Charles Joguet: Wines
As already indicated the vineyard management is now organic, and there is a similar attention to detail during harvest, and in the cellars. The fruit is picked by hand into small 15 kg crates. Rather than being tipped into hods and trailers, which is the norm at some very well-known addresses in the appellation, and risking all the crushing of the fruit that naturally entails, the crates are loaded from the vineyard into vans and transported the short distance (in the case of most of the vineyards, perhaps not such a short distance for Clos du Chêne Vert) to the cellars. While this practice (and the image below) might not fit with the romantic image of winemaking, handling the fruit with such care is surely vital in ensuring the eventual quality and finesse that we find in the wines of Charles Joguet today.
At the cellars the bunches are passed across a sorting table before being destemmed. The berries are then carried up to the relevant cuves by conveyor belt rather than pump. If a light crush is deemed necessary this can be delivered using pneumatic equipment. Most of the wines see a cold maceration before fermentation, and all are vinified in stainless steel cuves, the main exceptions being the Clos de la Dioterie and Clos du Chêne Vert, which are fermented in tronconic wooden cuves. Each cuve can be programmed according to the terroir, delivering different levels of pigeage or remontage, for example. The wines see a modest addition of sulphur dioxide when in cuve, perhaps 40 to 60 mg/l.
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