in the cellar : This Grenache was made from two vineyards, both bush vines. One on our higher lying farm, Welgegund on the Saronsberg foot slopes, and the other on Waveren. 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 of the bunches were kept whole 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 postfermentation maceration on the skins; the total time spent on the skins was 26 days. The grapes were then 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.