DOMAINE DE LA SOLITUDE The wine-making process for red wines For the layperson, the wine-making process essentially consists of transforming the grape's sugar into alcohol by means of fermentation. In reality wine-making is a much more elaborate and complex process. Initially it consists of bringing wholesome, quality grapes from the fields to the cellar. They are brought in as intact as possible in order to control all of the processes to which the fruit will be subjected. The sorting of the grapes at harvest, mandatory for the Châteauneuf, is one of the most costly, and most characteristic steps in the wine-making process. Each harvester has two pails. As each cluster is picked, grapes are sorted under the supervision of the harvesting team manager. For an ordinary wine, the minimum percentage of fruit sorted out is 5%. In reality it often reaches 10-20%. For the Côtes du Rhône, under- and overripe grapes are simply discarded all together. When the grapes arrive at the vat, the first decision the wine-maker must make is between simple destemming, or destemming and pressing. These two techniques are used at Solitude depending on the vine varieties - syrah is destemmed and pressed - and the year (thickness of skin on the fruit). At the Domaine de la Solitude, the different types of grapes are converted to wine separately (due to a disparity in ripeness between the varieties). They are converted into wine in 150 hl cylindrical cement vats. Generally speaking, there is always enough natural yeast on the grape skins to permit fermentation. It is the temperature which affects the yeast production. The cellar is well equipped with a cooling system in order to effectively control the temperature. The fermentation period generally lasts between 15 and 20 days maximum. Once fermentation is complete, the wines are clarified and stabilized. At the beginning of the following year, they will be filtered. The next step in the wine-making process is aging. A wooden cask permits the advantageous process of anaerobic fermentation. The new wooden casks used for the Châteauneuf also gives an added touch of tannin which brings the wine to its optimum. Three sorts of aging are used: 150 hl cement vats, 50 hl inox vats, new 225 litre casks. These three methods allow the optimization of each particular grape's characteristics. Decanting, filtering and assembling are the operations which, in the six months following the harvest, permit to elaborate the different vintages. When it comes down to it, the production of high-quality grapes in a limited quantity (35 hl per hectare for Châteauneuf-du-Pape) is what permits the elaboration of the finest wines. The wine-grower must always keep in mind that the fruit of his vines will end up in the consumer's glass. Each treatment, each action, influences the quality of the final results. Wisdom and good sense are primordial to success.

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	EARL DOMAINES PIERRE LANÇON
	Domaine de la Solitude - BP 21 84231 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cedex - France Tél. 04 90 83 71 45 Fax 04 90 83 51 34 e-mail: solitude@mnet.fr