On arrival at the winery, the grapes were first completely destemmed, crushed and then fermented on the skins for between 5 and 14 days, depending on the grape variety. During the fermentation period, the cap was submerged four to six times a day to extract maximum colour, tannin and flavour. Once the alcoholic fermentation was complete, the free flowing wine was drained from the skins, the skins were gently pressed in the traditional basket press and transferred to small oak barrels. The malalactic fermentation took place partly in steel and partly in barrels. Once the malolactic fermentation was completed, all the components matured for 33 months in 225 l oak barrels (97% French and 3% American oak), and were then blended and bottled.