Le Grand Cros, is a story about a couple, Hugh and Jane Faulkner, who in 1989 fell in love with a vineyard. Le Grand Cros is situated on the foothills of the Massif des Maures, in the centre of the Var and in the heart of AOC Côtes de Provence. The 24 hectares of vines are surrounded by pine and olive trees, dry stone terraces and in the centre of the estate is an authentic Provencal manor house. Hugh is a Canadian who has taken on the challenge of renovating our ancient olive groves which will allow us in 2006 to bottle our own olive oil. Jane is an artist by profession who has worked in advertising and is responsible for designing the labels, logo and packaging. Julian, their eldest son, took over the running of the vineyard in 2000 after completing a masters degree in Bordeaux in vineyard management. The rest of the team include Stéphane who worked for several leading vineyards in Provence before settling with us in charge of production (Vines and Winery); Maryline, who is in charge of administration and logistics joined us this year; Saïd, who is right hand man to Stéphane, manages our teams of seasonal workers and assists Hugh with our newly renovated and expanding olive grove; last but not least, Irène is responsible for sales, marketing and communication.
Marrying science and tradition :

For the first 10 years, Raymond Guido remained as our farmer and cellar-master as he had worked this land for 30 years until he retired in 2000. Raymond was the living memory of what had been done and learnt from the past. Despite what pearls of wisdom can be learnt from past experience, it is important to continue to experiment and innovate and not to remain bound by tradition if you are to progress and remain competitive.

With the intent of unleashing the full potential of our “terroir”, Julian has since instituted several changes in the Vineyard. After 2 years of water stress measurements and soil analysis, Julian replaced the trellising of several parcels in order to dramatically increase leaf surface canopy. In these parcels permanent grass has been planted in between the rows. A new planting program has begun where density is being increased from 4000 to 5000 vines per hectare and alternative clones and rootstock have been chosen.

Julian has also invested in a weather station which is linked to a computer which is equipped with advanced disease modelling software in order to calculate the theoretical risk of attack. It is expected that on average, use of fungicides will be cut by one third, by applying them only when it is strictly necessary and at the point of maximum efficiency. Thanks to our environmentally sound management we have a thriving auxiliary fauna present which allows us to have no need for any pesticides. In fact, as of our 2002 vintage, our wines have been certified by “Terra Vitis” which is an environmentally sound charter.

Our grapes are nearly all hand-picked with a team of 16 to 18 people. We have put considerable effort into identifying the optimal maturity for each type of wine for which we use all the tools that are available. Julian collects samples 3 to 4 times in each parcel before harvesting where he tastes the grapes and munches the pips. With experience, this method is very reliable but lacks precision. We complement this with laboratory analysis of so-called “technolog?ical maturity” (sugar, acidity and mineral elements) along with “phenolic maturity” (tannins and anthocyanins). In 2005 we also experimented with the use of infrared camera which allowed us to observe further parameters.