The making of white wine
| The process starts with
a single pressing of the full bunches of Chardonnay grapes in the fermenting room. The grape juice known as the " must" is fermented in oak barrels. The wine will remain in barrels until being bottled We stir up the lees ("batonnage") every 15 days and at the same time we top up ("ouillage") the barrels. The maturing of the wine is done in oak barrels the wood for which comes mainly from the Center of France. Before bottling, if necessary, the white wine is cold stabilized . |
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The making of red wine
 |
As you know, the Pinot
Noir variety has a dark skin but a white juice. When picked, the grapes are sorted , so that the very best ones are used to make the quality wine. We crush and de-stem throughly. In the vatting room, we start with a cold maceration of the grapes. The alcoholic fermentation takes place in oak vats. The colour is extracted from the skins of the fruits in the tradiontional Burgundian way of pushing down the cap of grapeskins into the must and pumping the juice, already on its way to becoming wine, over the re-forming floating cap. This is done once a day. The time for this maceration depends on the analysis and tasting of the new young wine. The wine is matured in oak barrels coming from the forests of the Allier (Tronçais) region. Before bottling, identical wines are blended together. If necessary, we fine our wines by using fresh egg whites. The aim of this method is to naturally clarify the wines. The lipidity is observed in order to, whenever possible, bottle the wine without prior filtration. |
The bottles of red and white wines
The bottling is done without filtration. All the bottles are washed with sterilized water.
They are filled to a standard level , carbon dioxide is added to protect the wine from oxidation. The corking is performed with care.
For a period of 4 minutes the bottles move upright along a conveyor belt before being laid down. This period of time allows the cork to decompress, create its seal and final shape as slowly as possible.
