Château Léoville-Las-Cases: Wines
The fruit is harvested by hand, usually by a team of workers from Spain, before transport to the chai, where the berries are sorted and destemmed before a gentle pressing and then fermentation under temperature-controlled conditions. The sorting was traditional until 1998, using only a sorting table, but from 2008 optical sorting was also added to the pre-fermentation process.
The fermentation vessels include a fascinating mix of wooden, cement and stainless steel vats. The first of these three are the traditional, broad, tronconic oak vats which lie in the main cellar, renovated in 1977; these vessels range in size, up to the largest which is 270 hectolitres. The cement vats lie in a smaller adjoining room, and there are also some stainless steel vats, the most recent addition to the cellar. These vary considerably in size, from 40 up to 216 hectolitres, allowing for small-plot fermentations where desired.
