Wine Making

Our winemaker James Graham, in consultation with our viticulturist, determines when optimum ripeness has arrived and when it is time to harvest.

The grapes are selectively handpicked and placed into shallow trays. They are then promptly delivered to the winery where a further selection takes place prior to gentle crushing and de-stemming.

The red wine is fermented in small volumes, and hand plunged through, and post, fermentation as required. Skins from the grapes are gently pressed with the pressings wine added back into the free run wine. The red wine then spends up to eighteen months in new and seasoned French oak barrels where it undergoes malo-lactic fermentation.

There after it is gently aged in the cellar, racked and tended as required, with all operations carried out gently by hand.

When it is ready the Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Malbec are then blended and bottled. It remains in the cellar to bottle age for a further few months prior to release.

Finally it emerges as a wine that is finely balanced with complexity, eminently ready to drink when young but structured to age well and taste even better with time.

Our white wine, Pinot Gris, is whole bunch picked, crushed and allowed some skin contact before being pressed. It is partially tank fermented and partially in older French oak puncheons. Further complexity is added by hand stirring on lees.  A dry wine with a seamless texture and complexity of fruit, mineral, and spice.

When bottled it is ready to drink or savoured over three to ten years, depending on the vintage.

Our Rose, made from Merlot and Cabernet Franc, is whole bunch picked specifically for purpose. Dry in style, with a beguiling pale hue from minimal skin contact, it has purity of fruit combined with texture and savoury elements from partial fermentation in French oak.

Refreshing and inviting as an aperitif, it is also serious enough to complement a wide range of foods.