With biodynamic certification for 20 years now, there’s no doubt in their minds that the better they treat the land, the better the wines. In the cellar, their motto is “100% Non boisée” or as you’ll see on the labels in English, 100% Oak Free. Eric believes that he can replicate the gentle oxygenation of oak aging by simply adding air to the wine while in concrete tanks. He is trying to avoid the “taste of wood,” that comes from even neutral oak, but still get the benefits. So, he has a machine that filters and compresses “elemental air” which he bubbles at the bottom of the tank any time he detects any reduction. These bubbles not only add air to the wine, but the bubbles themselves break up the cap during fermentation (removing the need for pump-overs or punchdowns), create consistent and gentle skin extraction, stir the lees and the (very ripe and crunchy) seeds, which he says is what gives the wines a hazelnutty quality people sometimes associate with oak.