THE FAMILY SPIRIT

Our team is committed, passionate, self-taught, intuitive and rational, to mention but a few. These qualities make us complementary and well-equipped to support every estate that we work for and to provide the best possible advice. Hubert de Boüard Consulting and Oeno-lab consist of three different generations and experiences. However, all three are committed to the same quest for balance, appropriateness and respect in order to reveal wines that are the reflection and the expression of their terroir.

This diversity and the trust between the team members are what constitute the expertise and rich variety within HB Consulting. All issues are shared, discussed and analysed in the team, in order to involve the talents of Denis Gissou in vine husbandry and of Delphine and Marlène in the laboratory, while maintaining an overall picture of the support given to each property.

For Hubert de Boüard Consulting and Oeno-lab the only possible way to work is in direct contact in a one-to-one relationship with the people representing the properties. This is fundamental in order to foster discussion, to enhance communication, to challenge ideas and ensure that support is well-defined and fast. This shared approach to jobs within Hubert de Boüard Consulting and Oeno-lab encourage each member to respond positively, seeking progress on a daily basis, to arrive at the right solution crafted by the whole team to meet the specific requirements of each estate.

THE SUPPORT WE PROVIDE

The Hubert de Boüard Consulting team, Oeno-Lab and Hubert de Boüard himself acting as a consultant, all adopt a technical and scientific approach based on a global analysis of the vineyard to achieve the best agronomic balance and provide meticulous attention to the whole winemaking process.

Hubert de Boüard consulting Oeno-lab

• Consideration of soil biodiversity
• Consulting support on how to manage the impact of climate change on vine husbandry
• Consulting support on water management (storage, distribution)
• Consulting support on mitigating extreme weather events (practices, anti-frost systems, hail avoidance)
• Adapting root-stocks to grape varieties and soils
• Pruning
• Implementation of massal or clonal selection
• Increasing leaf area, if required
• Natural cover cropping and reflection around biomass
• Regulating fruit loads on vines
• Controlling yields
• Planting densities
• Soil tillage
• Reflection around protecting ecosystems and the biotope, moving to organic winegrowing if possible
• Protecting ecosystems
• Vineyard lot selection
• Selecting wood for ageing
• Checking technical, phenolic, textural, skin and aromatic ripeness
• How to achieve gentle extraction
• Ageing on the lees with scientific microbiological analysis
• Etc.

Hubert de Boüard Consulting and Oeno-Lab also provide advice on fitting out winemaking and ageing cellars, and set harvest dates and schedule winemaking, ageing and analytical and microbiological tests.

THE LAB – FROM ANALYSES
TO THE FINEST DETAIL

The laboratory housed 17 Grand Rue in Montagne, does a lot more than just the classical analyses. It is equipped to respond to all the issues that estates may encounter throughout the year right up to bottling.

Delphine Diez and Marlène Quinvéros take charge of the different analyses. They collect all data, list the results and build up records. Using a software interface, every property can remotely consult its analysis results, save its data, manage its invoices and exchange more speedily with an instant messaging feature.

Every analysis is checked and approved by the oenologists Hubert de Boüard and Philippe Nunes. The laboratory is a member of the Union of Oenologists of France and participates in the Union's "Chain of Analyses" whereby results are compared between laboratories in a series of campaigns. These campaigns involve monthly tests of wine and musts (red, white and juice) and provide a guarantee that analysis results are correct and testing methods are reliable.

> Ripeness checks

• Measurement of sugar content to determine potential alcohol by volume, of total acidity and pH
• Tasting grapes on the vine

> Monitoring alcoholic fermentation

• When the fruit is vatted: analysis of sugar levels, total acidity, pH and available nitrogen
• After alcoholic fermentation: measurement of pH, malic acid levels, alcohol by volume and glucose / fructose levels

> Monitoring malolactic fermentation

• Assay of malic acid and volatile acidity

> Monthly checks

• Assay of volatile acidity, free and total SO2 in barrels or tanks and microbiological testing

> Microbiological analysis

• Enumeration of lactic acid and acetic acid bacteria, of total yeasts and Brettanomyces

> Our analytical techniques

• Checking for contaminant yeasts such as Brettanomyces by flow cytometry making it possible to enumerate cells in a sample. Flow cytometry combines fluorescent labels and laser detection to produce results very fast (typically in 15 minutes), so that measures can be taken immediately if contamination has taken place.
• Use of a sequential analyser to perform enzyme assays (malic, glucose / fructose, acetic, etc.) and colorimetric assays (alpha-amino nitrogen, copper, iron, etc.)
• Testing for free and total SO2 by iodometry and the Franz Paul method
• Enumeration of lactic and acetic bacteria and yeasts on agar medium

  • Hubert de Boüard Expertise
  • Hubert de Boüard Expertise
  • Hubert de Boüard Expertise