Winemaking

Discipline prevails throughout each and every stage leading to the preparation of the wine, and this is most evident in the stringent criteria used to select the grapes at the moment of harvest.

The wine making takes place in cement vats. The fermentation process lasts three weeks on average. Its progress is adjusted by means of a thermo-regulator. Thus, the wine is progressively brought to 28° C, the ideal temperature that is maintained throughout the entire fermentation process (the transformation form sugar to alcohol).

This refined, traditional wine making process is carried out separately for each plot and for each variety of grape. Thus, the wine is developed from different vines, either young or old, whether merlot or cabernet, and each receives the proper care.

The running-off takes place at the end of alcoholic fermentation. During this time, the wine is separated from the pomace (skins, seeds …). This is pressed in a vacuum in order to avoid its oxidization using an innovative process invented by Alain Sciard.

The malolactic fermentation (transformation of malic acid into lactic acid) goes into effect immediately following the running-off, once the alcohol fermentation has been completed.

In close collaboration, the owner, cellar master and oenologist attentively follow the evolution of the wine during this critical period. It’s in this spirit that Stéphane Derenoncourt has been advising the owners since 2006, in order to bring the wines of this ancestral heritage into a new, modern era.