Our Process

For the winemaking team at Devil’s Lair, vintage is a time of exhilaration, winemaking flair and a frenetic pace combined with a healthy dose of chance. It’s when months’ and months’ of tending the vines - pruning, planting, managing the elements - and weeks of meticulous preparation in the winery all pay off. It’s a delicate balance, where the team is at the hands of Mother Nature and everyone works tirelessly to ensure that we get the very best out of the season.

Early Mornings

The still of the early morning belies the frenetic pace at Devil’s Lair estate.

While the sun gently rises, much of the Chardonnay grapes have already been picked in the cool of the night to ensure we retain freshness and purity.

Hand Picked Vines

During vintage, the Devil’s Lair team is expanded to help with the pace of vintage.

Our vines are carefully hand-picked to help retain purity and delicacy and ensure that the grapes arrive in the winery in pristine condition.

Freshly picked grapes

Our Chardonnay blocks are some of the most southerly vineyards in Margaret River.

The cooling breeze from the Southern Ocean that sweeps through the vines each day are perfect for Chardonnay, as you can see from these freshly picked bunches of grapes.

Crushed Immediately

The intensely vibrant Cabernet Sauvignon fruit is picked, crushed immediately and is then left on skins for up to eight weeks to develop rich colour and structural tannins.

Each batch of fruit is handled separately in the winery to develop unique characters before being blended together to create the final wine.

French Oak Barriques

After spending time on skins, our Devil's Lair 'Hidden Cave' Cabernet Shiraz is transferred to mature for 12 months in French Oak barriques.

During this time, the barriques will be constantly monitored, tasted and topped up before the wine is fully mature and ready for bottling.

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