After a couple of weeks out of the bodega, we have now embarked on an intense programme of ‘racking’ in our cellars. As I am sure I have explained before, every wine that we make undergoes and extended period of ageing ‘on the lees’ once the fermentation process has finished. The ageing period is always for a minimum of at least five or six months, but in all honesty, there is no fixed timescale attached to this, and sometimes it may be even longer. The way that we decide the optimum time to separate the finished wine from its ‘bed’ of lees, is quite simple, and is the way that we often make many of our wine making decisions in the bodega….. simply by tasting (and of course, our combined experience). If the wine is left for too long it can start to develop what is known as ‘reduction’, which, in layman’s terms, means that it can develop smelly forms of sulphur compounds. Whilst reduction at a low levels is not necessarily a bad thing, and is claimed can actually add complexity to the finished wine, it is certainly something that has to be monitored, and halted at the correct moment.

In the case of our 2014 wines, many of the tanks are being racked now, meaning that they have enjoyed almost 8 months of lees ageing. Once the racking programme is complete, it means that our 2014 wine is almost ready for sale – only the cold-stabilisation and a light filtration remains before bottling. Whilst a very little 2014 wine has already ‘leaked’ onto our domestic market, the vast majority of our stock will not start to hit the streets for perhaps another month or two – almost one year after the grapes were collected.After a couple of weeks out of the bodega, we have now embarked on an intense programme of ‘racking’ in our cellars. As I am sure I have explained before, every wine that we make undergoes and extended period of ageing ‘on the lees’ once the fermentation process has finished. The ageing period is always for a minimum of at least five or six months, but in all honesty, there is no fixed timescale attached to this, and sometimes it may be even longer. The way that we decide the optimum time to separate the finished wine from its ‘bed’ of lees, is quite simple, and is the way that we often make many of our wine making decisions in the bodega….. simply by tasting (and of course, our combined experience). If the wine is left for too long it can start to develop what is known as ‘reduction’, which, in layman’s terms, means that it can develop smelly forms of sulphur compounds. Whilst reduction at a low levels is not necessarily a bad thing, and is claimed can actually add complexity to the finished wine, it is certainly something that has to be monitored, and halted at the correct moment.

In the case of our 2014 wines, many of the tanks are being racked now, meaning that they have enjoyed almost 8 months of lees ageing. Once the racking programme is complete, it means that our 2014 wine is almost ready for sale – only the cold-stabilisation and a light filtration remains before bottling. Whilst a very little 2014 wine has already ‘leaked’ onto our domestic market, the vast majority of our stock will not start to hit the streets for perhaps another month or two – almost one year after the grapes were collected.