Vin de paille

or Straw wine. Liquid gold... a treasure of the Hermitage AOC perpetuated by a few producers. The grapes are harvested at over-ripeness by successive selections. This means that the vines are passed several times to cut only the bunches that have reached the desired level of over-ripeness, and sometimes even a few berries within a bunch. The grapes are then dried on beds of straw (the racks) before being pressed. Ultra-concentrated in aromas and sugars, they make up a sweet wine with an alcohol content of around 15% and 100g of residual sugars. The straw wine is aged in barrels for two years and bottled in 50cl bottles.