The month of October focused on the blending of wines for the 2022 vintage, on the follow-up of the vinification as well as on the preparation of the vines for the winter cycle. On the cellar side, we started with the bâtonnage of the whites. This consists in stirring the fine lees of the wine that settle at the bottom of the barrels or vats in order to put them back in suspension. This operation is traditionally done with a stick. We continued with the blending of grape varieties to create our new vintages. Then comes the topping up, which is a periodic action to always maintain the maximum level of the barrels and vats of wine. This compensates for losses due to absorption or evaporation.
On the vineyard side, we prepare the soil for the winter cycle using several methods. Scrubbing consists in removing weeds between the rows. The interception comes in complement of the griffonnage to clean the feet of the vines. These two methods avoid the use of chemical weed killers and inputs in accordance with our conversion to organic certification that we will obtain in 2023.
The leaves are beginning to fall and announce the resting period of the vines.
The harvest of our 4 hectares of olive trees began on Monday, October 24 to produce our PDO Vallée des Baux olive oil.