The Cellars

The winery is on the estate and has been extended in the last twelve months.

The winery is on the estate and has been extended in the last twelve months.
New kit includes a refrigeration room and a sorting table. The latter is of critical importance in ensuring the elimination of any unripe or diseased fruit, and any leaves. As of the 2003 vintage, only the best grapes will get through the winery door. Outlined below is the wine making strategy:

1. Whites.
After crushing, draining and pressing most of the juice is fermented in oak barrels. These are mainly made of French oak, although a few American casks are used. Up to 40% of the barrels are new. Ageing on the lees then takes place, with most of the wines going through malolactic fermentation. The one significant exception is the Unwooded Chardonnay. This wine is fermented in stainless steel vats and does not go through malolactic fermentation. Fining and filtration precede bottling.

2. Reds.
The black grapes are crushed and de-stalked before undergoing fermentation. Pumping over 3 or 4 times a day is used on most of the reds to help with the extraction of colour and tannin. However, a couple rotary fermentation vats are used where a rapid extraction of colour is desirable. The fermenting red wines are drained off the skins after no more than eight days. Malolactic fermentation takes place in tank, followed by maturation. In the past this started in vat, before transfer into old wood. As of the 2001 vintage, more new oak barrels are being used for maturing the top reds. Egg white fining and a light filtration precede bottling.

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