The Vineyards | Château Bélingard

THE CHÂTEAU BELINGARD VINEYARDS

Terroir

Rolling countryside at 600 feet average altitude.
Soil : Clay and Limestone
Subsoil: Molasses de l’Agenais.
Slopes of the Dordogne Valley left bank, facing the Saint Emilion district on the right bank and extended :
– On one side by the main Bordeaux producing area.
– On the other side the Vineyards from the Garonne Valley including the Graves and the Duras districts.

Average Age of vines

– Reds : 25 years old,
– Whites : 30 years old

Area

– Village of Pomport : (most important village in the Monbazillac AOC) 125 acres of which 70 acres for Monbazillac,
– Village of Monestier : 75 acres dedicated to Bergerac Reds and Whites AOC.

Grape varieties

– Chateau Belingard Bergerac Red : Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc et Malbec.
– Chateau Belingard White : Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Muscadelle.

Appellations

Since 1936 the wines from Château Belingard belong to the AOC :
– Bergerac Blanc Sec,
– Bergerac Rose,
– Bergerac Rouge,
– Côtes de Bergerac Rouge,
– Côtes de Bergerac Blanc,
– Monbazillac.

Vineyard management

– All the vines are single trellised.
– There is a move in the number of vine stock planted per acre from 1 200 to 2 200
(1.90 m wide and 0.90 m between plants).

Wine Growing

At Belingard, we choose all the soft and environmental friendly way to cultivate our vines under the High Environmental Value certification.
From pruning to harvest all the works are managed in order to minimize our impact on environment.

Vineyard work

Principal : The grapevine is a climbing plant that has to be tamed. The work carried out in the vineyard consists of concentrating its energy in the grapes rather than in the shoots and leaves.

In many ways, this work is not unlike that of a gardener tending a rose bush.

The vine follows a vegetative cycle that can be divided into a number of stages.
The vigneron has to work according to these stages in order to respect the growth cycle of the plant and its environment.

Period	Name of task	Purpose	Tool
From November to February (the vine sleeps)	Pruning.	Leave one or two shoots bearing fruit buds on each vine	Electric secateurs.
March-April	“Removal of the wood” (shoots). Grinding. Sécaillage. Attaching the shoots.	Detach the old shoots from the wires. Grind the shoots. Repair the posts and wires. Attach the shoot to the first wire.	Electric attaching tool, nylon or paper wire and iron wire.
March-April-May	Ploughing the soil and mechanical weeding.	Plough between the vine rows to aerate the soils and eliminate weeds.	Tractors and tools for ploughing the soil.
April-May	*Epamprage.*	Remove the new shoots that are not fruit-bearing.	Mechanical and manual epamprage.
May-June	Planting of new vines.	Introduce young plants, grafted in nurseries, into the prepared and watered plots.	Mechanical or manual planting.
From May to August	Phytosanitary protection.	Protect the plant and the grapes from diseases and insect pests within the framework of HVE (high environmental value) agriculture.	Treatment equipment.
June-July	*Relevage.*	Ensure the vine branches are vertical to help the exposure and the ventilation of the clusters.	Manual or mechanical work.
July-August	*Ecimage.*	Trim the tips of the branches to control the vigour of the foliage.	Trimming machine
July-August	Leaf thinning.	Remove the leaves around the clusters to enable them to ripen evenly.	Manual, mechanical and thermic.
September-October-November	Harvesting.	Pick the bunches of grapes.	Mechanical and manual.

Château Bélingard’s commitment to the environment

In the early 2000’s, Château Bélingard adopted an approach instigated by the VIGNERONS INDEPENDANTS de France (independent wine producers of France), known as QUALENVI. Qualenvi is an ISO 9000- type process standard with an agronomic and environmental orientation.
After obtaining the QUALENVI certification, we decided to fully commit ourselves to our Agro-environmental role.
This is why we were one of the first agricultural operations in France to obtain “Haute Valeur Environnementale” (high environmental value) certification (n°VCE-3-039-1V1) in 2013.
This commitment means that we must:
-Respect, protect and promote Biodiversity.
-Control the quantity of our inputs (fertilizers, phytosanitary products, fuel, water…)
-Reduce the negative impact of our business on human Health and Plant life.

One example of this is our use of “sexual confusion” for insect control

One of the pests of the grapevine and the grapes in Bergerac is a small larva (Eudemis or Cochylis), produced by the mating of a moth. In order to combat this pest without the use of insecticide, harmful to the surrounding fauna (bees, etc.), we use devices that release the moths’ hormonal scents which reduce the moths’ fertilization and thereby the number of caterpillars responsible for the damage which causes grey rot.
Another example is the geological wells that we dig on the parcels of land before they are planted, in order to determine the profile of the soil and thereby ensure that we use the right grape variety and rootstock, or potential clone.

vigne bergerac automne