Our Winemaking

Hands on – that is the only way we know how to do it. The wine making is the very last step in the process of creating our wines. Most of the work is done in the vineyard throughout the growing season but when harvest is upon us our focus carefully turns to winemaking.

Picking decisions are made by phenolic maturity of the fruit and depth of flavor. That can only be determined one way, walking to vineyard day after day and tasting for the flavor development. When the quality of the fruit has been maximized, the pick is called and the winemaking process has begun.

The fruit is sorted twice – first in the vineyard where the fruit where the fruit is perfectly displayed for us and again in the winery. Sorting is the last opportunity we have to review and remove any fruit that has not met the highest standards of quality and consistency.

The white grapes (Grenache Blanc and Viognier) are pressed whole cluster then settled before fermentation begins in tank. Their fermentation is finished in neutral French oak barrels over 6-8 months.

The red varietals (Syrah, Tempranillo, and Zinfandel) are gently de-stemmed, maintaining the integrity of the berries. Transferred to tank, the fruit is then cold soaked for 4-5 days before fermentation begins. After inoculation, the wine ferments in tank for 9-10 days before being pressed and put to barrel. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and the lees are stirred regularly until the conversion is complete, about 9 months after the grapes were harvested. At the wine’s first racking and the initial blends of the year are created, giving the elements plenty of time to meld. The wine will be racked only once more before bottling, a full year later.

All of our barrels are custom coopered to our specifications. Each varietal and wine has a different barrel program tailored by Sam. Working with several coopers he selects the forest, grain, staves and toast to order.

Final blends are determined in the last months before bottling and they are approached with the same rigor. Exploring all the blending elements and iterations of both varietal and free-run/press components, the wines are finalized and two years of work completed.