Our cellars and winemaking

Wine cellar Château d'Auvernier

All our wines ferment in vats equipped with a device permitting the monitoring of the fermentation process. It is at the end of fermentation that they take off in different directions.

The Chasselas, the Chardonnay and the Pinot Gris will be put in vats; the Pinot Noir and the Oeil de Perdrix head for the oaken casks varying in capacity from 2500 litres (Pinot Noir) to 10′000 to 12′000 litres (Oeil de Perdrix). Only the Chardonnay and the Pinot Gris, matured in barrels, ferment in 220 litre casks. That part of the Pinot Noir that is to be matured in barrels will be put into casks after the malolactic fermentation while the wine is still cloudy. There, it will lie for 12 months.

Once the alcoholic fermentation has finished, the malolactic fermentation starts for all our wines, with the exception of the Chardonnay. Christmas usually marks the end of this stage so that we can then cool the cellar and prepare the prefiltering and the various vintages. The Blanc and the Oeil de Perdrix will be bottled as from March, the Pinot Noir and the wines matured in barrels will wait, in principle, until September or even after the harvest.

Each vintage is different. Sometimes they remind us of those that went before, but for all that, each has its original touch. Wine is the fruit of a whole year’s creation, during which Nature, the soil, the environment, the stocking of the vines, cultivating techniques, then cellaring shape the character and identity of the wine. We wish you as much pleasure in discovering these numerous facets as we had in bringing them out.