At Château des Bormettes, most of the harvesting of the vines for white and rosé wines takes place at night in the autumn. The mechanical night harvest ensures the preservation of the aromatic potential of the berries of our terroir, a lower extraction of color, and a more moderate use of sulfites. This is how the harvesting machine has become a real quality asset in the production of rosé and white wines from Provence!

The harvest is sent to the cellar in a very short time given the latter’s situation in the heart of our contiguous vineyard. However, it is still cooled when it arrives by passing through a heat exchanger, which allows it to be cooled to nearly 12°C. Then, after a short maceration for some grape varieties, it is pressed slowly, in pneumatic presses with central drains. This type of device allows a precise selection of juices and low pressure work. Château des Bormettes is equipped with 2 100hl presses and a 50hl presses which allow a precise manipulation of the vinification of our different grape varieties, to produce excellent white and rosé wines.

The juices are then cold settled, for an average of 48 hours (around 10°C), before being racked in fermentation tanks. The Domaine has its own sludge filter, which allows clear, particularly aromatic juices to be recovered, which will be reincorporated into the corresponding must or worked separately depending on the grape variety.

Fermentation takes place at a controlled temperature, generally between 15 and 18°C. Depending on the tastings and analyses, each grape variety is worked differently, with early but measured fining, in order to favor the material and obtain wines of ever greater quality and character.

After blending at the end of fermentation, most white and rosé wines are matured on fine lees in concrete vats, for bottling that rarely begins before February of the following year. The vinification of the rosé and white wines of Château des Bormettes is a real work of experts to obtain singular white and rosé wines.

Almost all the vines of Château des Bormettes for red wines are harvested by hand, in order to favour sorting at harvest time and the integrity of the berries. Whatever the vintage, our objective being to obtain blended tannins, we use a gentle extraction similar to an infusion.
At the end of maceration, the drop and press juices are separated. Then the aging begins, mainly in concrete vats. In the wines of Château des Bormettes, the spicy and roasted notes come from the maturity of the grapes: we use wood only sparingly. Fruit, digestibility, finesse and freshness are the main concerns of our team, in order to offer bottles and wines of character.