In Centre-Loire wine harvest begins, according to the vintage, between the last week of September and the first week of October. It ends in the last two weeks of October. It starts with the Pinot Gris harvest (Reuilly) and goes on with the Pinot Noir and the Sauvignon. Châteaumeillant usually brings up the rear of the grape harvest.

In the Centre-Loire vineyards, 80% of the grapes are picked up with mechanical grape harvesters and most of the wine store houses were modernized in order to work as quickly as possible between the harvest and the pressing.

Some grapes are still harvested by hand, more particularly red grapes.

Three wine-making methods are employed.
































The harvest, as healthy and ripe as possible, is pressed as soon as the grapes arrive. The resulting must is sulphited in order to prevent problems of oxidation. After a must racking of 12 to 24 hours, the must is placed into a fermentation tank where it will ferment at a temperature of 18°C. The control of fermentation temperatures has been one of the most significant developments of the last 20 years. It permits longer fermentations and gives more intense and delicate aromas. At the end of the fermentation period, a racking is made to remove the first particles of the lees. The maturing begins in the tanks in which the wine generally stays on the thin lees of fermentation. Between March and September the first vintages will be bottled, after the operations of clarification and stabilization. Some vintages will wait more than a year before being bottled and marketed.















The healthy and ripe grapes are partially or totally de-stemmed. After having passed through the crusher, they are placed into the maceration and fermentation tanks. The maceration permits contact of the grape skins (that contain the colouring pigments) with the grape juice. To obtain a fully extracted colour, a temperature of 25°C to 30°C must be reached. In the event of a cool autumn the grape harvest will be heated up in order to set off the fermentation process. Pumping and treading the must once or twice a day from the bottom to the top of the fermentation tank ensures its homogeneity and an optimum contact of the juice with the grape skins forming the cap. When the desired colour and body have been obtained, the must is drawn off and pressed. A press juice and a free-run juice are obtained and put into tanks or barrels. As soon as the alcoholic fermentation is completed, the malolactic fermentation begins. This is a natural loss of acidity. Once completed, a first racking is made and a sulphite treatment will stabilize the wine. Maturing begins and many rackings will take place under the different phases of clarification. The first wines will be bottled in spring. Wines matured in oak barrels will wait one year before being bottled.















These wines can be obtained by two methods.

The first one consists of a straight pressing of the grapes as soon as they arrive in the cellar, just as for white wines. There will be a short time of contact between the grape juice and the skin. Consequently the colour of these wines is lighter. It is called "rosé de pressée".

The second method consists in starting off a maceration and then in racking some wine when the desired colour is obtained. So, it will be stronger and the wine will be full-bodied. It is called "rosé de saignée".

The methods of maturing, stabilization and clarification that will follow will be the same as those used for white wines.L'élevage, la stabilisation et la clarification qui s’ensuivront seront les mêmes que pour les vins blancs.