WINEMAKING

Whilst the harvest is of course a key step with a natural continuity that increases our delight in watching the best of things being replicated in a cycle, the following step, winemaking, quickly imposes a daily rhythm. It uses simple actions and delicate decisions from one day to the next to prepare the grapes for maturation in containers of varying shapes, sizes and styles depending on the chateau and terroir. Lined up in their cellars, these first homes for wine are also the initial haven where their development begins. Later comes blending, a crucial and exhilarating stage in the life of a winemaker, analysing the current state of the wine and reading the wealth of processes that they commit to memory to predict future forms of expression. This activity, requiring extreme concentration, is the most creative of all. It is followed by monitoring and then transfer of the wines to their final glass homes.

The journey that follows gets under people’s skin, and there is nothing more inspiring for a winegrower than contributing to the sensory magic that comes with being a living being.