the Cultivation
The aim of all applied cultivation techniques is to create plants of medium robustness and vigour, which is a necessary condition for producing high-quality wines. The privately-owned, 20-hectare vineyard is being cultivated in accordance with the principles of organic farming and has received DIO certification. It extends at an altitude of 250-650 metres to seven adjacent vine-growing areas and stops at its natural boundary, a gully with plane trees. The vineyard has gentle slopes ranging from 5% to 20% and its rows run from east to west so as to provide protection against the cold northern winds and strong sunshine in the summer. The grapevines have been planted in rows (linear layout) with a space of 1-1.30m within each row and a space of 2.40m between rows. An irrigation system has been installed for dealing with extreme drought conditions in the summer. The planting density is 350-400 vines/1000m2, depending on the variety and using the 1103 Paulsen rootstock, and has a low yield of approximately 700-800 kg/1000m2. Pruning takes place using the bilateral or unilateral method (Cordon de Royat) and begins in March. Organic manure is used for fertilising. Only sulphur and copper are used to control grapevine pests. The grapes are harvested by hand and the harvest season begins in late August with the Chardonnay or Merlot varieties and ends in the first half of October with the Xinomavro variety. A telemetric meteorological station has been installed in the vineyard, which can forecast vine diseases. Information on the current weather conditions at the vineyard of Domaine Claudia Papayianni is available at www.fieldclimate.com with username : Papagianni and password: Meteo.
