3. We will add the whole bunches in a tank, so the alcoholic fermentation can start, and adding yeast. Reasons to add them in a barrel is for a rounder mouthfeel and to get some integration of oak compounds. This is where the alcoholic fermentation starts at a T on the lower end between 22 - 32, and where cultured yeast will be added.

=> yeast + sugar will change into alcohol + CO2
This yeast come from commercial parts or from the juice itself. 
-> We will go  for the commercial yeast, as then we have more consistency in the wine vs. natural yeast may result in more complex aromatics.

4. Separating the skins. The fermenting juice will be stirred with the skins . This via pumping over, or punching down the cap of grape skins. 
-> Pump over = extract more flavor from the grape skins
-> Punch down -> extract the flavors more delicately and leads to more subtle wines 
We will go for the cheaper version which is pumping over. 

5. Then we will press the wine. Pressing the skins will give 15% more wine for the winemakers vs. 85% free run wine. and we will go for a malolactic conversion (as most red wines do). We will convert the malic to lactic acids to make the wine feel softer & rounder instead of bitter.

6. And put the wine in larger French wine barrels. As we want to extract more flavours like vanilla, and create more complexity in the wine.

7. Now when the wine is good & rested for a while, we will blend. We will blend the same grape variety together of different barrels to make the final wine.

8. The wine then undergoes a natural clarification as a result of remove the lees that settled at the bottom of the oak barrel. Then we wine goes through a filter and then racked into a new container leaving behind the lees

9. Then we bottle , seal & package the wine for shipment. As we dont want to go for a younger type, we will not mature the wine too Long on the bottle.

3. Pressing is done with a pneumatic press as this ensures soft pressing and protects the juice from oxidation. Soft pressing helps against unwanted bitter flavours as seeds should not be crushed, therefore the juice is clear and elegant for a premium style. 

6. Clarification through sedimentation which ensures that a sediment will form at the bottom of the container at low temperatures to reduce the rate of oxidation. Sedimentation ensures that the loss of flavour and texture is minimized. 

7. Fermentation starts in stainless steel tanks at a cool temperature around 15 degrees. Cool temperatures and the neutral stainless-steel tanks make sure that the fruity and floral aromas will be retained in the wine. 

8. Malolactic fermentation is then planned for this wine . This to turn into malic into latic acid, to create more texture like creamy , cheesy flavors tot he wine. 

9.  Because the vineyards are located in a cool climate, every month & year is different. Therefore, the different wines will be blended accordingly to create more complexity in the final wine. 

10.   Betonite is a fining agent that is used to clarify this wine and removes unstable proteins, it does not influence the flavour or the texture of the wine. The wine will be filtered through membrane filters which makes sure the wine is microbiologically stable. 

11. Finally, the wine will be bottled and released to the market

 

-       The adjustments will be minimal, but in some years are necessary: chaptalization or deacidification (options)

-       Crushing and cool-maceration would be needed to extract more colours, aromas and tannins. It is very important for Pinot Noir and les important for Regent as Regent gives wine medium colour intensity by nature.  

Fermentation: 
Frementation would be carried out  in stainless-steel tanks as we need fresh flavours and aromas.
 -       We will use the cultivated yeasts to promote fruity aromas and flavours and to speed the process of fermentation. We also could use ambient yeasts, in this case the fermentation process would take longer. 
 -      Fermentation temperature would be around 25C for Pinot Noir to 30C for Regent.  Higher temperature extract more colours, flavour but we have to be carefull with the extraction of tannins, for fruity cool climate wine we do not need to much tannins.
 -       We should choose for the pump over cap management as it is less expensive and it is more gentle extracting aroma and flavour compounds but we would repeat this action several times.  Our stainless- steel tanks can permit this option very easily. There also other options like punch down or rotary fermenter . The last one is not for our grapes as it is better for high coloured grapes like Syrah or Cabernet Sauvignon.
 -       Next step Malolactic fermentation it can be also during fermentation, our wine will be processed more quickly . MLF softens the wine and gives microbiological stability. But it can be also carried out after the fermentation. 
 -       We will drain the wine and than press to separate the free run juice. 
-       Pressing will be carried out using pneumatic press as the pressure can be regulated. We will separate the free run juice from pressed must wine to blend later for more complexity if needed. We could have a choice to press with a basket press, as it is also gentle , but it gives more oxidation to our wine. 

Blending: 

Initial blending before maturation  is interesting in our case to blend the wine from free run and press wine to add more texture and colour to the wine.

After maturation we should repeat blending to create the desired style. 


Finishing:

Tartrate stabilization would be carried out to eliminate visible faults as tartrate crystals. 

We could do fining with egg white as it is gentle to wine and than sterile filtration to avoid risk of faults developing in the bottle. 
There are also other options. 

 

Our vineyard is too small for machine harvesting. Renting a machine would be too costly and inefficient. Another advantage of hand picking the grapes is that we can go trough the vineyard in multiple sessions. This gives all the grapes more change to reach ripeness. This is important because of the cold maritime climate. 

 

Because of small scale we work on, we take great care of the grapes. Therefore using SO2 directly after harvesting to protect the grapes against oxygen and microbes is not necessary. 

We would destem the grapes as the focus is on a fruity wine. In the winery we would choose cold maceration. 

 

For the fruitiness and the mid-range quality I would use stainless steel and no oak in the whole process. This is cheaper, better to control and better for the primary fruits in the wine.

 

As Pinot Noir is due to its thin skin a very pale grape, crushing and cool-maceration would be needed to extract more colors, aromas and tannins.

Because of the more fruity style I would choose for relative low temperatures (around 22-25C). A cultivated yeast is used to get a more reliable result. 

The fermenting juice will be stirred with the skins by pumping over the juice. We choose this option because it’s less labor intensive and therefore cheaper. 

Because it is a red wine, the next step is the Malolactic fermentation.

Like the white wine, pressing will be carried out using a pneumatic press. 

 

I would choose for tartrate stabilization too filter out visible crystals. Before bottling I would conduct a sterile filtration to avoid risks of unwanted ‘fault’ later on in the bottle. The bottle is closed whit a screwcap because of the reductive and fruity style of the wine. The wine is not suitable for aging.