• The harvest at Château de Bellet began last Thursday, for three weeks with around fifteen employees.

  • The terraced vineyard requires "two to three times more time than a task done in the plain", explains the sales manager of the estate, Valérie Occelli.

  • All these specificities are reflected in the price of the bottle.

In the hills of Nice, the Château de Bellet, "one of the oldest vineyards in the region", covers 13 hectares.

Since last Thursday, the harvest has started and will last about twenty days.

“In comparison with the other areas, we were lucky this year,” comments Valérie Occelli, sales manager.

Very little frost, not necessarily drought, "the Nice vineyard is doing well despite the vagaries of the climate", she sums up.

Indeed, it benefits from a double influence, that of the mountain and that of the sea. A configuration which nevertheless implies some peculiarities.

"You must love to hike"

Valérie Occelli explains: “The harvest is very complicated. A task will take two to three times longer than in the plain given the relief we have. There are stones everywhere. "In Bellet, the soil is pudding," sand and pebbles ", sums up the winemaker Cyril Toche. “The vineyard is terraced, the plots are carved on the hill. Everything is done manually. Each step of the process is necessarily longer, like going with the tractor between the rows. It is a complex terroir but which gives a freshness in the whites or rosés, which are not necessarily expected for wines from the south. "

These specificities must be taken into account when picking, which makes recruitment more difficult.

"You have to like to hike all day," smiles the sales manager.

Besides, we don't offer housing and the region is expensive.

Seasonal workers are then hired who live camping in the field.

We also have a core of locals, who come back every year, ”.

This is the case with Christian who lives "opposite the hill".

He proudly says: “This is my neighborhood.

I would not do the harvest elsewhere.

And if I come back every year, it's also for the atmosphere ”

Château de Bellet wine is "expensive"

Viviana comes from Italy and is used to harvesting all over Europe.

“Even if the configuration is particular, the vines here are taller due to the light reflecting on the ground so it's less tiring.

Ana, 27, listens intently.

She is discovering the harvest for the first time.

“I'm in early childhood so it's another world for me.

I was curious to understand the bunches, to touch them and to be closer to what I like to drink in a bottle ”.

All these features affect the price of the bottle, between 22 and 32 euros.

“Bellet wine is expensive with the facilities, the workforce, the organic.

And we are constantly on the lookout for showcasing this special terroir, ”concludes Valérie Occelli.

Nice

When the vines of Bellet wines come to town

Nice

These winegrowers from the Côte d'Azur use the sun to make their wine without sulphite

  • Wine

  • Harvest

  • Nice