You may not know enough when you are a champagne lover, but the maintenance of the vineyard is an ongoing operation. Each season, the winegrowers pamper their vines so that the bubbles can still live a long time and guarantee a good quality of our favorite elixir. Choosing your champagne does not necessarily take away the knowledge of the operations carried out by the valiant winegrowers !
In the prestigious “Côte des Blancs” of champagne, the wine growers organize an operation called “sexual confusion”. The latter is of exceptional magnitude, since it limits the reproduction of a pest, cochylis butterflies. "The larvae of this butterfly attack our grapes" explains the winegrowers' union.
Botany bubbles
Nicknamed the "Grappe Worm", the "Grape Moth", this caterpillar covers three species in the vine: Cochylis (Eupoecilia ambiguella), Eudemis (lobesia botrana), and Eulia (Argyrotaenia ljungiana). It is a nocturnal butterfly, and the caterpillar attacks foliage and fruit. The Cochylis measures 12 to 15 mm in wingspan, and its forewings, which are yellow, are crossed by a brown-black band. Its hind wings, which are gray, are very significant with lighter fringes.
The Cochylis is particularly northern but can sometimes be found in all regions. The Eudémis is for him more widespread in the South of France and the South-West. It is an enemy preying on grapes and the caterpillars can cause very serious crop losses, and also they promote the development of gray rot.
A natural method
To counter these problems, the winegrowers of the “côte des blancs” of champagne have applied the technique of diffusing sexual pheromones through capsules which are similar to those which the female butterflies emit to attract their males.
The male cochylis therefore becomes a bit of a jerk through multiple messages, which confuse him and prevent him from finding a female to impregnate.
The larvae of this pest lodge in our gentle grapes and generate rots there. These can propagate and spread to other clusters, with a direct consequence in impairing the quality of the harvest.
According to several sources, this year around 100 winegrowers and their numerous employees have mobilized to propagate almost 550 capsules per hectare, all over an area approaching 800 ha around the slopes of Vertus, in the famous “white coast”.
Almost 90% of winegrowers took part in this operation, according to the General Syndicate of Winegrowers (SGV).
This method has the advantage of being natural, as it limits almost 70% of the butterfly population, which is almost equal to a conventional phytosanitary treatment.
This type of operation should therefore be supported, knowing that it is in the sense of maintaining our vines and our land with great respect.
To do this, this operation requires labor "but once installed, it lasts the entire season when it is necessary to renew the chemical treatments despite everything harmful to the environment as to the winegrowers" explains the General Union of winegrowers (SGV).
This operation of treating the vines against cochylis would be 150 € per hectare. This corresponds to the equivalent of a series of phytosanitary treatments.
Still according to the General Syndicate of Winegrowers (SGV), in 2009 there would have been around 7,400 ha of vines (or 22% of the Champagne vineyard) which would have been treated by this totally ecological method. which represents.
No more botany, I have a bottle of Ruinart Rosé brut champagne, as well as the champagne flutes (from the Verrerie de la Marne, a nice Christmas present) not to be forgotten for the evening ahead; a beautiful celebration in perspective !