It is no longer necessary to be a wine expert to have heard the term Batonnage at least once, if you are used to tasting, if you like to read the descriptions of wine on the back labels or if you are simply a passionate about good wine, you will surely have heard people say: 'This wine was produced according to the Batonnage method'.

What is the Batonnage method?

The "bâtonnage" is an ancient method of vinification which involves the mixing of the wines in aging, letting the lees, fine or noble, come back to the surface. All this happens at the end of the fermentation process, when the wine has already reached a certain degree of refinement. Contact with the so-called thin or noble lees, that is the semi-solid part of the must consisting largely of dead saccharomycetes, very rich in protein substances, which slowly release them to the wine which extracts them through the action of alcohol. In short, the wine recovers the sense of its origin by becoming more complex and rich, it recovers elements that have contributed to its metamorphosis, acquires character and becomes something unique and unrepeatable. This process takes place through the skilful use of a special thin stick that is inserted inside the barrique, until it touches the bottom where it will be stirred, creating a cloud of lees and yeasts in suspension.
It is of fundamental importance that the basic grapes are healthy, whole and rich in organoleptic substances and that the resulting lees have not encountered problems due to contact with the wine during fermentation, if they become ill it could result in a series of negative factors such as bad smell, oxidation or reduction notes.

Why is Batonnage used?

The purpose of this operation is to give more aromas and intensity of flavor to the final wines, making them richer and more complex, in a certain sense more territorial.
The stirring of the yeasts causes the tannins to "bind" together again, making them awaken from the slight drowsiness to which the aging in barrique has laid them. Thanks to the bâtonnage, therefore, we will have more solid and reactive tannins. Something that contributes to tie the wine even more with its origin, with elements of fermentation and transformation of the must into grapes.