The cellar is the strategic place where the magic of transformation happens, from freshly harvested grapes to a wine ready to be tasted. Far from being a mere storage space, it is an extension of the vineyard, a laboratory where technology meets ancestral expertise. Cellar equipment encompasses all the tools and sophisticated machinery that allow winemakers to control every step of the winemaking and ageing process, thereby ensuring the quality and desired expression of the wine.

What is cellar equipment used for?

The primary objective of cellar equipment is to enable precise winemaking that respects the grapes, aiming to optimally reveal the potential of the terroir and grape varieties. This involves mastering crucial parameters such as temperature and oxygenation, and ensuring impeccable hygiene to prevent spoilage. Each piece of equipment plays an essential role in delicately extracting aromatic compounds, tannins and colour, while preserving the freshness and balance of the future wine. It is also a determining factor in expressing our forgotten grape varieties, whose unique traits sometimes require technical adjustments.

From reception to bottling: an orchestrated process

The schedule for using cellar equipment follows that of the harvest, spanning from late summer until bottling, sometimes several years later. As soon as the grapes arrive, the equipment is put to work. The concrete stages include the reception and sorting of the berries, crushing and destemming to separate the stalks, pressing to extract the juice, alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation, ageing operations such as pumping over and racking, and finally preparing the wine before bottling.

Tools at the winemaker's service

Cellar equipment is diverse and covers all phases of winemaking:

• Reception and fermentation vats: Often made of stainless steel, they allow precise temperature control, essential for preserving the delicate aromas of the juice. Some are equipped with automatic pumping-over systems.
• Presses: Whether pneumatic or hydraulic, they are designed to extract the must with gentle and progressive pressure, minimising the trituration of pips and skins.
• Pumps: Essential for transferring musts, lees and wine, they must be handled with care to avoid any oxidation or degradation.
• Ageing equipment: This includes a variety of containers such as oak barrels, concrete vats, amphorae or stainless steel vats, each bringing specific characteristics to the wine through interaction with the wood, micro-oxygenation or thermal inertia.
• Temperature regulation systems: Cooling coils or thermal jackets integrated into the vats ensure ideal fermentation and storage temperatures are maintained.
• Filters: Used to clarify the wine before bottling, they must be chosen carefully so as not to alter its organoleptic qualities.
• Bottling line: This comprises a series of machines for filling, corking, capsuling and labelling the bottles.

Innovation and tradition at Château Cazebonne

At Château Cazebonne, our cellar reflects our philosophy: a harmonious blend of tradition and innovation. We have chosen equipment that allows us to work with great precision while respecting the integrity of the fruit and the identity of our terroirs. Our stainless steel vats guarantee impeccable hygiene and optimal thermal control for our white wines and certain fresh, fruity reds. For ageing, we use a combination of oak barrels, concrete vats and amphorae to add complexity and roundness, or to accentuate minerality, always in keeping with the specific features of each cuvée and our yesteryear grape varieties. This cutting-edge equipment enables us to adapt our techniques to climate challenges and highlight the diversity of our wines, from the youngest to the most complex.

At Château Cazebonne, we are committed to reviving the forgotten grape varieties of Bordeaux, a work of memory and for the future made possible by the support of the many enthusiasts who have adopted our wines. To discover the hidden stories behind our cuvées, we invite you to download our book "Bordeaux, une histoire de cépages". If you would like to test your knowledge of the wine world, do not hesitate to take part in our oenological quizzes, and of course, come and discover and support our approach by exploring our wines available on our online shop. To find out more behind the scenes of our production, delve into the Cazebonne cellar.