Working the Vines, and Developing our Wines
With some of our vines already over 100 years old, the way we work our vineyard is extremely important. With careful consideration for the land, we have been HVE certified to the highest level (3) since 2019. Our natural winemaking process brings forward the richness of the terroir to produce well balanced wines. They are fruity and fresh when enjoyed young, but remain complex and profound in character – we will let you imagine what the future holds for those bottles that stay in your cellar! The same level of care is given to all of our vines and all aspects of our winemaking process from our simplest offerings to our most prestigious.
The Soil: From September to April, nature takes control to preserve the biodiversity of the vineyard. In the spring, the excess weeds are plowed by a light tractor. We cut the weeds in summer as well for better control. No pesticides or herbicides have been used for many years.
Fertilization: At the end of winter, we use an organic fertilizer to maintain the soil structure of our hillsides. Our vines are over 50 years old, and their roots are already deeply nourished, so they don’t need a huge amount of additional nutrients (especially for the small output we need from them – between 35hl and 40hl in a good year).
Pruning: Pre-trimming is done at the end of autumn, and the final trim happens in March. The shoots are crushed directly into the soil after the vine is trimmed so as not to lose that additional nourishment.
Winemaking: Our harvest is done by hand, and the destemming of the grapes is gentle so as to not crush the fruit. In the winery, all of our red wine is stored in open concrete tanks for 2 – 3 weeks without additional yeast, then transported down to the cellar to be stored for 12 – 15 months in oak barrels.
Fermentation: Natural fermentation takes about two to three weeks with manual punching down techniques. Pressing is done with an inox pneumatic press that uses very limited pressure (less than 2 kg/cm2). This type of gentle pressing provides us with very fine lees during the 15 months of aging. The wine is aged in a mix of new oak barrels and older oak barrels less than 5 years old.
Bottling: We bottle our wines directly in our cellar with the help of professionals. The bottles are washed with dechlorinated water before being filled with wine under a vacuum.