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In principle, we can plan when to start harvesting. In fact, it’s a touch more complicated. Especially cold springs, unexpected summer storms, unusually heavy rain, drought: all these factors, and more, affect not only the quality of the grapes, but when they reach just the right levels of maturity.
So, in the weeks approaching harvest, we keep a very close eye on each land parcel, testing for the size and weight of the grapes (they start to shrink once they’re fully ripe), their sugar content and acidity levels, We start the harvest at the optimal moment. |
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We pick all our grapes by hand – and we pick in the morning (even the reds) from 7am until midday to be sure they stay fresh. Then they are taken to the winery in small open weave baskets, where we hand sort them meticulously on sorting tables to be quite certain that no bad grapes or foreign bodies enter the vats.
The vinification varies, depending on the grape and type of wine we want to produce. But one thing is common to all : we never add yeast: there’s plenty of natural leavening matter in the grapes themselves ! |
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