A unique production model
the Berillon Model is based on a (re)definition of Massal Selection, uncompromising plant production and constant attention to detail
For a plant reserved for quality viticulture
Raw material preparation
From January to February, we harvest and prepare scions and rootstocks from our mother vines. The wood is pruned and shaped for grafting.
Whip and tongue grafting
This is the grafting method that is most respectful of sap flow. This method provides a large contact surface between the graft and the rootstock. All our production is grafted by whip and tongue method.
Stratification
This is a crucial stage for the future of the plant: it corresponds to the healing of the grafting point. A warm, humid environment is conducive to callogenesis.
The plantation
In mid-April, the seedlings are planted in the hollow of a 30cm mound without plastic mulch. They will spend 8 months in the nursery. At the heart of the mound, from the heel of the rootstock, the root system develops. On the graft side, the flow of sap allows the bud to unfurl.
Each year, our nurseries are planted in our arable land, which has been resting for 7 years.
Removal
The first winter frosts allow us to extract the plants from the nursery and send them to our sorting workshops.
Sorting
Each plant is checked for weld, wood quality and root system development. We are drastic: only one quality of production and no trading.
Hot water treatment
This 45-minute bath at 50° eliminates the leafhopper phytoplasma that transmits flavescence dorée deases. All our production is treated with hot water, whatever the destination of the plants. This is our response to guarantee the health of our production.
Delivery
You’re ready to plant, you let us know, we finalize the preparation of your reservation and we arrive!
Maintenance
No mulching, reasoned irrigation, respect for the soil, manual weeding at the foot of each small plant, phytosanitary cover inspired by organic specifications… all these measures are designed to ensure that your future vines grow well and build up their reserves.
Summer maintenance
For the past 15 years, biodynamic practices have been an integral part of our rigorous specifications.
In the early 2000s, the nursery wrote its Berillon Massal Selection model. Teams of breeders scour vineyards, some of them prestigious, in search of old vines, some of them over a hundred years old.
Each selected foot thus corresponds to a historical individual that needs to be identified and described. The aim is to select the widest and richest possible genetic diversity.
At the end of a long selection protocol, the plant that has evolved in a difficult environment is saved, tested for health and then reproduced in the workshops of the South of France by the little hands of the Berillon nursery.
These individuals, all different, are THE answer to cloning or fixed mass selection.
and limited to just a few individuals.
No resistance without diversity, no great wines of extreme complexity without individuals
carefully safeguarded. The Berillon nursery’s plants must stand the test of time…
With an unwavering attention to detail, Lilian Berillon has set himself a unique, no-holds-barred set of specifications.
a compromise based on self-sufficiency in raw materials and land. The 170ha of land are spread over two production sites: Jonquières in the Vaucluse and Villeneuve-Lès-Avignon in the Gard.
The nursery’s winegrowers maintain the vineyards with grafts (grape varieties) and rootstocks.
on 50ha. The rest of the land is used to plant 15ha of seedlings and rooted plants each year.
from May to December. Each stage of production has been revisited, and the scientific approach has been brought in for greater precision. From English-style slit grafting as the only grafting method, to hot water treatment for all production, Pépinière Berillon has not hesitated to reinvent a unique model with an attention to detail that positions it as an exclusive nursery.