1-Presentation of Biorganic Partners 2-Wine in organic agriculture 3-History Presentation of Biorganic Partners A TRUE ORGANIC CONCEPT ( Biorganic partner )Benoit & Valérie Calvet a specialist in vinification, conditioning and bottling of wines at the Chateau has moved into the market for Bio-Wines. Their friend Louis Lurton ; already a producer at Chateau Haut Nouchet as a Bio-Wine ; is associated with the project. Together they will create a group of Top Quality Bio-wine producers, capitalising on the success BVC has already had in Export markets for Chateau Haut Nouchet.

BVC is at the same time a producer and vineyard owner of four properties of which Chateau Franc Mayne, a Grand Cru Classé St Emilion is one. We are convinced of the need to have proper agricultural practices applied to the vineyard and of the need to respect the environment.

This is why we have seized the opportunity to create a centre for the assembly of Bio-Wines and to move this development on a stage. The principal objective is to build up the quality by enabling the blending of quantities of say Cabernet Sauvignon from one small producer with those of Merlot from another.

The result is stunning and gives wines that are round, fruity and perfectly balanced.

We have applied to ECOCERT to certify the blending process to guarantee a total transparency from the grape to the glass.

In the Data Sheets can be found all the Information on the producers and their vineyards with whom we are working hand in hand. All the ECOCERT certificates are available on request.

Hopefully with your co-operation we can achieve our objective.

It's very good
It's very Bio

Wine in organic agriculture

The organic wine does not exist : there is no regulation for the wine making and only the grapes can be produced in an organic way. We can only talk about "wine resulting from grapes produced in organic agriculture". The regulation is pressed on the schedule of conditions of the vegetable productions which you can find in the part appendix.
What differentiates primarly the wine produced thanks to the methods of organic agriculture, it is the word respect : Respect of the ground on which is planted the vine, respect of the vine, respect of the rules of organical methods, all this for the respect of the environment and the respect of the customers.

The respect of the ground :
Answer Most of the operations which we saw in the previous part are carried out in a manual or mechanical way (ploughing, "decavaillonage", weeding). The weeding, by hoeing and weeding, make it possible to loosen the ground and to air it; the ground does not receive any artificial fertiliser (forbidden in organic agriculture). The contributions are done only by organic manure (horse-dung, barks of trees) and by compost.
One often uses a putting under grass (permanent or temporary) between the vines, which allows a better structuring of the ground and which is used as green manure (fatty ray, white mustard, pea clover). In all the cases, the use of the fertilisation is made in a reasoned way, because an excess of fertilisation involve an excessive strength of the vine, which harms the quality of the wine.
For more technical information, you will find in appendix the schedule of conditions of the vegetable production in organic agriculture as well as different authorised intrants.

The respect for the vine :
The majority of the vine growers in organic agriculture work with old vines (sometimes more than one hundred years). The size, very often manual one, allows to limit the production by stocks to avoid a harmful overload with quality (40 hectolitres per hectare to be compared with the 65 hectolitres on average for the whole of the vineyards).
In organic agriculture, watchword is rather prevention that processing of the diseases. The techniques of stripping, of "épamprage" allow a better air circulation and make it possible to limit the strength of the vine; they have recognised preventive effects.
Against the most frequent diseases (mildew, oïdium), the treatments with suffer and "bouillie bordelaise" (containing copper) are the most frequent and are very effective.
Lastly, by as well as possible respecting the natural balance of the vine, one can control the harmful insects of the vine. For example, to fight against the worm of the bunch, one can use a natural bacterium (the bacillus thuringiensis). A better knowledge of the natural balance (cycle of growth, diseases and natural remedies...) makes it possible to fight before the problems and to obtain good results.

The respect for the methods of wine making :
There is no certified regulation for the wine making in organic agriculture. In France the FNAB (National Federation of Organic Agriculture) carried out a schedule of conditions but it is not recognised by the European Community but applied in France.
The objectives of the wine making is as well as possible to preserve natural qualities of the grape by limiting the external intrants. The vintage is only carried out with the hand. At the time of the various stages of the wine making, no external elements is added (not exogenic yeast) and the physical processing are preferred with the chemical one. The cycle of the rest of the wine is perfectly respected with an ageing out of barrel.
On arrival, the obtained wines approach much to traditional methods, which give typical wines of the vineyards that they represent. The customer is sure that throughout the various stages, no chemical was added as well in the ground as on the vine and the wine. If the "organic vine grower" is not necessarily an excellent vine grower, he respects a certain number of essential elements for the quality of the wine. Furthermore, the quality of these wines is in strong progress because the organic vine growers became also true wine growers, recognised in the official classifications ("Guide Hachette" for instance).
Then, the organic wines do not give "hangover" because they contain only few of suffers.

The wine maker remains the key of the succes of an organic wine.
To garanty the final blending and bottling each step of the process is controled by Ecocert including
The label printing.

