The mistral wind has calmed down today and the sun is strong: summer's back!

Yet despite these exceptional conditions, we have decided not to pick today. This is because we think that we can improve the quality and ripeness of the grapes by waiting. The weather forecast is good for the next few days, so we have decided to risk it!

The tanks of syrah that were picked last week are now fully fermenting. We carry out regular cap-punching or pumping-over on these.

Cap-punching means pushing the solid part of the grapes, which has floated to the top of each tank, down onto the liquid part. This enables one to extract tannins and colour due to increased contact between skin and juice.

Pumping-over means taking the wine from the bottom of the tank and sprinkling it over the solid matter lying on the tank's top.