Producer Profile 4: Clos de Tart — Light to Medium-Bodied Red Wines

Wines in this style tend to be:

  • Made from thinner-skinned varieties
  • From grapes harvested at low to medium levels of must weight
  • Mainly dry

Wines in this style tend to have:

  • Low to moderate levels of alcohol
  • Styles that range from fruit-driven and early-drinking to complex and for medium-term cellaring
  • Used a range of production methods according to the style made

For fruit-driven, early-drinking styles, the following techniques are often used:

  • A cold soak or pre-fermentation maceration
  • Carbonic maceration
  • Fermentations carried out by inoculated or ambient yeasts
  • Fermentations at cooler temperatures
  • May go to bottle with fining and filtration

For the more complex styles for medium-term cellaring, the following techniques are often used:

  • Whole bunch fermentations
  • Spontaneous fermentations
  • Higher temperature fermentations
  • Barrel ageing
  • May go to bottle with light or no fining and filtration