Yves Massicot, now retired, is one of the winegrowers of the Bien Faye du Layon brotherhood, located in Bellevigne-en-Layon (Maine-et-Loire), who in 2003 planted the 499 vines of grolleau which constitute the historic vineyard of the free commune of the village of Saint-Brice, below the residence of Val de l’Eure. It is this vine that produces the famous Rosé de Chartres.
Since that date, the brotherhood has provided valuable advice to the members of the Chartraine association, and more particularly to Dominique Perello, the manager of the historic vineyard.
If the latter carries out certain interventions himself, pruning the vines remains a very technical operation. This is the reason why the brotherhood sends, at the end of February, some of its members to Chartres. Usually two or three.
Jacky Baroche tells the story of the free commune of Saint-Brice, in Chartres: the historic vine and the Rosé de Chartres
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This Monday, February 21, Yves Massicot was accompanied only by his wife. “The members of the brotherhood, like those of the free commune, are not getting any younger,” explains Yves Massicot.
Equipped with his pneumatic shears, he began to prune the first vines. “A vine is like a fruit tree. If you leave all the new shoots, it will become a real wasteland,” he explains. “He leaves a minimum of wood”.
“If you leave all the new shoots, it will become a real wasteland”
This pruning should allow each vine to produce only seven or eight bunches of grapes, in the long term. This is why Yves Massicot cuts all the branches more or less flush, taking care not to leave more than 14 eyes on each plant.
Six particularly attentive students followed his explanations: six employees of the green spaces service of the Establishment and work assistance service (Esat) Les Ateliers vers l’autonomie, in Lucé. They had been invited by the leaders of the association to find out how a vine is pruned.
“We are the ones who maintain the green spaces of the entire Saint-Brice site”, explains Clément Prodhomme, monitor.
“As such, we use a brushcutter to cut the grass around the vines, about once a month, in season. »
Clément Prodhomme (Monitor)
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About twenty members of the association of the free commune of the village of Saint-Brice were also present, Monday morning, around Dominique Perello, to lend a hand. In this case to pick up the twigs left on the ground and to make small bundles.
After the passage of Jacky Baroche, the president of the free commune, who came to encourage his troops, James Guyot, vice-president, and several members of the association got down to a parallel task: digging up the 145 wooden stakes and the wires metal on which rest all these vines.
“We will receive the new posts in mid-March,” explains James Guyot.
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