Press wines improve the final blend by contributing more structure and aromatic complexity. It is a fraction of the wine that is still underestimated.
During tasting, certain criteria can serve as a basis for rejection, such as vegetal aromas or bitterness.
The main qualitative criterion remains the tannic structure. Length on the palate, finesse and aromatic complexity are also criteria that can be used to classify press wines.
Over the course of tasting, quality scores can be assigned to each batch, for example, separation into three levels A, B and C, (A being the highest and C the lowest).
Subsequently, batches of the same quality can be blended. At this point, it is still advisable to keep the stage 1, 2 and 3 levels separate. We therefore end up with 9 batches.
The A/B/C ranking method provides a good classification solution when the property has a large area of vines. This method is used at Château Latour with an extra degree of classification, each A/B/C is split into A+/A/A-, etc., enabling more detailed analysis of each quality level.