AN OENOLOGICAL TOUR

September, a highly anticipated month: after a year of work the vines produce their quality grapes, the crucial moment arrives for the harvest. After analyzing the grapes in the various parcels, we decide on this year's strategy for picking each variety and each field, an important element in the particular character of each vintage.

Towards the end of September, a team of eight vendangeurs begin to hand pick the grapes. The entire vineyard takes them to mid-October. As soon as the grapes are picked they are quickly transported to a cellar nearby where they are placed into a retinol press. This machine removes the wood (or stem) of each bunch and gently bursts the grapes for an optimal extraction (pellicular maceration pre-fermentation). The grapes are then poured into cement vats to undergo alcohol fermentation using indigenous yeast strains carefully prepared several days before the harvest by letting leavened grape juice ferment. We work with yeast from the land that is linked to a specific crop year (i.e. it is different each year) and also use this process in the later malolactic fermentation. The alcohol fermentation process lasts 10 to 15 days during which we will regularly pump some of the juice from the bottom to the top, or temporarily remove a larger quantity in order to sink the cap. After the alcohol fermentation, the skins, the pips and the wine are left together and worked upon for a full fermentation which takes another 10 days. The final natural burst in temperature, plus a pouring off and pigeage allow for an optimal extraction and setting of tannins, polyphenols and anthocyanins.

Towards November or December, the malolactic fermentation takes place naturally. After this the wine changes vats leaving behind deposited coarser sediment (no filtering). A further six months with the finer sediment allows for the tannins to be coated thereby lending more body to the wine. With a minimum amount of racking and fastidious attention we can maintain a maximum amount of natural CO2 gas, a protector of the wine. This work greatly helps reduce sodium dioxide levels.

Bottling, one to two years later, on the domaine, by a service provider allows us to benefit from the latest equipment: rinsing and filling the bottles, equalizing the gas levels, corking and marking the batch numbers with microdots on the bottles. Afterwards, the bottles are stored standing up for three to five days before being laid down on pallets to let the natural cork do its work. Not until four to six more months of storage have passed are our wines ready for sale. A minimum of two years is necessary to offer you all of the best qualities of our Vacqueyras. The aging period keeps the wine from suffering thermal shock (tartaric acceleration) and avoids stripping it with excessive filtering. This respect for our wine allows us to create a unique product through honoring the nature of the terroir and the intrinsic complexity of this "nectar of the gods."