History

It is a long time...

The vine is a plant which comes from Minor Asia. Travelling by Egypt and transported by the Greeks and the Romans, it arrived in France by Provence and Languedoc at about the V th century before our era. The establishment of the vine was also done by the valley of the Rhine with the arrival of the Hungarian and Romanian vineyards (famous "tokay"). The vine will conquer the whole of France because it was plait on all the grounds located at less than 500 meters of altitude.
Surfaces of vineyard have known their apogee at the 19th century to decline then, on one hand because of phylloxera (disease which devastated hundreds of hectares) and on the other hand, because of a natural selection of the best vineyards.
In France, certain type of vines are very represented like "pinot noir" in Burgundy, the "cabernet-sauvignon" in Médoc, the chardonnay for the white wines. Many wines are resulting from only one type of vine ("red gamay" for the beaujolais) but it is possible to assemble several type of vines ("cabernet-sauvignon","merlot" and "cabernet-franc" for certain bordeaux).

The vine
The wine and its quality depend on several factors :
- the ground and the climate.
- the type of vine (one counts some more than 100 different types of vine).
- the culture of the vine.
- techniques of wine making.
The climate has a big impact on the production of the wine; the vine fears the frost of spring, water is necessary to the enlargement of the bunches but it is fatal if it is too present when the grape is ripe. The sun also plays its role for ripening and the wine growers will prefer a sunning of south or of east.
The vine was plait on various types of ground; it is simply necessary that water does not stagnate. Indeed, one as well finds vineyards on limestone grounds as in Burgundy as on the grounds of alluviums of Alsace.
The culture of the vine and its maintenance represent a regular work throughout the year. It is in winter that one cuts the vine according to different techniques and different areas. The vegetation of the vine starts in March-April with "debourrement"; at this time, the vine is very fragile and fears the frost. During the growth of the plant, several operations can be made as "epamprage" which consists in limiting the number of branches on the plant. Stripping is also used to allow a better sunning of the bunches. Throughout the year, it is also necessary to protect the vine against the various diseases which can touch them.
In September, the grape harvest starts, the date is being given according to the maturity of the grains. In certain areas, one delays to the maximum the grape harvest until over-ripening and obtaining of a noble rot on the grains; at this stage the grains concentrate sugar (one thus obtains wines like Sauternes). When the sheets fell, one plows the ground (it is the "butage") to protect the vine against the frost.

Techniques of wine making

Each type of wine - red, white and rosé - has its own techniques of wine making :

Red wines :
The first stage is called "picking off" or "éraflage" and consists in separating the grapes from the remainder of the bunch. Then, "pressing" makes it possible to crush the grapes and to extract the juice from them. The juice is then stored in tanks for "alcoholic fermentation" where sugar is transformed into ethanol and carbon dioxide under the effects of yeast; during this fermentation, the wine releases some heat. At the time of this operation, the marc is formed with the skin and the pips of the grapes; the maceration influences the quality and the conservation of the wine.
After maceration, the wine is "past"; "malolactic fermentation" starts then and consists in transforming the malic acid into lactic acid which influences the bouquet of the wine. After this stage, the wine is clarified by various methods (filtration, centrifugation or joining) and is then preserved out of barrels during one or two years before it is bottled after a new filtration.

White wines :
The white wines are vinified only starting from the only grape juice, without skin nor pips i.e. without maceration. On can thus obtain white wines with black grapes with white juice ( the champagne for instance). Fermentation is carried out at a temperature not exceeding the 20° C. For the "moëlleux" white wines, fermentation is reduced an all the sugar is preserved (wines of Sauternes for example).

Other wines :
The rosé wines result from red grapes for which a shorter maceration is done.
The champagne and sparkling wines are obtained by a setting out of bottle at the first fermentation, which enables the carbon dioxide to slowly dissolve in the wine.
History of organic agriculture
The birth of organic agriculture occurs in Germany in the years 1920. It is only after the second world war while the intensive agriculture beats its full, that the organic agriculture was known in France. In 1962, the AFAB (French Association for Organic Agriculture) is created. At the beginning of the 1980's, the first decrees and laws are taken in France for the creation of conditions of contract. In 1991, the European Community recognise officially the organic agriculture (EC n° 2092).
Gradually, the bio makes its path and the recognition of the bio is done thanks to the creation of very strict conditions which regulate the production from the work of the ground to the winemaking.

For the wine, there is no conditions of contract; however, the wine growers who decide to use organic agriculture to produce their wine respect the working techniques of the ground (conditions of contract of the organic agriculture) and the techniques of wine making approach the traditional methods as much as possible (for more information, visit the part Techniques). However, associations for organic agriculture developed condition of contract for the wine under their own control (the charter of the FNAB - National Union of the Organic Agriculture- for example); one can so hope that by a little while, the European Community bends over this gap and that an European conditions of contract is born very soon.