
A delicate mix of science and art...
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Red wines are destemmed but the berries mostly drop into the vat whole
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The skin, juice and whole berries have a pre-fermentation soak of about 4 days
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The ferment occurs spontaneously without us adding yeast
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The juice and skin mixture (called the marc) is plunged 1 to 3 times a day
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The fermentation lasts about 10 days
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A post-fermentation soak of 3 to 4 days usually occurs
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Malolactic fermentation occurs in all our red wines, assisted by an added culture
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All our white wines are made without destemming or crushing
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We use an air bag press to whole bunch process our white wine grapes
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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
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Chardonnay is 100% barrel fermented
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Most Chardonnay barrels have a malolactic fermentation with the assistance of an added culture
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We use French oak barriques
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The company that makes them is known as a TONNELLERIE
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The volume of wine in a barrique is 228 Litres
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Some wine evaporates with time so the average is 270 bottles per barrique
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The cost varies between $1350 and $1750 depending on the tonnellerie
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We keep barrels for 2 to 3 years as a maximum and then sell them for $130
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The wood used is selected according to the forest where the oak is grown
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The flavour will vary according to the tonnellerie, the forest and the “Toasting”
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Toasting is where the barrel is placed over a hot fire for a brief time