Biological Cultivating since 2001
Grass-growing, particularly adapted to limestone and clay soils, has been extended to the whole vineyard in order to lower the yields and increase the grape ripeness. On the whole vineyard, leaf-thinning is carried out by hand, at two different times, and crop-thinning in July and August, for the same reasons. The staff was trained so as to implement and improve these early cares to the vine. Biological techniques were introduced in 2001. The grapes are totally hand-picked. They are carried in small crates to the vat-room, where they are sorted by hand once more. A new room will be built in the near future for the reception of the crop, in order to reduce its transportation time and increase the quality of the selection. In the thermoregulated vat-room, which is being renovated, fermentation is traditional at 28 to 32°C, with a vatting period of about 21 days. During the first days of the fermentation, pumping-over is carried out two or three times a day for better tannin extractions. A beautiful four-hundred-and-sixty-barrel chai was built in 1997. Wine ages there during eighteen months in oak barrels, a third of which is new every year. | 
