Much has been discussed over the years about bâtonnage, its effects on wine, its advantages and disadvantages.

When a producer presents a wine in which he has applied this technique, he usually does so with pride and with the aim of raising the final quality of the product. But what is bâtonnage?

This operation is carried out at the end of alcoholic fermentation, normally when the wine ages in barrels, in the past it used to be done using a stick, “bâton”, hence its name bâtonnage. Currently, it can be carried out in different ways and in the most varied containers, but the philosophy of the process is the same, placing the fine wine lees in suspension.

Bâtonnage is a cutting-edge technique that exploits the noble lees of wines, produced during fermentation, composed exclusively of yeast. This system, which provides for the periodic suspension of these lees, exploits an enzymatic action to obtain yeast autolysis (yeast destruction) and extract polysaccharides and other compounds from the cell, which contribute to the gustatory complexity, preserving the fruit and stability of the wine, increasing the its quality.

At Quinta da Raza we carry out the bâtonnage on some selected wines and we do it either in stainless steel vats or in oak barrels, as the added value of this process can be obtained even in wines that are not in contact with wood. The process can be seen in the attached short video, with Manuel rolling one of our barrels.  – Who needs a gym after a workout like this? – The wine in question is a part of our Quinta da Raza Avesso Alvarinho 2022 that will be added to the 2023 blend to increase its complexity.

If you still don’t know the effects of bâtonnage, dare to try our Quinta da Raza Avesso Alvarinho and our Quinta da Raza Special Family Collection, and become even more enchanted by this wonderful world of oenology.