Vinification

The first stage of vinification, according to Alain Brumont, is philosophical

Nourish the taster’s imagination by telling a story, that of a man, a place, a land, a civilisation…to give to him gustative, olfactory or even tactile senses. These are some of the issues of vinification. The art of ideally blending grape varieties with terroirs and giving to the wine that extra touch, which makes it exceptional and unique.

The second phase is more technical

The terroirs and grape varieties must be perfectly matched. For this, the grape juice is tasted before the harvest and its colour checked. For a long while this method was considered ridiculous by the schools of Oenologists that sent us their future Oenologists. Today, Oenologists practice this method. The tasting of the juice allows to test the balance and establish beforehand the classification of the terroirs and the possible blending between various parcels.

• Hygiene of the winery, vats and barrels, is at its maximum level.
  
  
• Equipment has been installed for controlling and sorting each grape individually.
  
  
• No pumping-over or pumping during fermentation, only punching of the cap (operation which consists of crushing by foot, replaced today with a robot crusher)
  
  
• No press wines, only the free-flow juice is retained after fermentation to obtain wines with finesses and elegant tannins.
  
  
• Malolactic fermentation in barrels for the high quality range.
  
  
• We introduced new barrels in 1980, 10 years before the fashion started in the 90’s. Only great wines from great terroirs are able to withstand ageing in new barrels. It is crucial for obtaining amplitude, balance and finesse; however, a wine that has acquired the taste of wood is a sign of poor balance between terroir and grape variety.