming our vineyards organically since the we started in 2012. We have decided to make that official and have signed up with Ecocert, an organisation that requires compliance with their standards for organic certification. The process takes three years so we should be officially organic, and be able to put that cute little green leaf logo on our bottles from 2022.
What took us so long?
There are several reasons why we didn’t do this right from the beginning. Firstly the fee for certification, yet another cost for a small business. Secondly, who needs more paperwork? Thirdly, and more fundamentally, is the recognition that there are different ways of growing grapes and respecting the environment and following a set of criteria to get organic certification is just one of them. However, many customers have asked whether we are organic and an official certification or logo is much easier for consumers to understand that our ‘de facto organic’ explanation.
What do we put on our vineyards?
Sheep grazing in our Carignan vineyard
Organic viticulture means using no chemical fungicides, insecticides or weedkillers. Compost and fertilisers must be natural ie from plants or animals/animal waste. We do use sprays in our vineyards to stop the vines and grapes getting fungal diseases or eaten by insects (particularly the lava of the grape vine moth) but in organic farming these sprays come from a natural as opposed to a synthetic source. Here is a list of what we put on our vineyards in the last 5 years and why. In approximate order of the frequency of application. All are certified organic products.
- sulphur (fungal disease – powdery mildew)
- extract of orange (fungal diseases, so use less copper and sulphur)
- copper (fungal disease – downy mildew)
- Compost – plant or cow dung
- organic fertilizer, made from bird or pig poo. And sheep poo! (see photo)
- Pheromone pods (from 2019), to sexually confuse grape vine moth males and so replace insecticides such as ..
- Bacillus Thuringiensis, a naturally occurring bacterium (grape vine moth)
- Spinosad insecticide, a bacterium originally discovered in sugar cane (grape vine moth)
- Pyrethrins, an insecticide extracted from chrysanthemums. By law, grape growers have to use insecticide to reduce populations of cicadelle, the leaf hopper that spreads the disease flavescence dorée.
Organics in the winery
We are pretty non-interventionist in our winemaking so adhering to organic rules in the winery (eg lower sulphur) shouldn’t be a problem. A topic for another post!
Read MoreWhen to harvest?
The decision when to harvest the grapes is vitally important. The links to the videos below explain how to assess grape ripeness. It’s not just about sugar levels, but flavour and tannin ripeness too. And don’t forget to look at the colour of the pips!
Preparation for harvest -checking ripeness of Syrah vineyard
Checking grape ripeness in our new Syrah vineyard. Step one – collecting grapes from different parts of the vineyard
Posted by Domaine La Tasque on Monday, September 3, 2018
Checking sugar and flavour/tannin ripeness in Syrah vineyard
Sugar level is one way of measuring grape ripeness but the most important consideration for red grapes is whether the skins and tannins are ripe.
Posted by Domaine La Tasque on Monday, September 3, 2018
Bottling 2016 La Tasque
Bottling 2016 Syrah and Carignan
We bottled our 2016 Syrah and 2016 Carignan yesterday, 2500 bottles in all. It was a small but perfectly formed vintage – our best yet we think. It needs more time to mature in bottle so it won’t be released until next year. In the meantime, here are some photos of bottling, using a high tech bottling line from the back of a lorry.
Making up boxes beforehand
Merve and Mathilda with Syrah
A shady Simon with Carignan
Packing Syrah 2016
Pallet of 2016 Syrah
Trish and Merve packing 2016 Carignan
Et Voila! La Tasque Carignan
Harvest 2017
The 2017 harvest is over. The grapes have been picked, fermentation has finished and we pressed the wines a couple of days ago. Quantity is excellent but very, very small quantities. Here are some photos of the 2017 harvest. Handpicking, (very) small batch vinification, pressing and, finally, a praying mantis basking on some grape skins.
Harvest 2017
Harvest 2017
harvest 2017
harvest 2017
Pressing Syrah
Pressing Carignan
Mante religieuse
It’s a bug’s life in the vineyard
Some bugs in our Carignan vineyard
The vineyard is a busy with bugs at the moments. Mercifully none that are harmful to the grapes. These photos were taken yesterday in our Carignan vineyard.
This elegant fella is difficult to spot. First time I’ve seen one of these this year.
Green stick insect
Cicadas are everywhere at the moment. Dive-bombing their way through the vineyard and making a racket. The sound of the mediterranean.
Cicada resting on vine
Ephippiggers are very striking. This one is very green but they also come with black stripes and look like humbugs.
Ephippigger or bush cricket
The ubiquitous snail. More in our garden than in the vineyard.
