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At the winery, the grapes
are discharged i a stainless steel receiving bay with
an inclined chute for separating the juice from the
grapes.
The harvested bunches are first stripped and then crushed
so that only the soft fruit enters the vats and the
flavour of the wine will not be too herbaceous.
The grape stalks and leaves are collected in pallet
boxes.
The pulp then remains in the vats for eight to twenty
days, depending on various parameters.
The strength of the wine is ascertained with the aid
of a direct-reading refractometer. During fermentation,
the density of the must - which indicates the stage
reached in the process of transforming the grape juice
into wine - is checked every day with the aid of a mustimeter,
which also indicates the temperature of the must. These
two measurements - the specific gravity and the temperature
together indîcate the best moment for rackîng
off the wine.
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The new wine remains in the vat for
15 days before being transferred to another vat in order
to separate it from the lees. This operation is performed
twice per vat.
The wine is then filtered - first through a mixture
of marine microorganisms and then through a plate filter
fitted with special paper in preparation for bottling
or bag-in-box packaging.
Bottling aiso takes place on the premises. The wine
is pumped into small vats where it îs left to
stabilize. The empty bottles are hand-fed to the sorting
station of the bottling line and then automatically
filled to the correct level by the machine.
The filled botes are then corked, capsuled and labelled,
finishing up on a resting table before being packaged
in cartons bearing Domaine Soleyrade's logo and palletized
for delîvery to supermarkets and for shipment
abroad.
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