News from the domaine

News from the front from Michel Verhaeghe de Naeyer:

The square footage of our vineyard remains unchanged, i.e. 5.20 ha.

Our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are now in their fifth leaf, and the Pinot Gris in its fourth leaf.

Up until now, we haven’t suffered from any late frosts or hail… fingers crossed!

So as to reduce these risks, we have invested in five Agrofrost heat cannons and are about to invest in a SPAG hail cannon that is completely harmless for flora and fauna as well as highly effective. It works by producing sound waves that interrupt the production of hailstones in the clouds.

We predict our production will reach 15 to 22 tonnes of grapes, depending on what surprises that Mother Nature has in store for us before the harvests! We are expecting them to take place in the second fortnight of September (about 100 days after the peak of flowering). Our production should therefore be around 15 times greater than the 2017 harvest. Nature has been extremely bountiful and beautiful this year. The vines are flourishing wholeheartedly and vigorously – and our team is flat out!

We have taken on a young cellar master, Vincent Dienst, who shows real promise in helping us achieve our objectives. Our aims remain the production of quality still white and red wines that are environmentally friendly and sustainably grown. The 2017 vintage – our first real harvest – is looking very promising despite the small quantities. We will only be selling our Chardonnay as there are not sufficient quantities of Pinot Noir so far – which is a shame as it has great potential!

We are in the process of obtaining organic certification and we are working on biodynamics.

We are looking for a horse ploughman to work our land in a gentler, healthier way. If any of you happen to have any leads, please let us know!

Our winery facility is gradually emerging from the ground. It should be ready by the end of 2018. The building, which was designed by Charly Wittock’s architecture office, is intended to be highly contemporary, environmentally friendly and to blend in with the surrounding nature.

Fields of (organic) flowers and hedgerows planted around the property surround our vines with the best elements and could have a sustainable positive impact on our terroir.

A feature-length film has been made about our oenologist Pascal Marchand (see the trailer in our video section).