NEWS

June 2019 – The time has come again for a floral interlude in the vines at Château Palmer. As the flower buds disappear, grape blossoms are discretely revealing themselves throughout the vine rows. Their perfume wafts through the air almost imperceptibly, so subtle and delicate are the aromas.

Though the flowering period is generally brief, spanning between 8 and 10 days, it is one of the most important stages in a vine’s life cycle. As hermaphroditic plants, simultaneously possessing both male and female reproductive organs, vine flowers pollinate each other: sometimes within the same flower, often between flowers of the same bunch, sometimes between bunches on the same vine, and sometimes even between neighbouring vines, with help from various species of insects and birds.

While carrying out the work of desuckering the vines, the vignerons and vigneronnes of Château Palmer become spectators of this natural evolution. Perfect weather conditions are necessary at the moment of flowering: sunny, dry and hot, between 18 and 25 ºC. Only then do the flowerhoods delicately open to reveal the pistils and stamens. Afterwards, the flowers will gradually disappear, giving birth to a multitude of tiny berries. However, should weather conditions be changing and less favourable, they can bring about flower abortion or couluring, causing an imperfect pollination of certain flowers.

The quality of flowering will be a first indication of the potential size of the coming harvest. Of course, this estimation isn’t set in stone, for the growth cycle of the vines continues. But today, this floral expression comes as a great bouquet of hope for Château Palmer... even if there’s still a way to go yet before the 2019 vintage is harvested!

March 2019 - The 2017 vintage continues its maturation in barrels in the historic chai des Marronniers barrel cellar. One year after the final blending, the wine slowly refines in the darkness of the cellar, and in the precision hands of our technicians. 

During the final months of maturation, the wine requires, among other things, two important procedures: le collage, or fining, and la levée de colle, or post-fining racking. 

Fining a wine simply entails adding egg white to it. Naturally binding with the fine suspended particles remaining, it gathers them into a heavier mass which will settle to the bottom of the barrel over time. The final, post-fining racking, or levée de colle, will allow us to separate the wine, which will have become clearer and more brilliant, from the lees or the deposit left at the bottom of the barrel.

As at every stage, our taste buds will be our guides. To be able to determine the right level of fining needed by the wine, we carry out tests beforehand, using between 0 and 5 egg whites per barrel. Afterwards, we taste again and retain the level of fining that we’ve determined will sublimate the wine.

Today, the cellar is entirely focused on this final racking operation, the last step before the wine is bottled this summer. To delicately separate the clear wine from its lees, we use the ancestral method of levée de colle à la bougie – by candlelight. The wine flows out of the barrel, illuminated by the glowing flame, and as soon as the slightest haze begins to disturb the radiance highlighted by the candle, we stop. The wine is then clear, with a beautiful, lustrous sheen.

December 2018 – What if we took the time to see our surroundings, to look, to understand, to contemplate? Each living thing grows in an environment which corresponds to it, shelters it, nourishes it and makes it grow. One of the fundamental principals of biodynamics is to view each element of life as part of an interconnected whole. These elements form an environment which is plural, virtuous and autonomous. Seen in this light, a grapevine does not exist on its own. Rather, we should consider it as part of an ensemble: the soil, the water, the plants, the animals, the insects… the cosmos.

As one strolls though the vineyards, one the first elements that we notice is the ocean – an ocean not of salt water, but of chlorophyll. The green of vine leaves, slowly changing colours with the seasons and stretching to the horizon, as far as the eye can see. Yet the richness of an environment lies in its complexity. An observation which inspired a desire at Château Palmer to enhance the estate with relief and forms, to strengthen its identity. And so we launched a plantation project of new trees and hedges, including native and heritage varieties. In selecting the plants, we had to take into consideration their effect on both the balance between pests and predators and the structure of the landscape.

Enlisting the aid of an entomologist – a scientist specialised in insects – we undertook a study of the minuscule life inside our vine parcels. The harmony of a vineyard depends on the complex equilibriums that exist between species, notably between pests (harmful to the vines) and predators (which feed on pests). The objective was therefore to plant trees and hedges that would be beneficial to the predators' habitat and their ability to feed and reproduce, and in so doing, protect the grapevines. We then conducted a study with France’s league for the protection of birds (LPO), which provided us precious insights into these animals and their benefits for the vineyard. In fact, bats are also ideal allies, notably against the grape caterpillars that spread the dreaded grey mould. By planting trees in the parcels, such as the fruit trees planted in our Cassena parcels, we provide bats with reference points and shelter, thus allowing them to adopt the vineyard as a hunting ground.

This diversity of flora and fauna nourishes the estate and enriches it. It makes the vineyard environment more balanced and interdependent. Resilient. More than 2500 trees and hedges later, we continue this reorganisation of land and space. This year, around twenty additional trees will be planted in the parcels. The vines are not alone; they communicate, exchange and interact with other species. The vineyard has been reimagined. It is becoming a garden, great and multiform.

November 2018 – Day after day, the men and women of Château Palmer listen to their terroir, work the soil, care for the grapevines, and age their wine, ever working to see the estate flourish. And today, they can count on a few extra workmates… cows, sheep and goats (overseen by our shepherdess and cowherd, Emilie and Pierre) who contribute in equal measure to the health and resilience of the vineyards.

Bit by bit, the estate has recentered itself around cultivating life in its myriad forms. A self-sufficient farm, whose production of riches depends on the organisms of which it is comprised: the vine, the plants, the hedges, the fruit trees, the wildflowers, the animals, the insects… in sum, a virtuous circle.

Our Bordelaise cows have been among our leading actors within this agricultural organism. They graze our meadows, and enable us to produce a rich, high quality, ‘homemade’ compost, thanks to the manure they produce which is mixed with mulched vine shoots and green waste from the garden. It’s thanks to them that we can create our own biodynamic preparations as well, such as the 500. This enriches the soil with beneficial microorganisms that help nourish the vines. Today, our herd includes a dozen cattle, though it has grown since last month with the birth of three calves – Orlaya, Ombelle and Orchidée.

With the help of two shepherds, the winter maintenance of the vineyards is undertaken by a herd of more than a hundred sheep. From November to March, they roam the parcels, graze on the tender grass around the vine trunks, while fertilising the soil along the way, and heeding the sharp commands of our sheep dogs, Ben and Hip-hop. The rest of the year, Pyrénées goats will come and take over for our Landaise sheep, notably to maintain the edges of the vine parcels.

The development of these herds of cattle, sheep and goats has been carried out in close collaboration with the Conservatoire des Races d’Aquitaine, which works for the preservation of livestock breeds. It’s a project in spirit with this place and this era, as it involves working with local heritage breeds adapted perfectly to the estate and the environment, and is a way for us to help ensure the survival of these breeds in danger of extinction. It must be said, Château Palmer is in good hands – and in good hooves!