For the second half of the 20th century, farmers, including wine producers, were mainly interest in maximising yields with environmental issues taking a back seat. Luckily, things have moved on and many farmers now take into account the ecological aspect of their activties. This has led to the notion of sustainable farming which could be defined as optimizing the quantity and the quality of the crop (as opposed to maximising the quantity) and minimising the impact of farming on the environment.

Photo: Our vines at the Coteau de St Sulpice.

At Domaine du Fontenay, our aim is to use conservative, traditionnal viticultural methods which limit our long term impact on the environment and enable us to produce top quality grapes. We operate under the Terra Vitis scheme which certifies the way in which we work.

 
A great deal of lip service is paid to the theme of sustainable farming at the moment. Indeed, if you trawl wine-makers websites, everybody is doing it. However, most producers are very short in details and speak only about generalities. Here, we tell you in detail exactly what we do: