Precision
At Gruaud Larose, we believe that a vine keeps a genetic memory so that by driving it into more growth control a vine is able to use some self management. Thus, it has been more than 8 years that the vineyard has been reinforcing prophylactic methods in order to reduce down to 50% the risk of diseases such as mildew, oidium and rot in the vineyard and by maximising as well the ripening of our grapes. These methods are based on small canapé works throughout the year starting from the pruning finishing at the beginning of the harvest. These works are nearly 100% manual. The use of tractors is rare. It consists on severe pruning during winter respecting a number of buds on each branch, eliminate les contre-bourgeons et entre-cœurs, green harvest depending on the yield per plot and the thinning out the leaves. In order to be efficient, Gruaud Larose was the first Château to install a quality control policy on each task of the workers. According to the quality and the respect of the goal, the vignerons are getting extra bonus. It has been a great revolution in people’s mind. Each worker is responsible for their own plots. Besides, they are 100% integrated in the whole process.
