TECHNOLOGY
The grape harvest is hand picked, then vinified in
thermoregulated stainless tanks respecting both
modern techniques and traditions.
The best wine (Graves de Vayres) is kept at least 3
years in oak barrels.
The wine is then bottled and left to mature under
the best conditions in our cellars to ensure the
finest pleasure.
The MICRO-OXYGENATION
The Micro-oxygenation technique was developed
in collaboration with a wine grower of the Madiran
area, the Chamber of Agriculture of the Gironde
and the INRA, and made its appearance five years
ago in our wine cellars.
Prohibited until 1998, it is thanks to an exemption
of the official institutions that we could take
advantage of this technology four years before the
rest of the profession.
This advance gives us the invaluable advantage of
experience in the use of this technique.
The CONCEPT
It was born from an observation of the phenomena
which leads to the improvement of wines raised in
barrels.
As you certainly know, two great exchanges occur
inside a barrel. An aromatic exchange between the
roasted oak of the barrel and the wine on the one
hand, and a negligible exchange of oxygen entering
the interior and the outside of the barrel on the
other hand. What one calls: soft oxidation.
It is this last phenomenon which interests us.
We have tried to reproduce it in a tank of 560
hectolitres with wines which had never passed
through a barrel (like our Bordeaux Supérieur) in
order to benefit from the operation.
The TECHNIQUE
Firstly, we calculated the quantity of oxygen
combined in a barrel in order to adapt it to the
volume of a tank.
The system used is the same as the one used for
aeration of aquariums.
Pure oxygen is released automatically at regular
intervals (modified according to need) by the
means of a microspore ceramic diffuse.
The FLASH-DÉTENTE
This technology is more recent.
Developed since 1997 in collaboration with an
engineering office, our Flash-relaxation system
has been using the existing principle of a low
concentration of pressure (usually found in the
most prestigious Châteaux), married to the one
of shock pressure. This system which required an
investment of more than six thousands Euros
(6 000) takes part in the increasing quality of our
wines.
The Flash-détente system helps us treat the vintage
in order to improve the quality of wine making
and its techniques as explained below:
Once picked and sorted, the grapes are heated
to a temperature ranging between 40 and 65°
depending on the condition of the grapes and the
result we want to obtain.
These heated grapes then undergo a shock of pressure
from the atmospheric one to a quasi vacuum. This
operation bursts the cells of the film of the grape and
extracts some inaccessible components that
are not extracted by the
traditional process.
Finally the treated vintage is
cooled at a temperature ranging
between 20 and 30 ° and is
processed by the traditional
technique.
ADVANTAGES
This tool, the size of a semi-trailer, is adapted perfectly to the dimensions of our vineyard, which helps us obtain the following benefits:
- better concentration of wine.
-more important and complex aromatic extraction.
- less risk of drift in the volatile acidity.
- a cleaning of the damaged grape harvest by the elimination of laccase (rot enzyme).
In conclusion, this technology brings us two considerable advances: the production of very high-class wines on the one hand, and the reduction of risks related to difficult years, on the other hand.