Red Wine Making in Margaux with Benjamin Sichel from Ch d Angludet
We discuss the wine-making process beginning with grape selection on the vine, before picking, to make sure the grapes are good, discarding any unripe or rotten grapes. The grapes are then separated from the stems part mechanically, part by hand on the sorting table. The next step is to crush the grapes, trying not to damage the skins too much. Alcoholic fermentation then begins, in concrete tanks which are all individually temperature controlled. Interestingly, when the cellar was renovated 15 years ago a decision was made to keep concrete vats rather than move to stainless steel. The concrete makes it easy to get a good even temperature and the generous width gives a large surface for skin contact, which is great for maceration. The wine then goes through the process of malolactic fermentation before being aged in barrels. Barrel ageing helps the wine gain more complexity and help the structure of the wine to develop. Benjamin explains how the quality of the barrel is absolutely key for the ageing process.
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