1) Pruning
Of all the commercially grown plants, the vine is without doubt the most sensitive to its environment. It requires constant care. Pruning begins around six weeks after the grape harvest to provide more mature grapes and thus better quality wine. The work continues until March. From mid-March to the start of May, the vine shoots are attached to, and trained along, wires to "discipline the vine".
2) Budding
Around mid-April, the vines come into bud. The young green shoots will have to withstand the spring frosts which, in some years, can cause significant damage. Bud selection takes place in May and June, after the first buds have appeared.
This is a period of long, patient observation, during which the most promising shoots are individually selected and the others eliminated.
Thus the shoots chosen will grow more vigorously.
3) Flowering
Flowering is a capricious and demanding process that usually lasts twelve days or so in June. Mumm’s own growers keep a careful watch during this difficult stage, as cold or damp weather can endanger the harvest and cause substantial losses through the vines’ failure to set fruit or through uneven fruit formation.
In summer the vines are tied and topped, their leaves being thinned out to allow the sunlight to reach the fruit more easily. In September the harvest comes round again.
4) The environment
To yield high-quality grapes, the vines need protection against the various diseases and pests from which they can suffer – insects, grape caterpillars, mildew, oidium and rot. While putting in place such protection, Maison Mumm is careful to limit the use of remedies to ensure the maintenance of vine quality doesn’t compromise the environment.