All the grapes are cluster sorted then destemmed and berry sorted by hand. Sorting is aggressive, but less so than some other Tenor wines because the few bits of stem actually add a nice perfume and complexity to the Merlot. The free-run juice is barreled (first unblended, then again after blending) in proprietary barrels specific to Tenor Merlot to enhance length and perfume. We actually use slightly different barrels for the different lots and mix and match to enhance the strengths of each vineyard.