A thoughtful use of wood

Wines are transferred into barrels as quickly as possible –24 to 72 hours after devatting– so as to ensure complete maturing. Micro-oxygenation in wood is interesting from the very beginning as the wine is full of CO2. During the malolactic fermentation, micro-oxygenation avoids reduction phenomena. Wines are kept on their lees that nurture and protect them. Grenache is generally matured in large casks or “foudres” so as to have a slower micro-oxygenation. Syrah and Mourvèdre age in barrels for a greater micro-oxygenation that will bring more smoothness to those tannic grapes. Some new barrels from different origins and different coopers are used in order to get more complexity, but in small quantity not to mark the wines too much. The wines remain in wood for 12 to 14 months in our air-conditioned cellars and undergo one or two racking. During the autumn of the following year, the wines of different barrels are blended and lightly fined with egg white. The wines stay all winter in tanks in order to be clarified and are bottled in early spring.