A few days before the grapes reach their physiological maturity for harvest we go out into the vineyard and collect a few baskets of grapes to create the pied de cuve for a pre-fermentation.
By using this ancient technique we reduce the many risks associated with natural fermentation such as certain non-Saccharomyces strains of yeast that may give unwanted aromas.
After collected the grapes are then pressed in a tub. Indigenous yeast fermentation begins after a few days and at this point we have full fermentation and we are ready to continue our harvest.
During harvest we bring the grapes to our cellar where they are immediately de-stemmed and crushed in order to maintain freshness and integrity of the fruit.
With gravity the must ends up in tine truncated oak.
The must from our earlier wild yeast fermentation is then added at this point or at most within a few days depending on the conditions of each vintage.