Clos Manou: Wines
The cellars Stéphane Dief uses today were purchased in 2009, and completely refashioned. As noted on the preceding page, this is one of two cellars Stéphane owns. When it comes to harvest everything is picked by hand, into small cagettes. He sorts the bunches at picking and again at these cellars, before destemming and sending the fruit into a mix of concrete and wood vessels for the vinifications. These include concrete eggs, concrete and stoneware jarres, wooden cuves ranging from 10 to 16.5 hectolitres, and barrels, the choice of vessel and length of élevage determined by the variety.
All the Cabernet Sauvignon goes into oak, for example, while the Merlot is vinified in a mix of concrete jarres and eggs, as well as stoneware jarres (some might call them amphorae, but this also brings the pedants out in hives) with a tiny volume in barrel, while the Petit Verdot would be vinified and raised in jarres for 5 to 6 months. The Cabernet Franc is vinified with a little whole-bunch carbonic maceration, starting in wooden cuves, before moving into new oak barrels.
