Our activity of vine nursery extend on 50 hectares of "mother vine" of rootstock and 50 hectares of "mother vines" of graft.
By this activity we assembly around 3 million vine plants that will then be planted at wine growers' in all wine regions of France.
This first step takes place in winter, in January/February. We choose and harvest vine shoots that are then picked up in bundle.
Once the rootstocks collected and carved, all the woods are then conserved in fridge to avoid their dehydration.
This step which is very important takes place in March. It consists in assemblying a graft, the vine external part which will give the variety of the vine, to a rootstock, which will protect the vine and will allow a better adaptation to the soil.
In April starts the most delicate step : the stratification which consists in heating up the young grafts (around 28°C) so they can develop in an suitable atmosphere.
The plants are out of heating after three weeks when the graft and the rootstock are welded and then can be called welded grafts.
Out of heating, in mid-April, the young welded grafts are "prepared" to the planting. We sort them then paraffine them to avoid their dehydration. Then we prepare their acclimatization for the planting.
In May, the nursery is planted. The soil, prepared on the former automn, must be warm, aired and light enough to receive the plants.
The welded grafts are then aligned on mounts where they will spend the summer and separated depending on their assembly.
In June, when maintaining the nursery we have to regularly water the vine plants until late-August.
We also have to limit the development of weeds and foster the roots growth by maintening soils.
In November/December, following the wood resting and the leaves falling, plants can be lifted to be sort and conserved in a fridge.
In December, we check the solidity of the welding cal between the graft and the rootstocks, then that repartition of the roots around the plant heel is regular.
One only stem is conserved per plant. Plants are then paraffined, counted, packed, labelled, conditionned and conserved in a fridge until delivery to the winegrower.