Once harvesting is over, winemaking primarily consists in respecting the quality of the berries, the must and the wine. After the bunches of grapes have been hand-picked, they are immediately destalked and the berries are lightly crushed before being conveyed into stainless-steel tanks for approximately three weeks for their fermenting process. For the first four to six days in the tank, the berries, the juice, the skins and the pips are left for a low temperature-maceration (12 °C). The contact between the free-run juice and the pulp will help diffuse the aromatic components from the berries into the must or future wine. Then, at about 28-30 °C the alcoholic fermentation takes place. Later, when the fermenting process has been completed, the wine undergoes its malolactic fermentation in another stainless-steel vat.The wine is subsequently drawn off into oak casks for a 12 to18 month maturing process (50 % of the casks are new oak casks, the other 50 % having served for the previous vintage). During that time, the wine is racked every three months and topped up each week. It is fined with egg-whites before being bottled on the premises.
