ollowing harvest the grapes were destemmed and then crushed to tank at which point the must was warmed and inoculated with selected yeasts and fermented during 10 to 15 days with temperatures peaking at 32ºC/90ºF. During fermentation the vats were pumped-over twice daily in order to extract the ideal amount of tannin and colour. Following the completion of fermentation the must was subjected to an additional 5 days of post fermentation maceration (to give an average of 19 days total skin contact). The wine was then pressed off skins and put to a mixture of new and used French oak barrels (55% new/45% second the third use) for 14 months during which time it was racked and returned three times. After bottling the finished wine was carefully aged for three months prior to release in order to obtain optimum harmony prior to release.