Biodiversity

We value our ecosystem with healthy biodiversity

Nature is an asset, not a production site. That is why we want to maintain our environment as healthy as possible with lots of different species of flora & fauna. The more complex the vineyard ecosystem is, the stronger it is against pests and diseases. We farm organically so there are no systemic pesticides, herbicides or insecticides used at Carsin. We value the natural biological variety and bring our own addition by planting vines, hedges, fruit trees and keeping farm animals. We want to create a healthy natural habitat for as many species as possible.

Chateau Carsin is not just a winery, actually it’s a farm. Our production is quite versatile and every year we plant new varieties of fruit trees, vegetables, flowers and cover crops. We want to reduce the tractor work in the vineyards so we keep farm animals there during winter time. This economises one passage with tractor and the mower!

We have 9 different grape varieties that we cultivate at Carsin; Sauvignon Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Carmenere, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Between the rows of the vineyards we have either natural or sown cover crops. There are many different types of flowers that we grow at our farm, they bring a lot of colourful joy to us and our visitors and they are essential for pollinators.

We have over a hundred different fruit trees and berries too; apples, pears, prunes, nectarines, peaches, figs, cherries, persimmons, apricots, hazelnuts, walnuts, chestnuts, olive trees, cassis, raspberry and blackberries.

At Carsin, we have several insect hotels for bugs and insects to stay at (especially during the winter), there are nests for bats and birds and of course we have wild animals that mostly stay in our forest; wild boars, rabbits, deers, birds and owls, bats, snakes and all the small forest animals you can imagine. Our farm animals include our work horse Philibert, our shetland pony Bruno, our cats Marie, Berlioz & Kerttu and our farm chicken who produce delicious eggs. The newest addition to our farm family are Kune Kune pigs, Diana & Winston.

In our vegetable garden Nea cultivates plenty of different veggies such as beans, peas, radishes, beetroots, cucumbers, zucchinis, pumpkins, tomatoes, corn, strawberries and melons. Samuli has also added some fennels and chilies to the garden and we have quite a few herbs growing there such as rosemary, thyme, sage, parsley and basil.

Our organic principles go hand in hand with the biodiversity. All the material that we collect from gardens or the manure of our animals goes to the compost and eventually back to the vineyards. This helps to keep the vineyard soils alive!

We’re also planning to introduce beehives to Carsin so that we could have more pollinators and perhaps collect our own honey. We’ll keep you posted, don’t forget to follow us in social media for the new updates!