Finding Endless Horizons of Better-ness in the Cellar

Posted: February 22, 2018

As the craze wrought by Harvest and Crush becomes a quietly ebbing memory of the past vintage, and the dust begins to settle upon the crush pad, we’ve noticed an oddly familiar sense of quiet has found a comfortable return to the winery.

But that is not to say we haven’t been busy; quite the opposite, really.

We think the key to making exceptional wines lies within the pursuit of endless horizons of better-ness – and that means embracing fearlessness and creativity in the winemaking process. So while the dust may appear to have settled in the foreground, our Winemaking and Cellar Teams have been busy employing a few new techniques as they work to blend wines from the 2016 vintage and bottle our white wines from the 2017 vintage. As a result of these new techniques, a pivotal moment for our production program is beginning to unfold.

Over the last couple of years, we’ve made a couple of unique – and as it has become apparent to us, game-changing – investments into our cellar. We’ve installed two concrete tanks, and five additional terracotta amphoras (to our original two) to utilize in every piece of the winemaking process, from fermentation to blending. Various flavor and textural elements that would have been achieved with traditional stainless steel and French oak barrel fermentation, aging, and blending methods are instantly enhanced throwing terracotta and concrete in the mix. These Old World and New World additions, respectively, help the wine to express acidity, balance, flavor nuance, and texture in a way that oak and stainless steel simply cannot.

Our freshly-bottled 2017 Josephine Sauvignon Blanc and 2017 Rose of Cabernet Franc tells us that these additions were worth the investment; our initial tasting of the two wines tell us that they are our best whites yet. Truly. Never before have we seen such defined flavor, soft balance, and incredible body in our white wines; fruit expression is beyond.

If these wines are any indication for our 2017 reds, it reinforces everything down to the core our winemaking philosophy: to fearlessly push the boundaries of creativity, for doing so pushes us closer in our endless pursuit of better-ness.