Germinal

The grape varietals were handpicked separately at phenolic ripeness and stored overnight at 10 °C to cool the grapes down before processing to tank. The grapes undergo bunch sorting and berry sorting before crushing only the finest berries into 70 HL French oak casks (Foudres). After filling Foudres by gravity, a temperature of 10 °C is maintained for 10 days with skins and juice in contact to ensure a sufficient cold maceration for optimum color and flavour extraction. During fermentation and maceration on the skins, the fermenting juice is daily pumped over the skins, which is also gently punched down into the juice to allow for optimum tannin and color extraction, as well as flavour development. This process takes about three weeks, before the wine is transferred to 40% new and 60% older French oak barrels for 16-22 months. The use of new French oak allows for the wine to retain certain flavors and extract tannin from the oak. By using only 40% new oak, the fruits within each varietal are respected and allowed to combine in perfect harmony ensuring truly magnificent fruit flavor and tannin structure.