The super cozy terrace of Château Mauvinon is an exceptional spot to enjoy a glass of this Saint-Emilion grand cru, with a breathtaking view of the vineyards as far as the eye can see. Recently, it has also been a spot for bird watching. And this earned this property, based in Saint-Sulpice-de-Faleyrens (Gironde), to win the “Promotion of environmental practices” prize, Monday evening at the Best of Wine Tourismorganized every year for twenty years by the CCI of Bordeaux-Gironde.
This award rewards the way in which wine châteaux transmit to their visitors their environmental efforts in the way of producing their wine. “We realized that talking about organic farming and biodynamic to our customers, who are not there every day to see how we treat our vines, was sometimes a little conceptual” explains Caroline Lagière, one of the two owners and managers of the estate, with her mother Brigitte Tribaudeau. “So, we chose to illustrate this through bird observation, which also offers a real experience to our visitors. »
Around fifty species of birds identified
After the classic visit to the property, during which Brigitte Tribaudeau and Caroline Lagière still place great emphasis on the château’s practices around biodynamics, plant cover and even animal traction, the visitor thus benefits “in addition to its tasting glass, a pair of binoculars and a booklet on birds, which await him on our roof terrace”, now renamed “Le nichoir”, continues Caroline Lagière.
This idea was born three years ago, when Brigitte and Caroline brought in the LPO (Bird Protection League) to help them choose “the species to put in our plant hedge, so that with our vines and our garden , this constitutes a virtuous ecosystem. » The LPO representative then made the mother and daughter aware of bird watching, which they then wanted to pass on to their customers. “Especially since this specialist very quickly identified fifty different species of birds after her visit to the property, when we ourselves only recognized three or four” adds Brigitte Tribaudeau.
Auxiliary fauna which partly compensates for the withdrawal of pesticides
“The fact that our vines are covered in grass almost all the time, that we have been organic since 2017 and biodynamic since this year, promotes the growth of biodiversity,” assures Caroline Lagière. “We have also installed around sixty tit nest boxes in the vineyards,” adds Brigitte Tribaudeau. This provides us with important help in the fight against the grape worm, a butterfly which lays eggs on our grapes, and which the bird comes to eat: a brood of tits consumes 18,000 insects per year. »
This auxiliary fauna partly compensates for the withdrawal of synthetic pesticides in the fight against diseases. But not 100%. “It’s not as strong as a chemical product,” recognizes Caroline Lagière. But that’s part of the job. And in any case, nothing will make us go back in our choice to go organic. » Not even the attack of mildew which this year destroyed 50% of the Merlot on the property, which has 6 ha in the Saint-Emilion appellation and 8 ha in the Côtes de Castillon appellation.
“No question of going back”
“Our Merlot harvest suffered, but we have some pretty Cabernet and some pretty Malbec in Côtes de Castillon,” puts Brigitte Tribaudeau into perspective. “It’s been a pretty tough year,” agrees Caroline Lagière, “but there’s no question of going back yet. We are even strengthened in our convictions, because organic remains the least harmful to the environment, even though we are sometimes told that we also use copper. Copper is less harmful, and we use 3 kg/ha, ten times less than twenty years ago. For the planet, it’s the best choice. »
And for wine too, the two women are convinced of it. “Since 2015, we have also removed almost all sulphites,” adds Brigitte Tribaudeau, “we vinify and age without sulphur. Not only can sulphites cause headaches, but by removing them, all the aromas of the fruit can be expressed. »
“We like the old-fashioned side”
Château Mauvinon offers a Saint-Emilion grand cru red, a white wine in the Castillon-Côtes de Bordeaux appellation, and for the first time this year an orange wine, a white wine which is vinified like red wine (i.e. (say that we are going to keep the skin of the grape, whereas we usually remove it to make a white wine).
“Here, we do everything by hand, including the harvest,” insists Caroline Lagière. “There is a traditional side that we like about hand harvesting. We are not winegrowers just to seek efficiency and yield, we are because we also like these atmospheres, this old-fashioned side. »