The grapes are hand harvested early in the morning and packed into shallow picking crates. Grapes are stored in the cold room to reduce core berry temperature before pressing. The grapes are loaded for whole bunch pressing. 3 Different quality fractions are selected at pressing. Cuvée – high quality free run juice, Première Taille Deuxieme Taille. Only Cuvée juice is used in the Vintage blend.
The clean juice goes through a cool fermentation. A small fraction of the Chardonnay portion is fermented in 3rd – 4th fill French oak barrels and the large majority is fermented in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. No lees contact is given post fermentation. Malolactic fermentation is avoided. The final blend is made up from various parcels that were kept separate throughout production. This allows for unique terroir characteristics to be expressed within the blend. Tirage takes place on crown cap to control the rate of gas exchange and ensure optimal ageing.