Winemaking

Our Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot are hand harvested in the early morning hours to ensure cold clusters in perfect condition. Additionally, we hand sort the fruit both before and after destemming to ensure only the best grapes make it to the fermenter. The whole berries are allowed to soak on their skins in a cold environment to allow for the extraction of beautiful fruit character and excellent color. The fermentations are run with a variety of pump over techniques and delestage practices that build body and structure and keep the fermentation healthy and strong. Once the new wine is drained from the tank, our bordeaux varietals are aged in French oak barrels from a variety of cooperages using about 75% new oak. The wine is aged for approximately 20 months before bottling.

We farm the Sauvignon Blanc vineyard with extensive canopy management much like we farm Cabernet Sauvignon. To enable all the fruit to ripen perfectly and evenly, we remove leaves and position clusters by hand so that some sunlight reaches some portion of each cluster for only some portion of the day. Once the clusters have reached optimal flavor maturity, we harvest by hand just before sunrise. The clusters are sorted and whole-cluster pressed with the expectation that we will get a sufficient amount of juice without excessive pressure or movement of the skins. The juice is then put in all neutral french oak barrels and allowed to ferment with indigenous yeasts. Once the fermentations are complete, the wines are aged on the lees with periodic light batonage for the next seven months.