Vine to Wine

The winemaking process begins in the vineyard.  Grape quality is extremely important, and how the grape has been cultivated is one of the critical factors affecting the quality of wine.

Another crucial factor in developing a great wine is harvesting grapes when they are perfectly ripened.  Brix and pH measurements, as well as taste, are great ways to tell when grapes are perfectly ripened.

Grapes are harvested by hand and either brought straight to our crush pad or cooled overnight.  They are then put through our crusher de-stemmer, which breaks up the berries and removes the grapes from the stems.  White and Blush wines are pressed immediately in our membrane press to extract juice from the berry.  Red wines are fermented on the skins in open bins to extract color and tannins.  They have to be "punched down" twice a day.  This is called "managing the cap".

Yeasts are added to the juice to begin the fermentation process.  When fermentation begins the yeasts convert the grapes' natural sugar into alcohol and CO2.  The juice, now called "must", ferments at controlled temperatures for approximately three weeks.

After fermentation, wine is either aged in oak barrels, or aged and fined in steel tanks.  Wines stored in oak barrels will slowly accumulate smoky, vanilla, and fruity characteristics that are associated with oak barrels.  Steel tanks allow the natural flavors of the wine to be enhanced.

When wine has been fined and filtered to perfection, it is then bottled.  The wine is then left in the bottles to age for varying amounts of time to develop a flavor and bouquet that is typical of that particular wine.