To respect the vintage

We prefer making vintage wines, which means to respect each year the climate we have actually had. In 2003 we produced wines which went up to 14.8% naturally, we did not consider putting any water in the cuves to reduce alcohol content. In 2008, we produced wines which gave us only 12%, again we had no thought of chaptalisation to reach a hypothetically perfect 13.5%, as many wine critics like to talk about a "perfect" wine at 13.5%. That causes us plenty of concerns regarding official approvals, as for those wines of 2008 which we had approved about 2 months ago, some were refused for being “diluted” wines. It's true in 2008 the natural alcohol levels were low. So a lot of domaines chaptalised. Since we had produced a wine of 12%, we no longer adhered to the inter-professional expectations.