A few weeks ago we told you about the work we do to maintain a respectful and regenerative viticulture with our environment, seeking to build a living soil, where the link between vineyard and biodiversity becomes increasingly stronger. This, as we mentioned, allows us to avoid losing, in one year, the same amount of fertile soil that nature would take more than 300 years to generate. Within this project and philosophy, we find this soil management to work with vegetation cover between the vineyards.
In soils such as ours, located in the town of Fuentecén, in the Ribera del Duero region of Burgos, and which have sufficient water resources, vegetation cover provides numerous benefits provided that it is used correctly.
In our vineyards we find natural vegetation cover that we allow to grow during these months. This is a sustainable alternative to the use of herbicides. Our natural vegetation cover provides nutrients and organic matter to the soil and improves its structure by activating its microbial life while also oxygenating it.
In turn, the vegetation cover helps us to control the yield, as it affords a healthy competition with the vines, thereby reducing the robustness of the vines and improving the quality of future harvests.
The vegetation cover is usually mowed in June, and in this way, as aforementioned, we help to control the robust growth of the vines. At Tres Piedras we control this vegetation cover by pruning it with a brush-cutter at the end of spring.
It is important to bear in mind that the use of vegetation cover is not always beneficial, as in agricultural systems with scarce resources it can lead to excessive competition for water and nutrients and result in detrimental outcomes. During the veraison and ripening period, this cover crop must be extensively mowed to avoid excessive competition with the vines.
