in the cellar : This Grenache is made from two vineyards, one a bush vine and the other trellised. The grapes were picked by hand in the early morning hours and then pre-cooled in our chiller. Ninety percent of the bunches and berries were destemmed and hand-sorted on stainless steel vibration tables by highly trained staff. The balance was kept whole bunch and added to the fermentation tanks.
An initial cold-soak period of four days preceded fermentation, which was allowed to start naturally and finished with inoculated yeast. The wine was given extended post-fermentation maceration on the skins; the total time spent on the skins is 22 days. Then the grapes were pressed into 100% second-fill 300 liter French oak barrels, keeping the free-run and press fractions separate.
Malolactic fermentation finished in barrels and the wine was left on its lees. Ten months later the wine was racked and returned to barrel. After a total of 20 months in barrel the wine was prepared for bottling, preceded by a coarse filtration.