The name of our white wine “Tabula rasa” means “white sheet”, a term first developed by Aristotle and then taken further by British philosopher John Locke, standing for the immaculate status of a new born child. In the colloquial language “Tabula rasa” stands for “making a clean sweep”, which one might do to find closure with the past. The text on the label is an extract of a 300 years old essay from John Locke, covering the human apprehension, and has been lent to us from the Library of the abbey Einsiedeln.  The direct translation is:

 

"Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper void of all characters, without any ideas. How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience" 

 

The white wine is a cuvee from Grenache gris, Grenache blanc, Carignan blanc and Macabeu.  These you find scattered in the old red wine vineyards and we selectively harvest them at an optimal ripeness of fruit. The exact percentage of shares is therefore not known.  The grapes are first carefully pounded with feet and then processed with the wine press. After the natural sedimentation the juice is transferred to 400 l barrels, where the fermentation will commence.  After fermentation is finished, we develop the wine on the yeast. After approximately one year we add a minimum of sulfur, and finally bottle the wine.