The grape harvest, which is painstakingly done by hand, ensures the selection of only the best grapes. These little dark "nuggets", are carefully placed onto trays and left to dry for around 120 days in traditional, well-ventilated containers to prevent mould and humidity. In this way, the grapes lose up to 30/40% of their original weight, raising the sugar concentration and the final alcohol content in the process. At the end of January the dried grapes are pressed and then soaked with the skins for around 20/30 days. The slow fermenting process allows the yeast to transform the grapes' sugar content into alcohol. After the racking process, the product passes into steel casks for the malo-lactic fermentation process to take place, after which the wine is matured in large oak casks to give "sweetness", or in barriques and tonneau to give a more spicey flavour. The maturing process is the completed with refinement in the bottle.