Domaine Gayda has been certified organic since 2011.
We’re also starting to encourage biodiversity and mixed farming. We planted 300 olive trees in 2011, we cultivate green manures and melliferous plants on plots around the vineyards, and we plan to restore hedges around plots that are more sensitive to wind and pests. Also, our new Syrah plantation is based on our own massal selection of an old Côte Rôtie vine – so it’s not clonal – so that each vine has its own particular character.
Working the land
We don’t feed the vines, but use natural cattle compost to enrich our soils, which are poor in organic matter and microbial life. In winter, we sow various plants in the rows of vines to improve soil structure, prevent erosion and promote deep water penetration, as well as helping biodiversity when the plants flower. We then grind them to add organic matter to the soil.
Under the rows, grass growth is controlled by interception. A tool that works the soil between the vines and, thanks to a feeler, retracts when it touches the vine.
Between the rows, depending on the year’s rainfall, we choose to let the weeds and plants grow back by crushing or laying them down regularly, or to cultivate the soil if the competition is too great for the vines, trying to reduce the number of interventions.
