The 2023 harvest ended at the begining of october at Cantenac Brown, since then our team are shaping this new vintage in a new setting thanks to the vinification process. Made up of different stages, run-off and devatting take place simultaneously at the end of alcoholic fermentation, and we’re going to try and explain all its secrets to you.
The principal
The first step is simply to let the must (now wine) drain by gravity from the vat at the end of maceration into an empty vat, leaving the marc cap alone in its original vat.
Once the alcoholic fermentation is complete, the grapes enter a period of maceration, in other words, we let the must (the liquid part) and the marc cap (the solid part made up of the grape pips and skin) sit quietly in the vat, slowly improving in contact with each other.
Running off marks the end of maceration.
The technique
The first step is simply to let the must (now wine) drain by gravity from the vat at the end of maceration into an empty vat, leaving the marc cap alone in its original vat. The result is a vat of “free-run wine”.
The second step is to take care of the marc. Our technical teams enter the vats and extract it thanks to a fork. This is then taken to a vertical press to extract the last drops of wine. The resulting wine is called vin de presse. Press wine contains all the phenolic compounds present in the marc cap, which explains why it contains more tannins in particular.
This press wine is added to the free-run wine during blending, to perfect the new vintage.