The grapes were hand-picked and carefully sorted in the vineyard into small crates to avoid crushing, followed by a second meticulous selection on the sorting table. The grapes were destemmed and were gravity fed into traditional open vats. Fermentation took place with indigenous yeasts, followed by maceration which lasted for three weeks under temperature controlled conditions. One or two ‰Û÷pigeages‰Ûª or cap submersions took place each day, gently extracting colour, flavour and tannins. Slow malolactic fermentation took place. The wine was aged in French oak barrels, of which 30% were new, for 14 months. The wine was bottled without fining and generally without filtration. The wine was vinified as gently as possible in a gravity fed winery which facilitated minimal pumping.