Fermentation and Maturation for the Tiers Vineyard

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The racked and partially clarified juice is immediately seeded with our vineyard yeast strain and malo lactic bacteria strain and gravitated to a mixture of 70% new and 30% one use Vosges oak barriques.

Fermentation occurs at the naturally cool temperatures of late autumn and rarely approaches 20ºC. After 4 to 6 weeks the primary fermentation is complete and the barriques are topped to allow lees stirring every 2 weeks until the malo-lactic fermentation is also complete in August.

The finished wine is allowed to rest on lees in topped barriques until the spring when after 8 months in barrique it is racked clear off lees and a minimal quantity of sulphur dioxide is added.