| |
Vinification
Once the bunches of grapes arrive in the vatroom the expertise of the Brondel winemaker comes into play throughout the delicate winemaking operation. This can be divided into 3 main stages each of which requires careful attention, exactitude and, above all total commitment for our Beaujolais to delight your taste buds
Vatting the whole bunches
This is the first thing we do. The grapes that arrive in the vatroom are transfereed on to a conveyer, allowing us to remove any leaves that may have slipped in. Beaujolais rouge is always made using the Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc grape variety, which, though the skins are black the flesh is white meaning that the whole bunches need to macerate in the vat for 4 days for Beaujolais Nouveau and 7 to 8 days for our wines to lay down, to transfer colour from the skins to the must (juice). This is when the first, alcoholic, fermentation takes place, then the sugar in the grapes is transformed into alcohol. We make sure the temperature in the vat stays at 25°C for this natural chemical transformation to take place. This is when we add yeast into the vat.
As well as setting off the first fermentation, it is the yeast that helps bring out the aromas and flavours in the wine (black currant, raspberry etc.). every morning and every evening the juice that has been created by the grapes being crushed under their own weight is pumped from the bottom of the vat over the cap to aid fermentation. What sets off the next stage is the density, which is measured twice a day. As fermentation progresses, the transformation of sugar into alcohol makes the density drop. Depending on the quality and ripeness of the grapes, it may be preferable to add sugar to increase the final alcohol content. Here on the Brondel estate, we harvest as late as possible so that each individual grape is at perfect ripeness and to limit the need to add sugar.
For your information: the regulations forbid the increase of natural alcoholic content by over 2° and that the addition of 17.5g of sugar per litre to increase the alcohol content by 1 degree in the final product.
Now everything is ready for the next stage.
Pressing
The content of the vat has finished alcoholic fermentation and density has fallen to 1015-1020 for the future Beaujolais Nouveau and under1000 for the wines to lay down. Now is time to press the grapes. The ‘run-off juice’ (the juice that has been produced naturally under the grapes’ own weight) is transferred by gravity into an underground ‘buffer’ vat. Removing the juice like this means we can open the bottom door of the vat and pump the remaining bunch solids to the press. Here the grapes are pressed and the resulting juice joins the ‘run-off juice’, again by gravity, in the underground vat. In the Beaujolais region we call this press juice ‘paradis’ and our freins and neighbours always come and have a taste of this sweet and slightly alcoholic nectar. The temperature in the underground vat is always kept at 18°C to conserve the maximum aromas and flavours. On pressing more sugar is released and alcoholic fermentation sets off again. When the wine goes down to a density of between 991 and 993 it is transferred to a ciment or stainless steel vat for a second fermentation called ‘malo-lactic’. It is the transformation of malic acid (which is to be found naturally in apples, pears and grape juice) to lactic acid (one of the keys to energy production in the muscles). This is, in fact, natural ‘de-acidification’ of the wine. This 2nd fermentation finishes and the wine is racked (the lees are removed), and put into another vat to await the final assembly
Assembly
This last, and most critical, stage is the time when the Brondel winemakers combine the produce from each of their individual plots in an alchemy that is a sublimation of each individual wine in the final bottled product. Among the things we take into account are the age of the plot, the sun it gets, the type of soil the vines grow in and the type of grapes this resulted in. The main factor is Jean-François Brondel’s palate, he uses this to create quality, flavourful wine for you.
 |
| Jean-François tasting his new cuvées | |
|
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
