Harvested at optimum flavour levels when the tannins are ripe and the seeds are brown, determined by the winemaker taking regular samples in the vineyard. Fruit is managed carefully to ensure a maximum yield of five tonnes per hectare, to achieve even ripeness and maximum quality potential. Crushed and destemmed gently to allow some whole berries through into the ferment, the must is inoculated with a neutral yeast. Once the cap of skins has risen, the juice is pumped over the skins twice daily so that colour and flavour is extracted from the skins as the ferment cools. Once complete, the wine is racked and seeded with malolactic bacteria. Matured fourteen months in extravagantly new French oak barriques.