Res Fortes - the wine making process explained
Level up your rose game…Have you tasted barrel aged rose?
Today we take you from grape (our rose being a blend of Grenach Noir, Syrah and Grenache Gris) to glass of the Res Fortes Rose.
After whole bunch pressing the grapes, the juice goes into a big stainless steel tank. From that tank between 5-8% of the juice is moved into barrels.
We are using 4-5 year old French oak here to add and develop flavour. In addition to the oak, we are also get flavour and structure from the wine lees.
Lets get nerdy for a second…
The wine ferments in the barrel, and as the fermentation happens, the lees (finished/dead yeast) sink to the bottom of the barrel.
We then mix the lees (called bâtonnage) once a day for 3-4 weeks.
After 3-4 weeks, we take the wine out of the barrel, and try to keep the “light fluffy” lees in the wine, and let the heavy/thick lees stay sunk in the bottom of the barrel.
We then clean the barrels, discard the thick lees and put the wine with light lees back into the barrels.
Bâtonnage is done again, once per week until the taste profile is to our liking.
The barrel aged wine (remember this is only a small % of the rose wine). eventually gets put back into the stainless steel tank to rest and blend before bottling.
So what is the point of all this lees business? When done correctly, mixing the wine with the lees creates a creamy/ nutty flavour. It gives the wine more structure and body, and results in a more rounded fruit flavour.
Phew, that was a lot of wine making talk! Hopefully you’ve worked up a thirst reading that and can now crack into a bottle for a taste test!