The vineyards

The vitality of the soil, and how we aim to recover it

In 2007 my wife and I returned to Mallorca from a journey to Argentina, a six-month stay that changed our lives. We came into contact with a nature that was still wild, with untouched landscapes, with an agriculture that has only been mechanised for the last 20 years, and with some unforgettable people who taught us a different way of looking at life.

It was not until then that we realised what it means for the soil to lose its vitality. When we began to taste marvellous olive oils, exquisite fruits and wines that shook you to your boots, for the first time in our lives we were aware of being fed, of being nourished.

After observing these lands and watching the people work them with enthusiasm, we began to make the inevitable comparisons, our view of things before and after, the lands we have here and the lands over there, the foods that exist here and there, the spirit of people here and there.

When a people loses the vitality of its soil, when fertility is a mirage fed by 90 HP tractors and phytosanitary products that are toxic for all forms of life, what is lost is something more than just pretty postcard scenes. What is lost is the vitality of the people. Without agriculture, without the food it gives us, we cannot live. When there is no vitality there is no awareness or willpower; societies and peoples enter into crises – social crises, economic crises, educational crises, alimentary crises, energy crises ... We form part of nature, she gives us everything.

One glance at our island, without even looking at its soil, also tells us that the vitality of our lands is falling into bankruptcy. And studying our soil only confirms this disaster.

The miracle that occurs every day is that, despite the agricultural destruction of the soil, our generous mother earth continues to give us her fruits.

This is not a pessimistic discourse. We can recover the fertility of the soil, we can maintain it, and we can improve it for the future. And this is our project in the Jaume Mesquida vineyards.

Jaume Mesquida Mora

Stimulating the fertility of the soil

We can do many things to recover the fertility of our soil, but the most important is to make a change of mentality. Changing our way of looking at nature, at our surroundings and at life itself is the most important agricultural action we can carry out. This is a personal decision, and it is the commitment we have made at our winery.
We began this journey in 2004 when we decided to do away with the use of herbicides and chemical fertilisers and began to use vegetable cover as organic fertiliser.
Since 2007, being aware of this need to make a change of paradigm, in the Jaume Mesquida vineyards we have begun to introduce a series of changes in the way of tending the vines, new methods that will constantly evolve as we learn more.

Our work in the vineyards is now based on the following points:

• Use of our own biodynamic compost produced from the remains of grapes and horse and cattle manure.
• Application of biodynamic preparations.
• Definitive abandonment of the use of chemical pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilisers.
• Use of medicinal plant infusions to prevent diseases.
• Reduction of more than 75% of the doses of copper and sulphur used to prevent mildew and oidium.
• Use of vegetable cover all year round.
• Performance by hand of all the tasks in the vineyard.
• Replacement of tractors with animal power (mules).
• Performance of pruning tasks following the lunar calendar.
• Use of the principles of sacred geometry and feng shui in the design and planting of new vineyards.
• Confidence in nature.