An obvious fact forgotten in these “industrial” times: wine work begins with the vine.

At GARREAU each plot is worked with the goal of constantly improving the quality of the grape.

An in-depth geological study of the soil is our guide for making the necessary corrections (for example, spreading dolomite, minerals naturally rich in calcium, to correct the acidity present on the plateau, or spreading fertilising bird guano on the clay-limestone slopes).

 

We are progressively restructuring the vineyard in high-density plantations in order to respond to the highest quality standards of the MONTRAVEL appellation (close vines, minimum density 5000 vines per hectare, minimum leaf surface 6000 square meters per hectare, limited yield).

The “green” work represents a great deal of labour, but it is essential in order to get the best from the grape clusters. There are some 500 000 vines to which it is necessary to bring all our care.
 

From June to September we thin, which consists of eliminating the clusters that seem the least productive from the vine shoots. We leave a maximum of eight clusters per vine, sacrificing yield for quality.

In July, we thin the leaves on the north and east sides in order to improve the health of the clusters and have them benefit from light and air.

During the month of August and up until September, we thin the leaves again to speed up phenolic maturity and grape ripening.

The oenologist gives us the green light to start the grape harvest.
We hand-harvest our plots of MONTRAVEL and BERGERAC that are destined to be top-of-the-line long-keeping wines.

If the vine has given the best of itself, the work in the wine storehouse is the wine grower’s reward.

Wine alchemy begins here. We use processes that allow us to extract the very essence of the grape: pre-fermentation cold steeping, controlling the wine-making temperature during fermentation, post-fermentation steeping adapted to the worked must (the unfermented grape juice).

The long-keeping Red and White MONTRAVEL wines are aged in oak barrels, which come from the centre of France, for a minimum of 12 months. A third of the barrels are replaced every year.

Before bottling the wine, we taste it regularly with our oenologist until we obtain the quintessence sought for your greatest pleasure.