Winemaking FAQs

  • 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 4 to 6 times a day
  • The fermentation lasts about a week
  • 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 and Semillon are fermented with an added yeast culture in a stainless steel tank
  • 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 $100
  • 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
  • TG means the oak is tight grained
  • A indicates the wood is from the Allier forest
  • V indicates the wood is from the Vosges forest
  • T indicates the wood is from the Troncais forest
  • HT indicates a High Toast and MT is Medium Toast
  • See us pressing wine