Offbeat Portrait No. 3: Our winemaker Gilbert Chatelain

Gilbert Chatelain , known as "Sissi," has been living on the heights of Saint Pierre d'Albigny since 1989. He cultivates 3 hectares on the foothills of the Château de Miolans and is also a producer of vine plants. He loves taking care of his Altesses, the quintessential Savoyard grape variety, while humming "La Maladie d'Amour" by Michel Sardou!

His adage: nothing is lost... everything is transformed!

Crushing the vine shoots

Vine mulching, as the name suggests, involves mulching the vine mulches from pruning vines, approximately 2 tonnes per hectare, using a mechanical mulcher. The mulching process provides free organic matter, a natural fertilizer that improves soil structure against erosion and compaction. This return to the soil also helps compensate for some of the losses due to mineralization and therefore limits fertilizer use.