White Wines

Protected from oxidation by a mantle of inert nitrogen gas, the chilled white fruit can either be pressed immediately, or remain intact for up to 36 hours, allowing flavours from the skins to enhance the juice.

Any solid particles remaining suspended in the pressed juice that would be detrimental to the quality of finished wine are allowed to settle in a tall tank, and then removed prior to fermentation. The clear juice above is racked or pumped off, and the sediment of lees below is passed through a rotary vacuum filter and the solid residue discarded.

Yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) occur naturally on the bloom of grape skins and, if permitted, will conduct natural fermentations, converting grape sugars to alcohol. However, some are more reliable than others, and excellent strains have been selected and cultured. One such, preferred by our winemakers, is Prise de Mousse, originally isolated in the Champagne region of France.

White fermentations are maintained between 8⁰C and 15⁰C to optimise the complexity of flavours, after which the spent yeast cells settle to form lees, from which the wine is racked, and ready to proceed to its assemblage.