Domaine des Roches Neuves: Vineyards
Domaine des Roches Neuves is located at the roadside in Varrains, on the D93 which heads south out of the town of Saumur towards Brézé. As detailed in my account of the domaine, from early on Thierry began working his vines using organic methods, and subsequently the domaine was certified as fully biodynamic in the 2005 vintage (Biodyvin certification). This remains the case today. He has approximately 28 hectares of vines to work with, and these are divided between more than 30 parcels of vines scattered across the Saumur and Saumur-Champigny appellations, the former Chenin Blanc (pictured), the latter Cabernet Franc of course. Some parcels I will deal with specifically in my rundown of the portfolio of wines on the next page.
The work in the vineyards makes use of the full range of biodynamic treatments, and also the traditional herbal tisanes. The yields are controlled solely by appropriate pruning, with no bud-rubbing. During the growing season Thierry has moved away from trimming the tops of the vines, preferring instead to gather and roll the shoots around an extra top-wire in the trellising (the Roches Neuves vines are trellised along a five-wire system, more than the norm), in doing so he does not remove any of the leaves, believing this will lead to a better, more natural ripening. He is not alone in doing this, and if I recall correctly the last time I looked at Patrick Baudouin’s vines on the Quarts de Chaume vineyard they were managed in the same manner, Benoît Amirault also does this on parts of Le Grand Clos, as has Alexandre Monmousseau in Vouvray.
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