We at Chateau Beauchene firmly believe in cultivating our vineyards to the principals of “culture raisonnée”. It means taking environmental issues into consideration balanced with the commercial objectives of the business.
The aim is :

- to preserve the balance of our soils and maintain a bio-diversity
- to produce grapes of a high organoleptic quality
- to minimize pollution and to respect the environment

Regularly each year, 12 parcels of land are selected at random around our vineyards and samples are taken and sent for analysis. Soil samples are taken in the Autumn and foliage samples are taken in June. We use the results of analysis to decide if and when to apply fertilisers that satisfy the vines’ nutritive needs without damaging either the quality of our wine or the environment.

Whilst the soils around the vines are tilled regularly from the end of the winter until the month of August, to reduce the weeds and competition for nutrients, grass belts are maintained around each parcel of land to provide shelter for beneficial predators which feed on various vineyard pests.

The grass belts prevent an uptake of water should it rain, which would cause dilution problems at harvest, and it maintains a level of moisture retention in the soil so that the vines don’t suffer so much during times of drought.

Once ploughing stops, grass quickly re-establishes itself around the vineyard. This has enormous advantages – firstly, this is the proof that the soil is biologically well-balanced and secondly, it provides vital nutrients and compost when ploughed back into the soil in Spring.