As the owner, the winemaker guarantees that the grapes used come exclusively from the vineyards of the property, grown in sustainable agriculture.
The local grape varieties, harvested late, give musts of extreme aromatic intensity, with good concentration of sugar.
The harvested grapes are pressed on the spot in the cellar and heated immediately, before the alcoholic fermentation begins. This continues for several days for an optimal concentration of juices. The reduction in juices corresponds to 50 % of the initial volume.
After resting for more than a year in the large oak barrels where begins their concomitant double fermentation (alcoholic and acetic), the vinegars are ready to be transferred to the small wooden barrels made of various types of wood. These are purposefully located under the tiled roof heated by the sun, and here starts a very long ageing process that will concentrate the liquids in rich, acidulous, complex dark nectar
Cherry: softens, sugar, and transmits a delicate scent of stoned fruit.
Chestnut: gives body and a dark color to the balsamic.
Acacia: delivers powerful, slightly honeyed aromas.
Oak: brings vanilla aromas, roundness, maturity and blends everything together.
Grape juices ferments naturally thanks to yeasts on the skin of fruit. First of all it gives wine. Then the juices that have become wines are selected and put in oak barrels for a second process called “acetic” fermentation in wich acetobacter bacteria break down the alcohol present into acetic acid, wich explains how wines turn vinegar.
Then these vinegars are aged in barrels for many months. It is during this maturation phase that the vinegar is refined and acquires all its aromas. Ageing in barrels reveals all the subtle and exquisite flavors of the fruit, resulting in natural products without no added preservatives.
“The Domaine de l’Airial develops its vinegars according to the so-called Orleans method, thus respecting a centuries-old tradition. They are identifiable by their grape varieties and by vintage.”
