Domaine Sainte Rose 2010 Chardonnay Harvest

18th, 2010 August picking Chardonnay in Domaine Sainte Rose, Servian France

Domaine Sainte Rose is an exceptional viticultural estate situated in the Languedoc region of southern France. The Domaine is owned by Charles and Ruth Simpson, a British couple who left their respective international careers to pursue their mutual dream to establish a boutique vineyard and winery of their own. Since purchasing the Domaine in 2002 the Simpson's have created a successful range of high quality wines that are marketed in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, the United States, Canada, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Poland and Switzerland to date.

The Simpson's have a very specific quality-orientated strategy. Their improvements in the farming of the vineyards combined with significant investment in state-of-the-art winemaking equipment and strict hygiene standards in the winery has enabled them to achieve their goal of creating small quantities of authentic, hand-crafted, family-made wines of distinction.

When deciding the exact moment to harvest chardonnay, the goal is to match sugar content, acidity and phenolic maturity in the grapes.
Domaine Sainte Rose harvested the first lot of chardonnay on the 18th August when the grapes registered 12.8 Baumé and had an acidity content of 4.6 grams/litre H2S04. The quality and health of the fruit was good.
The harvest was conducted at night to ensure that the grapes were picked at a cool temperature thus ensuring that the fermentation process did not begin until the desired moment. Fermentation occurred once the grapes were safely in a temperature controlled environment.
As a variety, Chardonnay benefits from barrel fermentation and/or aging in oak barrels. Aging in oak creates a more intense nose and length on the palate. It creates a wine that is full bodied and full of complex flavours. Fermentation in oak produces flavours such as vanilla, coconut and toast. The length of time spent in oak varies according to the grape variety, but also according to the type of oak used and how old the barrel is. Some of our chardonnay juice will therefore be barrel fermented with it then remaining in barrels to be barrel aged.
Domaine Sainte Rose will produce three Chardonnay based wines from the 2010 Vintage:
The Sirocco Chardonnay- Unoaked
Le Vent Du Nord- Unoaked Roussanne/Chardonnay
Le Pinacle Chardonnay- Barrel fermented and aged in oak for 12 months.

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• 2010 Chardonnay Harvest
• Domaine Sainte Rose
• Chardonnay
• 2010
• Domaine Sainte Rose Chardonnay
• Le Sirocco
• Le Vent du Nord
• le Pinacle
• sugar content
• acidity
• phenolic maturity
• 12.8 Baumé
• night harvesting
• three Chardonnay based wines
• wine
• winemaking