Manually harvested at dawn, in April when the grapes had reached full phenolic maturity, they were carefully selected by hand, to ensure no green material or imperfect fruit entered the must. Pre-fermentation maceration took place to extract a rich colour, prior to temperature controlled fermentation. Post-fermentation maceration lasted for approximately 10 days to further extract colour, flavour and fine tannins. When this was complete, the wine was racked. It was aged for 12 to 18 months in new French oak barrels and received a minimum of eight months bottle ageing.