Throughout the year, winegrowers are busy in their cellars getting the year’s vintage ready.

In the vineyard
The harvest is in and the leaves are gradually beginning to drop from the vines. They have given the best of themselves and so now is the time to feed them with the mineral and organic supplements they may need, as revealed by the past vintage. Preparations are made for pruning and the wire trellis holding up the canes and shoots is removed.

In the cellar
All fermentation is complete except for the richest and most syrupy wines; the tasting of new wines is making good progress. The cellar master begins to blend together his different vats for wines intended to be drunk young, and starts the maturation process for his “cuvées de garde” (wines intended to be kept).