Vine training
Guyot simple pruning with 8 buds. Heavy epamprage and doubling, trellissing, thinning out of the leaves in front of the rising sun and clipping. The training of the vine consists in limiting its vigour to focus the matter.
Some work on the vines is adapted according to changing conditions throughout the year. In July, there is a green harvest if necessary, and a second manual thinning out at the level of the bunches in August to aerate them.
The vines are naturally under grass and the sanitory protection is rational and considered; the improvements are natural and balanced. Since 2004, the weed control, as well as the working of the land, has become more mecanical in order to limit the addition of chemicals and water shortage in summer.

Wine making process …

The wine making process has been well thought out and the vinification equipment has been chosen to remove and make more valuable the somehow exagerated image of too powerful tannins, associated with traditional Cahors wines.

The harvest is done by hand. The grapes are put down in small crates, then directly conveyed to the winery. The bunches are thus kept intact and entire, sheltered from prefermentary oxydations, until destemming and vatting.
During the first 48 hours, maceration temperature is decreased to 12 to 14 degrees to permit extraction of the most expressive aromas. Then fermentation starts. The temperature is regulated at 24 or 28°, depending on the wines. It lasts for 8 to 10 days.

The vinification process varies depending on the elaborated cuvées: continuing with the maceration for another couple of days after the end of fermentation to extract tannins necessary to the future structure and balance of the wine; or pressing before the end of fermentation to keep the dominance of intensity and greedy fruitiness.
Extraction of press wine is limited and made under low pressure.
Pumping over can be made with or without treading to water and immerse the cap softly and regularly, without resorting to release.
Ageing is necessary to the wines’blooming and their maximum expressiveness.
A small quantity of wine is kept in wooden barrels (200 and 400 l) to take advantage of physical characteristics of slow oxygenation in order to open and make wines supple; the stay remains short to limit the olfactive influence of wood which would otherwise dominate and mask the natural aromatic potential of wine.
In certain years, fining and filtering are adapted to the wines.

Equipment
Thermoregulated stainless steel winery (hot/cold), total capacity of 750Hl.
Tronconic or floating cap tanks (103 at 10 Hl)
Stainless steel conveyor and destemmer

Since the harvest of 2004, a selection of terroirs has given three cuvées, vinified in a specific way:

Le Cotagé
one variety, one terroir,

The age of some of the patches requires a balanced cultivation. Vinification and ageing faithfully express the original style of malbec, a variety appropriate to its land of cultivation.
       Glistening colour, ample and fleshy wine, fruit and spices, supple tannins.

Thanks to the right choice of terroir and an adapted vinification, malbec is a variety which is able to express intensity and tonic fruitiness , perfect for a friendly and unprepared occasion.
Intense colour, frank wine with a fluid taste, greedy and tonic fruitiness.

A cold maceration and a bleeding reveal subtle fruity aromas and give lightness.
Deep pink, hearty wine, friend of summer pleasures.

Coming soon... Two new cuvées are currently ageing in our cellars. 

Essence de Cantelauze
one style, one exception,

The choice of a vine and the selection of a wine, but also the mastery of maturing and above all, the shaping by time, make this cuvée a nectar that needs to wait.

Le Merlot de Cantelauze
Vin de Pays du Lot