After spending 6 months in oak barrels at the Chai, the wine has clarified and stabilised perfectly all by itself so no pre-bottling filtration needed and that means this is the purest and most flavour-packed GG so far!Once the bottling is under way, JMS head to the Entre Deux Mers USV Bottling Plant in Rauzan to check the Laithwaite Sauvignon for bottling next Monday. The winery here is absolutely amazing and super hi-tech which allows the Laithwaite Sauvignon to bottled under the best conditions possible which for a winemaker is, I imagine, sort of like sending your child to the top finishing school or university!
The winery was buzzing with lots of work uniformed top level cellar hands and cellar masters busily transferring wine and preparing them for the bottling. The smells and sounds reminded me of when I used to work in the huge Hardy’s winery back in Australia many years ago!
The French AOC rules and regulations require full analysis of all wines to be taken before bottling which includes quite a long list of things such as the alcohol level, TA (Total Acidity), pH, RS (Residual Sugar), VA (Volatile Acidity), Ntu (turbidity) and CO2 level (simply the amount of natural fizz still in the wine).The place is very busy so I have to do the analysis myself, this is the other side to being a winemaker as we are all science laboratory-trained to carry out analysis – so it’s not always just driving around in 4x4’s wearing shorts, sunglasses and Blunstone boots!
Finally I arrive home and can’t wait to cook up something to match today’s bottled 2009 GG! On the menu for my wine match is something very seasonal; grilled pilchards, bbq blistered red peppers and a salad of coeur de boeuf tomatoes, basil, radis noir (black radish) and the aillet (fresh garlic shoots).
This flavoursome fresh oily fish grilled on the barbecue with the spicy touch of the radish and fresh garlic is for me perfect to go with GG, bon appetite and cheers!Visit laithwaites.co.uk
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