We make two wines from our Crayères Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc fruit. Firstly, the very best parcels of fruit goes into our Crayères Vineyard white which is whole bunch pressed and fermented in seasoned 600L oak demi-muids. Our second Sauvignon Blanc, Down to Earth, is crushed and destemmed, then fermented partially in old oak and partly in stainless steel to enhance its youthful vibrancy.
For both wines, sulphur is added at the end of fermentation to inhibit malolactic fermentation, and the wine rests on lees for 6- 9 months before bottling with a light filtration.
For our red grape production, the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz are all harvested at full ripeness and processed separately. They are crushed and destemmed and the must is fermented either in larger open top fermenters with boards to keep the cap submerged (called potters), or in smaller 1-tonne fermenters, with daily plunging to keep the cap submerged. We add some whole bunches only in select years to the Cabernet Franc fermenters. After the end of fermentation, the wine is pressed off skins and into tank, to go through malolactic fermentation. At the end of the malolactic fermentation, the wine is racked into oak barriques. After 6-12 months ageing in barriques, the wines are racked to old large oak Foudres (4,000L) where they age for a further 6-12 months. After a light egg white filtration, the wines are racked off oak, ready for blending and bottling.