WINEMAKING AND HARVESTING

The berries are put in a pneumatic press, the pressure not exceeding 1,5 bars; permanent protection of the grape–juice against oxidation is being effected with the help of dry ice and a nitrogen generator. The juice, when pressed, flows down by gravity to the settling vat. The settling of the juice is carried out for 24-28 hours at 8’ C. The fermentation is started in stainless steel vats with the selected yeast, the juice is then put into new barrels. The ageing lasts for several months with regular agitation.

A very strict selection of berries is carried out before putting in the vats. The different varieties of grapes being fermented separately. Usually a cold pre-fermentative maceration process is carried out over a period of 3-4 days at 6’C before adding the yeast.

The maceration itself lasts for about 15-21 days, the “pigeage” method is used here. This involves punching through the layer of the fermentation crust accessed through the top of the vat, this allows the juices to mix more. Only the most flavourful wines make up the range of the Haut de Lalande.

The wines are rapidly put into barrels where the ageing, lasting for 6 months, is accomplished.

The harvest is carried out at night to keep the freshness of the berries. The berries from the Merlot variety are then immediately pressed and the juice collected. The Syrah grapes are macerated over a period of three hours to extract the various aromas.
The mash is then filtered and fermentation carried out at low temperature of 15° – 17°. Bottling then takes place soon after the finish of the fermentation, so capturing the full potential bouquet.