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Organic farming, clean viticulture, what are our choices ?

We do not want to join an organic seal of approval because we consider that an accumulation of copper in our soils would be very harmful on the long range. However, our way to cultivate the vine goes further than the « reasonnable » one, ie. : We have NOT used CHEMICAL FERTILIZER for over 40 years and we do NOT use HERBICIDE, NOR INSECTICIDE since 2002 !

Working our soils is crucial. It allows us for more than 30 years now, to favour the good development and the own character of each of our soils which are Flint, Portlandian limestone and Kimmeridgian marls. We use bare necessities of fungicides adding them to natural stimulators.

Pierre-François Masson, 7th generation of wine-growers at the Estate refuses the ready-made thinking.
This passionned man in his thirties, gardener and beekeeper when it comes, installed an insects hotel in a vine of one hectare of Pouilly-Fumé situated in the heart of the village to preserve the wintry survival of the insects useful for the pollination.

Hotel à insectes construit par Pierre-Francois Masson installé au coeur du vignoble de Pouilly-FuméInsects hotel built by Pierre-Francois Masson installed in the heart of the vineyard of Pouilly-Fumé

Hotel à insectes dans les vignes du Domaine Masson-BlondeletInsects hotel installed in Masson-Blondelet’s vines.

Pierre also installed hives in its personal kitchen garden, cultivated the same way as our vines, without weed-killer, nor insecticide, or fertiliser, in order to find a shelter for the bees, daily disappearing… This year, they are around a month ahead comparing to the past year.

Ruche installée par Pierre-François Masson à Pouilly sur Loire pour encourager la survie des abeilles.Hive installed by Pierre-François Masson in Pouilly sur Loire in order to encourage the survival of the bees.

At the cellar, our philosophy in terms of wine making process is to privilege physical treatments in order to banish the chemical ones (even the softest) and to use the less suffer as possible.
That is why we work with three main principles : The use of gravity (cellar half burried, built on three levels), the use of cold settling and the keeping of the fermentation CO2.
Our wish is to equip ourselves with the most reliable means as well as privileging human intervention, which is the only responsible for “the soul of the wine”.

We put a lot of ourselves in our vine culture and we are looking for perfection in our wine-making processes. So, we are proud that they bear our name, and that they please their final wine taster.

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FIAAC 2014 in Pouilly from 1st to 4th May 2014

We are now « authorised » to reveal the identity if the artist we have chosen to show at the Estate Masson-Blondelet for the second International Fair of Contemporary Art in the Estates of Pouilly- Fumé, which will take place from the 1st to the 4th of May 2014 in Pouilly-sur Loire. It is Diane de Cicco, from whom you can see some work below, and see some more on her website.

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But what is FIAAC en Pouilly-Fumé ?

In 2013, the first edition was dedicated to contemporary painting untitled  : White and Colours.

Nineteen Pouilly-Fumé wine-growers (like Masson-Blondelet Estate ) were exposing nineteen artists chosen for the strenght of their work. Locals, nationals ou from abroad, those artists are representatives of the great streams of today’s painting : abstraction lyric, chromatic or gestural, neo-figuration, gross art , neo-support-surface.

Artists and wine-growers are present all together in the estates for the duration of the  FIAAC in Pouilly-Fumé, this year from the 1st to the 4th of May 2014. The first ones to introduce and sell their work, and the second ones to make discover their vintages and their cuvées.

At the same time, the Pouilly-Fumé Tower and the Caveau des vignerons ( wine-grower estate), both placed at the heart of the village of  Pouilly-sur-Loire, few steps away from  Masson-Blondelet estate,  hosting a collective exhibition from the nineteen invited artists.

A new appointment not to be missed for art and Pouilly-Fumé amateurs and works and flasks collectors !  See you soon…