Aging

Once we have managed to bring out the full potential of the grapes and after alcoholic fermentation, the wine slides by gravity to its new home, the barrel room. It is here that we carry out the malo-lactic fermentation, always in new wood for “Cote Luna” and “Cote Carlota” and 50% new and 50% second wine for “Cote Granuja”.

The 228-liter “Burgundian” barrels of the highest quality, 100% French oak, are differentiated by Forest and Toasted and according to the characteristics of each wine based on the origin of the vineyard. We house each wine in each barrel in batches. Once malo-lactic fermentation is completed, we proceed to the batonage of each barrel for 12 to 16 months, interpreting the quantity and periodicity depending on the periodic tasting of the wines in barrel.

Every year we visit the forests and splitting workshops, as well as the cooperage from which we source for the aging of our wines. There are many parameters that we control, forests of origin, wood drying, type of grain, toasting protocols, etc. …. all this effort is aimed at finding woods that give us special characteristics, with the clear intention of achieving a balance of variety-wood. The duration of aging will depend directly on the potential of the harvest. Thes rooms of barrels (room “LUNA“, room “SOL“), are equipped with the technology that allows us to control fundamental parameters such as temperature, humidity and ventilation in the aging process, a truly complex phenomenon involving various processes through which the wine is transformed, gaining complexity and stability.

There is a reason for this desire to control the barrel production process in which the aging process takes place.

First of all, oak gives the wine aromas and flavors directly from the molecules that make up the wood, improving its aromatic and taste quality. On the other hand, the barrel allows for moderate micro-oxygenation through the porosity of the wood itself, through the inter-duel joints and through the bung itself. This natural micro-oxygenation provides the necessary substrate for the reactions and combinations within the barrel to take place. This will result in a stabilization of the wine color and a softening of the astringency. This will also produce a certain precipitation of part of the coloring and tartaric matter in the wine, preventing this unstable part of the color and tartrates from precipitating later in the bottle.

Finally, the storage of wine in barrels involves a not insignificant evaporation of water and alcohol. evaporation of water and alcohol, which will result in losses that are periodically replenished. which is periodically replenished.

However, there is no doubt that the aromatization involved in the aging of wine in new oak barrels is one of the most important aging the wine in new oak barrels is one of the main reasons why all our wines are the main reasons why all our wines are made using this technique. using this technique.