Winemaking

All the grapes are harvested by hand in the cool hours of the early morning. The fruit is manually loaded into the pneumatic press and whole-cluster pressed. The free-run lots are separated by variety, while the lightly pressed lots are fermented together. After a 24-hour decantation, the juice is racked, inoculated, and fermented at 14–18C. The juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks and open-top fiberglass fermenters, with a small share of reserve lots fermented in old French oak barrels.

The wines do not undergo malolactic fermentation, and they are held in the cold cellar all winter to help with cold stabilization. At the end of spring, the different base wines (cuvées) are blended and heat stabilized through bentonite fining, which helps settle the wines since none of the cuvées are filtered. Sugar and yeast are added to the cuvées and the wines are bottled, where they undergo a second fermentation in the bottle to naturally create the bubbles. After the second fermentation, the wine ages on the yeast lees for 18 to 36 months in underground cellars before the lees are decanted and disgorged. Finally, the bottle is topped up as necessary with the same cuvée, and a sugar solution is added depending on the style of the wine (brut or extra brut).

Handcrafted Sparkling Wines

Winemaking