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Vinification
Our grapes are harvested entirely by hand from the second week in August for our earliest maturing grapes, to the first week of October. The grapes are sorted in the vines and again when they reach the winery. Each plot is vinified to bring out the complexity of the ‘terroir’.
Modernised in 1999, our old winery now allows us to vinify under increasingly stringent conditions. By using stainless steel containers for incoming grapes, a lifting platform to reduce the risk of shocks, a new vat hall and a peristaltic pump, both grapes and juice can be handled as delicately as possible to help prevent damage or unwanted extraction.
Each vat is vinified according to the type of wine sought. Destemming, crushing, punching down, pumping over, meticulous control of temperatures and lees stirring enable us to bring out the true essence of a wine.
Blending comes next, carried out in systematic fashion by Véronique, Pierre, Claude, and Brigitte, the oenologist. Vin de Pays and Muscat wines are bottled as early as October to preserve primary aromas. Côtes du Roussillon and Côtes du Roussillon Villages wines are aged for varying periods in barrels or vats stored in an air-conditioned hall, where they can be protected from the very wide variations in temperature that are characteristic of our region.
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