2021
WELCOME BACK, TREES
With her "ORCHARD" project, the young winemaker is embarking on the viticulture of tomorrow, while patiently listening to the echoes of the past and particularly to the family roots anchored in the vine, respect for the soil and biodiversity. Vitiforestry consists of planting trees in the middle of the rows of vines. This type of viticulture helps to remedy climate change by tempering excess heat, improving water and nutrient resources for the vines, restoring soil fertility within the plots and enhancing the biodiversity of flora and fauna.
The Moselle wine-growing region of Luxembourg is a culture, a tradition dating back at least 2000 years. Although it is suspected that the Celts were already cultivating vines on the Moselle before 58 BC, it was with the Roman occupation that Moselle winegrowing took off. Since then, vineyards have spread continuously along the river, marked over the centuries by wars but also by periods of prosperity.
The "ORCHARD" project was born out of a natural desire to (re-)proliferate a noble diversity in the vineyard... a "Weingarten", synonymous with "Weinberg", from the French word "Vigne", or better still, the literal translation of "Orchard of wine". The approach is fundamental, but not simplistic: to favour an ecosystem that allows an organic balance to be found between the plant, the mineral and man. The name "ORCHARD" is all the more symbolic, since the place where the winemaker grew up is called "Am Grousse Bongert", which means "Au grand verger". In her quest for a balanced landscape, the winegrower militates for an agricultural and winegrowing ideal, agroecology. In the past, fortunately, the winegrower's parents valued the role of maintaining hedges and fruit trees in their plots, allowing their daughter to go further: a return to the diversity of crops and landscapes for the well-being of the fauna and flora, but also of man. Trees, hedges, plant cover for a living soil and, why not, vegetables from the vines.
The winemaking process focuses on the essentials: the grapes, regardless of the nobility (or not) of the variety, its indigenous flora and, ideally, as little human intervention as possible. ORCHARD wines focus on the innate characteristics of their terroir. "ORCHARD" does not seek the opportunism of the "best", but rather seeks the particularity and individuality of the place, soberly and frankly. The range of wines is born from the lively mood of the winegrower, diverse and authentic, just like the Moselle wine region of Luxembourg.
The "ORCHARD" project is a step towards the viticulture of tomorrow, while patiently listening to the echoes of the past and particularly to the family roots anchored in the vine, respect for the soil and biodiversity.
A project that will surely never end, just like its juices to be tasted and re-tasted.
Together with LIST, we have initiated a research project on assessing the effects of trees in a vineyard regarding microclimate, soil water content and physiology of the vine. The project will be launched in 2024.
Site visits will be organised in the future.
