Presentation of the Déplaude farm 10ha including 7.6 ha of vines: 7.3 ha of wine grape vines and 0.30 ha of table grapes and 2.5 ha of meadows and cereals. Family farm with reorientation of productions; Mainly cow's milk until 2008. Development of the vine from 2003: 5.5ha planted since then. AB label since the 2011 vintage and Biodyvin (biodynamic wine since 2021.2 partners, Anne installed since 2011 and Pierre-André in 1977.1 apprentice, 2 part-time employees and 2 to 3 seasonal workers from April to August as well as 12 to 15 people for the harvest. Several particularities: 100% of the estate in IGP Collines Rhodaniennes, schist terroir and 13 different grape varieties including old local grape varieties such as Mornen Noir. Work in the vineyard Little mechanization, reserved for tillage and treatments and a lot of manual work. 1 ha of mechanized vines represents 500 to 700 hours of work per year. This involves the following work: pruning, disbudding, lifting, trellising, leaf stripping, removal of intercoins (greedy), monitoring of trellising, tillage, pickaxe, sowing cover crops at the end of the season. For 1 ha on a hillside that cannot be mechanized, we arrive at approximately 1000 hours/ha/year. Treatments The AB specifications only authorize so-called "contact" products, mainly sulfur and copper. These products have a preventive and not a curative use. The work consists of protecting the vine with small doses of sulfur and copper, upstream of climatic hazards: rainy weather, wind... Herbal infusions and decoctions are also used (horsetail, nettle, meadowsweet, yarrow). These plants stimulate the immune defenses of the vine. Biodynamics The estate started biodynamics in 2009 after various trainings and visits to biodynamic estates. If organic farming preserves the environment, biodynamic farming tries to go further by caring for the land. The aim is to nourish the earth and the plants through compost and biodynamic preparations: cow dung (horn dung) directed towards soil life, porosity, microbial life and quartz spray (horn silica directed towards plant by accompanying growth, balance, maturity. The work in biodynamics commits to respect the living and the rhythms in particular cosmic (influences of the sun and the moon). Winemaking As with many winegrowers, great wines here are the result of a multitude of details. The work is done above all in the vineyard: living soil, severe disbudding, aeration of the bunches by precise green work adapted to the vintage. Everything is done to obtain the ripest and healthiest grapes possible. The harvest is obviously manual: 12 to 15 people over 12 to 13 days. The sorting is done in the vineyard. The harvest is returned to the cellar in a small 20 kg box. Work by gravity or the use of harvest belts to fill the vat and the press allows the integrity of the grapes to be respected. Except in exceptional cases, vinification is done without added sulfur (sulphites) and the start of fermentation is done with so-called "indigenous" yeasts (naturally present on the grapes or in the cellar). Monitoring of vinification is daily, supported by tastings (makes it possible to quickly detect deviations) and analyzes if necessary. We are equipped to regulate temperatures. After vinification, aging takes place in different containers, stainless steel or concrete vats, 200 to 640 liter barrels… Bottling takes place between April and August of the following year and is carried out by a service provider. A slight filtration is carried out as well as a slight addition of sulphites (1 to 2 g/hectolitre) at the time of bottling. Photo credit winemeety -Auriane Torris