Saint-Émilion (France) (AFP)

Apple trees, lime trees, maple trees in the middle of the vines: during the pandemic, Château Cheval Blanc, a world-renowned Bordeaux Grand Cru, stepped up its agroecological approach and planted several thousand plants to ensure the future in the face of global warming, a small revolution.

"Have you seen the heron? This is the first time we've seen one on this piece of water which is only eight months old," marvels Pierre Lurton, its managing director.

Like the trees and wild grasses (clovers, mustard, flax, etc.) in the vines, the chickens, sheep and beehives within the property are part of an approach started ten years ago by the estate. , owned by the Frère family and LVMH.

During confinement, this 1er Grand Cru of Saint-Emilion gave a boost and planted 3,000 plants, including 1,500 trees in its vines (which already had 200), under the watchful eye of its neighbors of Pomerol, the no less famous castles L'Evangile and Pétrus.

“We don't wake up one morning saying + here we are going to plant trees +. We've been fumbling for more than ten years,” explains Pierre-Olivier Clouet, 41-year-old technical director.

The first tests were thus carried out on the plots of the second wine, Petit Cheval Blanc, which was less exposed to the media.

Then came the turn of the "intimidating estate" Cheval Blanc.

"We have soils that make extremely brilliant wines, will they make such brilliant wines with two or three degrees more, I have doubts," he explains.

Hence the trees.

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“The main objective is to bring freshness to the plots” thanks to their shade, explains Juliette Combe, 29-year-old wine assistant.

The plantation is made up of 50% fruit trees (whose production will garnish the castle table) and 50% foresters (lime, maple, hornbeam ...) to nourish the soil and shelter birds, insects and bats.

- "A role of water pump" -

The tree is also interesting for its "underground work".

"It takes its nutrients and water from the soil thanks to a mycorrhizal fungus, filaments that will colonize the roots of trees and neighboring vine plants", explains Pierre-Olivier Clouet with enthusiasm.

"We organize a real network of nutrient sharing, the plant that has difficulty eating will be fed by its neighbor. These fungi are of major importance in the context of climate warming" by playing "the role of water pump, "he said.

Before planting, it was necessary to uproot a hundred vines per hectare (one hectare has between 6,000 and 8,000 vines).

"Before giving yourself permission to pull out a Cheval Blanc vine, you have to think carefully about what you are doing," admits the technical director.

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With an average age of 42 years, the vines have vines dating back to 1920 and some vintages reach several hundred or even thousands of euros.

Cheval Blanc, which has 45 employees, is not the first to embark on agroforestry.

Delphine and Benoît Vinet, who set out in 2008 in their small vineyard in Libournais, are "pioneers": "It was a bit complicated to be considered as beautiful dreamers", Delphine Vinet has fun today. from AFP.

"These well-known châteaux which are starting to practice agroforestry and biodiversity, that makes us happy because they have visibility. We know how things are going in the wine world, if they move forward, the others will not be left behind" , a benefit for biodiversity and for the vines, according to her.

"We did not invent anything", recognizes Pierre-Olivier Clouet, but the novelty at Cheval Blanc lies in the scope of the project, the 16 hectares (out of 39) spent in agroforestry.

In charge of the scientific follow-up of the adventure, Juliette Combe believes that "we will have to give the trees time to show that it is not an announcement effect".

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"We have put in place indicators that we want to be fairly easy, precise and comparable: the rate of organic matter, the structural stability of the soil ... In four or five years, we will have a first trend", explains the young agricultural engineer.

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