JUNE

The heat of the sun now comes down heavily. The vine blossoms and nature takes on the colours of the summer. This is the month for stripping the leaves. If the winegrower did not cut this excessive vegetation, he would quickly lose control over it.
The vine can grow up to five centimetres a day. Therefore it is important to clean out the space around the grapes so that they are well ventilated.
Thereafter we attach the larger sprouts with rattan or iron rings to the vine-sticks. The vines controlled by wiring are nailed up. In this way this whole vegetation is fastened and well exposed to the sun.
If we attach so much attention to the foliage, it is because it has to fulfil a role of high importance. A leave to the plant is like a laboratory where the various nutriments are being prepared for all the organs. All the products of the grain of the grape are set up there: sugar, acid, colouring material, and so on. A maximum of light is needed so that all the organic substances can be synthesised and the plant enjoys the best of health.
To achieve this task we engage women who are called "leave strippers". At the moment they come mainly from the Val d'Aoste. They are smart ladies, cheerful and courageous, who are used to work in the open air. Within two weeks they usually complete this testing task.
We go out to work by any weather and endurance is really needed to bear up under these circumstances: there are 12 to 13 hours of work a day in a bright sunshine, without any puff of wind in the afternoon, or there is a heavily falling rain and rather frisk temperatures. However, they prefer this rather tough rhythm that allows them to earn a bit more in less time.
In June, one also has to pay attention to various treatments because with the humidity and the heat the conditions are often reunited to favour the development of cryptogamous deceases. And as the vine pushes and grows quickly in this period, there are always new leaves that have not yet received any fungicide or sulphur to protect them against mildew and oïdium.
However, with products and means of treatment nowadays ever more sophisticated, it is now much easier to control these deceases than it was in the past.
The latest mean in these treatments is certainly the utilisation of the helicopter. It is breathtaking and impressive to see them fly at such low altitude, skimming the ground and following the shapes of the slopes, avoiding trees and electric wires. Up to one hundred hectares of vines on terraces can be treated in this way, whereas a winegrower, assisted by a helper for the continuous supply of materials, manages at best two hectares a day using a manual sprayer carried on the back.
The winegrower appreciates the help he is getting in this way. Nevertheless, he also feels that these generalised treatments from the sky move him farther away from the unity with nature. He knows that the vine, the vine-stock, the leave, and the bunch of grapes need him, the winegrower, to be observed, cultivated, corrected, and individually to be taken care of.
The most disturbing moment of the month of June is without doubt the flowering of the vine. Observing the process of the fecundation, one cannot avoid feeling that finally there is not a great difference between the vine and the human being. The vine has to be in good health, and the ratio of humidity to heat must be favourably balanced. A discreet, nearly exciting, perfume hovers in the quiet open air. The pistil, sweet and fragrant, patiently awaits the pollen, dispersed by the winds, the stamen. The wonderful process of the fecundation is starting. Love is everywhere and needed for the fruit to be conceived and life to be continued.