As wine is born of the combined efforts of humans and nature, guided by the most precise actions.
Vines to care for
At Ferrand, the vine is an organism that needs to be taken care of, just like the soils and humans.
Pruning, trellising, disbudding, shoot removal, trimming, leaf thinning, green harvests, vineyard monitoring in the summer, and finally harvesting: vine training is not just an attentive process, it is also consistent with the estate’s particular ecosystem.
Harvests
Harvest now?
Or wait?
For a few days or for a few hours?
Grape ripeness is monitored daily via grape tasting, then confirmed by technical and phenolic analyses.
Because wine is a sensitive, living product, tasting and our in-depth knowledge of our terroir are always the key factors in when to set the harvest.
The grape harvest is sorted in three steps: sorting by hand at the vine, another sorting by hand when the harvest arrives, and optical sorting before gravity-driven transfer to vats.
The tiered volumes of the vats allow plot origins to be preserved, and the château to ensure traceability.
Maturation
Wines are matured in fine-grained French oak barrels. This lasts for 14 to 18 months depending on the vintage.
Balance is constantly being sought to ensure that the fruit has pride of place.
Each batch is tasted regularly throughout the maturation process.
Next comes the blending.
Blending
Blending is what enables winemakers to find a perfect balance between the different grapes from different plots.
Various test blends are created by the owner, the director, the technical director, the cellar master and the consultant oenologist.
The blend is dictated entirely by quality and precision requirements.
This is where the signature of each of the estate’s wines comes through.
Winery facilities
The wine is bottled at the estate and stored in its cellars.
Fully temperature-controlled storage cellars above and below ground allow the wines to be kept in ideal conditions.