2010 Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Isabel Ferrando admitted that she is restless when it comes to finding the best way to make wines that express this property. The most significant wine-making move that she has made recently (with the 2009 vintage) was to ferment her wines entirely with whole clusters, she told me. "I began to realize that if I destemmed my fruit then the fruit was over-emphasized, in a confiture way, which is always a danger here, where the fruit gets so ripe that terroir is obscured. We need to work more structure into the wines, not more fruit, otherwise the wines can be all fruit and simple, without site expression." On top of that, she added, using stems has brought the alcohol levels down and has extended the fermentations. "Now they don't stop until the sugar is gone and there's no need to add yeast either."