The Last of the Whites!

The La Voûte Chardonnay from Limoux was finally picked on Tuesday night and that ends the white harvest for the Chai! Now we can get busy in the Chai with barrel work and monitor the ferments.

The La Voûte this year is of exceptional quality and so I have decided to do ‘The Pyramid’ ferment! I have built a stack of different size oak barrels starting the foundation with 300 litre hogs heads and toping with the ‘cerise sur le gateau’ a tiny, 55-litre cask known as a ‘quart bordelaise’.

Filling the small barrels was very strange and I felt like a giant … here is JMS looking giant rolling one of the 110 litre ‘demi bordelaise’ barrels!

The ferment differences should be very interesting indeed and I will let you know how the wine progresses.