Harvest

In keeping with tradition, the vineyards of Château Raymond-Lafon are hand-picked, in successive selective pickings or tris.

An individual grape is picked depending on the degree of ripeness as well as on the evolution of Botrytis cinerea, commonly known as "noble rot".

This "noble rot" is a microscopic fungus that develops thanks to the microclimate created by a small river, the Ciron.

Alternating foggy mornings caused by the Ciron and seasonal sunny afternoons foster the onset of Botrytis cinerea. This fungus, by consuming a portion of the water in the pulp of the grapes, increases the sugar content of the grapes and gives a very aromatic, highly concentrated must.

But this evolution is not uniform for a given bunch of grapes, which explains why it is necessary to pick only those grapes that have attained the desired concentration.

The harvest is thus particulary long and may last two months : our small team of skilled grape harvesters sometimes must carry out three to ten tris, depending on the year.

Only the highest quality grapes are selected and, depending on the vintage, 20-100% of the entire crop may be declassified, which accounts for the absence of a Château Raymond-Lafon vintage 1974.