Dear friends, I hope you are enjoying some festivities at this busy time of the year. Here at our biodynamic wine farm, we’re preparing for winter, when we usually move our Landais sheep to the vineyards. Once common, this traditional farming technique is a rare sight on the Bordeaux right bank although it’s beneficial to both the animals and the vines. As a testament to our flock’s good health, many of our ewes are giving birth to twin lambs this year. In contrast, our Gascon hens are naturally laying fewer eggs as the nights draw in. In this newsletter, you can also discover our plans for linen bottles, a survey on the Demeter label and a French wine expert in Los Angeles who’s passionate about authentic local wines. Please write to me with your comments or questions if you have any. It's always good to hear from you. Wishing you very happy holidays! Vincent. “Let food be thy medicine” – Hippocrates
Sheep + vines = remarkable wines!
Pass by our Château Mamin and Château de Lardiley vineyards in a few weeks and you’ll see our Landais sheep grazing on the cover crops we sowed just after the wine harvest. Every winter, our flock keep crop density and weeds in check, while naturally fertilizing the soil and dormant vines. In return, the animals feed on prime-quality field pea and triticale when the grass elsewhere is less nourishing.
It’s a win-win for biodynamic farming, as you can taste in our powerful, balanced and elegant wines.
Please ask me for samples!
Enjoy your biodynamic eggs before the end of the laying season!
Did you know eggs are seasonal products? Hens need around 14 hours of sunlight to lay their eggs, but they’ll have no more than eight on December 21, the winter solstice or the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. Since we don’t use artificial lighting in biodynamic farming, our feathered friends will be taking a break – well deserved, given the exceptional quality of their eggs.
Expect them back on the job at the end of February!
Linen bottles by 2024?
You might have heard about the linen bottles produced by Toulouse-based Green Gen Technologies and tested by A. de Fussigny Cognacs… Well, after discussions with the start-up, I hope to offer my Château Mamin and Château de Lardiley wines in this innovative packaging starting in 2024 – on demand and at no extra cost for a lighter carbon footprint.
If you’re interested, please let me know.
Demeter: a valuable mark of trust
If you know the Demeter label, the chances are you see it as a real mark of trust. That’s one of the conclusions of an Opinion Way survey recently presented on the Demeter France website.
Among 1,000 French consumers of organic products, 60% of those who recognized the Demeter label trusted it. In fact, Demeter was the second-most trusted organic label after Agriculture Biologique (AB). The results might be different in your country, but we’re convinced this biodynamic certification will be increasingly valuable, given its very advanced commitments to nature.
Have you heard of Cru Wines in Los Angeles?
Nathalie Bertat founded Cru Wines to share her love of wine with high-end wine shops, boutique hotels, bistros and gourmet restaurants in Southern California. Noting strong demand for biodynamic wines, she’s been importing them since her first container in 2006. “When they’re good, they’re really good,” she says, adding that she finds in Château Mamin 2020 and Château de Lardiley 2021 the “exceptional balance, character and terroir” she always looks for. Thanks, Nathalie, for the compliment and your first order!
Coup de cœur
Here are some new-born twins on our farm. Our ewes have had several in this year’s winter lambing season – a sign of a healthy flock. ❤️