| Wine Styles | • L to M acidity (M(+) in Priorat), H alcohol, L to M tannins • Primary: strawberry, red cherry/plum, spicy (white pepper) and herbal notes • Secondary: spices, smoky, vanilla (new oak) • Tertiary: leathery, smoky bacon |
| Key Regions | France: South Rhone, South France Spain: Rioja, Priorat, Navarra (Rosé) South Australia: McLaren Vale, Eden Valley, Barossa Valley |
| Viticulture | • Early budding (prone to spring frosts) • Late ripening (affected by autumn rains) • Vigorous and need careful canopy management: pruned short to contain its vigour and does well on dry, low fertility soils • High yielding variety needs a warm climate to ripen • Drought resistance, suitable in dry climates • Upright growth, suitable trained as bush vines • Can accumulate sugar rapidly, suitable for VDNs • Prone to coulure, leading to reduced yields • Prone to fungal diseases (downy mildew, botrytis bunch rot, Phomopsis, eutypa) |
| Winemaking | Single varietal or blending (e.g., GSM, GSMCC, with Tempranillo) Rosé production •From dry to medium sweet •Direct pressing for pale style • Short maceration for deeper colour style >> Tavel: 12~48 hours High volume red wines • Machine harvest (fast work in large vineyards and harvest at night at cooler temperature) • Hand harvest for carbonic maceration • Minimum sorting to remove only MOG • Acidification in warm vintages • Fermentation >> prone to oxidation; thus, fermented in stainless steel or concrete vats to retain primary fruit >> 17~25 dC to retain fruit flavours and avoid extraction of high levels of tannin >> cultured yeast to ensure reliable fermentation to dryness and retain fruity styles >> carbonic maceration to promote fruitiness and lower tannins for early drinking styles >> thermovinification or flash detente to process large volume and to allow fast extraction of colour, flavours, and low level of tannins and disrupt mouldy enzyme, laccase • Blending of grapes from various regions to achieve consistent styles and large volume, balanced wines at lower cost • Shortly stored in stainless steel for early release High quality red wines • Hand harvest to select best quality grapes at optimal ripeness and to work at steep slopes or whole bunch fermentation • Transport in small containers (to reduce crushed berries and oxidation and microbial infection) at cooler temperature • Sorting by vibrating belts, optical devices, labour to remove unhealthy, underripe grapes • Destemmed, chilled, and cold soaking for 1~3 days to extract colour • Fermentation >> whole bunch fermentation to promote intensity and fruitiness >> fermented in stainless steel, concrete vats, or large wooden vessels to retain primary fruit >> 26~32 dC to extract more colour, flavours, and tannins >> ambient yeasts to reflect terroir or produce wines with distinctive flavours and more complexity >> cultured yeasts to promote certain aroma traits >> push down, pump over, or racket and return to extract higher levels of tannins and flavour >> post-fermentation maceration for 20~30 days to further extract color, tannins and flavour • Press wines to separate free run and pressed wines to provide options for future blending • Blending wines from free run and pressed wines as well as various vineyards to anticipate desired styles for final wines with balanced acidity, tannins, and flavour intensity • Matured in small/large oak for 12~24 months to better integrate flavours, to allow tertiary notes (leathery, earthy) to develop via slow oxidation, adding vanilla/clove (if new oak used), and to soften tannins • Final blending to create desirable wine styles that balance between acidity, tannins, and fruity and oaky flavours with enhanced complexity |