A delicate mix of science and art...

• Red wines are destemmed but the berries mostly drop into the vat whole

• The skin, juice and whole berries have a pre-fermentation soak of about 4 days

• The ferment occurs spontaneously without us adding yeast

• The juice and skin mixture (called the marc) is plunged 1 to 3 times a day

• The fermentation lasts about 10 days

• A post-fermentation soak of 3 to 4 days usually occurs

• Malolactic fermentation occurs in all our red wines, assisted by an added culture

• All our white wines are made without destemming or crushing

• We use an air bag press to whole bunch process our white wine grapes

• Sauvignon Blanc is made as a Fumé Blanc which means it is barrel fermented in French oak barriques, 25% of which are new and further aged in the barrels for another 8 months

• Chardonnay is 100% barrel fermented

• Most Chardonnay barrels have a malolactic fermentation with the assistance of an added culture

• We use French oak barriques

• The company that makes them is known as a TONNELLERIE

• The volume of wine in a barrique is 228 Litres

• Some wine evaporates with time so the average is 270 bottles per barrique

• The cost varies between $1350 and $1750 depending on the tonnellerie

• We keep barrels for 2 to 3 years as a maximum and then sell them for $130

• The wood used is selected according to the forest where the oak is grown

• The flavour will vary according to the tonnellerie, the forest and the “Toasting”

• Toasting is where the barrel is placed over a hot fire for a brief time