Over recent weeks, we have carried out numerous tests in the vineyard with a view to finding machinery that is suitable for working the under-vine soil without removing the weed control.

It is not easy to find specific machines that respect the various types of soil, and having tried a great number of every type, we opted for yet another unit from French manufacturer Boisselet. This “equipment-holder” – i.e. a machine that can use a plethora of different tools – has just about satisfied us. We think that the use of these “daisies” – as we call the rotors with numerous “petals” that till the earth – is not the ideal solution for our type of soil, because there are too many stones and so you run the risk of ending up with a vineyard that has nothing but pits, which is then nigh-on impossible to work with. The device you can see in the photos is a simple blade that cuts the surface of the plot, with the blade tilling the under-vine soil at a depth of just a few centimetres, chopping the roots and therefore drying out the field.

Of course, it is essential to find the right period, because if it rains the day after the work has been done, you’ve wasted your time…Let’s see if we can use it on all of our plots. We are studying the results very carefully in order to safeguard our vineyards – I’ll keep you posted on the choices we make.

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