Welcoming the future at the right moment on the lands of château l'hospitalet

Support, care, monitoring and following the lunar calendar, Marc-Olivier Trompette, estate manager of Château l'Hospitalet, is a committed biodynamist, both in the vines and in his own garden. An estate manager attuned to his terroir with its powerful magnetism, in the image of the wines of La Clape. 

Harvests follow one another but are never alike. Every year has its own specificities and every vintage is unique. With always this constant: the quest for optimum ripeness, central to the production of the finest crus of Gérard Bertrand. 

Marc-Olivier Trompette is ready to welcome the future of the 2021 harvest. Yet the dates are not set in advance. It is only after close monitoring that the plots are harvested one after another, separately, according to precise criteria: « At Gérard Bertrand, we push ripeness to its maximum to achieve phenological balance and optimum maturity. This method allows us to produce the great wines we deliver every year. »
The harvest period can then span two and a half months. A pivotal time that gives full expression to the different typicities of the plots and soils of La Clape. For Marc-Olivier, « it is an intense period of monitoring. We can compare the vineyard to a young child. We watch over it so that nothing goes wrong. We do everything we can to ensure it develops properly and without any setbacks. We tour all our plots two to three times a week and also carry out analyses. The aim is to accompany the grapes as far as possible and achieve the quality expected by Gérard Bertrand. »

In search of a natural balance

At the origin of a good wine lies the grape. And to achieve excellence in the bunches, the Gérard Bertrand estates practise biodynamics. More than a practice, biodynamics represents an art de vivre for Marc-Olivier: « We seek a balance and are in a mindset of understanding the plant. As with people, we try to understand its problems and interpret what it shows us visually. We work a great deal on feelings and apply herbal teas and natural preparations to treat them or help them establish well. »
In biodynamics, treatments are not automatic. Unlike conventional viticulture, the soil is worked only when there is a need corroborated by analyses. More complex, this method requires a strong commitment from the teams, close collaboration between the natural and the scientific, as well as consideration of the different terroirs.

A vine, some terroirs

On the La Clape massif, two terroirs predominate. The first, clay-based, provides a valuable water reserve as the water is gradually released to the vine in summer. The second, limestone in type, is characterised by warmer soils. These are plots where ripeness arrives earlier through the resonance of the sun. Wine from this soil has a bright, fresh and saline character.
When the harvest is over, the soil will reclaim its rights, but Marc-Olivier's team will not have had its last word. It will help the vine gently enter dormancy: « The time to restimulate the soils, to decompact them, to bring them trace elements and amino acids to allow a good restart next year. »

 Welcoming the future - 2021 harvest:

• Welcoming the future at Villemajou
• Welcoming the future at Cigalus
• Welcoming the future at Domaine de l'Aigle
• Welcoming the future in biodynamics