Winemaking Philosophy and Practices

Our philosophy is one of 'sunshine to wine'...

Our philosophy is one of 'sunshine to wine' in which our family directs all aspects of winegrowing and winemaking from the initial selection of the vineyard sites, planting, farming, harvesting, fermenting, and blending through to uncorking the wine for your enjoyment.

Our family is devoted to producing wines that are true to the grape variety, true to the high quality and the distinct terroir of the estate vineyards that we farm in the Napa Valley, and are the finest expressions of Napa Valley wine.

What does it mean? …It means an outstanding bottle of wine.

It means that we select each vineyard site for its potential to deliver the very highest quality grapes possible. We took great care to ensure that the variety, rootstock, clonal selection, vineyard spacing and trellis design are matched to the soil and microclimate of and within each vineyard site.

It means that we farm each vineyard site to deliver the very highest quality grapes each year regardless of quantity. Rarely does a large quantity result in the highest quality. Pruning, leafing and canopy management, fruit thinning, watering and hand harvesting is done with only the quality of the grapes in mind.

It means that we harvest each planting into individual lots and ferment each lot separately to ensure that the wine is fermented, barreled and aged to maximize the potential of each lot's characteristics. It means that the lots get to bring their distinctive personality to the final blend of our wines. Only those lots, and barrels within each lot, (we examine each and every barrel) which improve the wine are included in the final wine.

Why do we do it?

We love what we do! Kevin grows the grapes, Chris makes the wine (and Stephen and Jay get to take the credit when they are not around!). We are passionate about our wine and we are small enough to be able to walk every vineyard row. We taste every barrel to make sure we will be proud to put our name on the bottle and serve the wine to our family, friends, and faithful consumers.

Winemaking Practices

Our winemaking practices are specific to each variety. At the core of our winemaking philosophy, is our aim to produce wines that are true to the grape variety, and true to the high quality and the distinct terroir of the estate vineyards.

We believe in growing grapes with intense and complex grape flavors and it is these flavors that are at the core of our wines. The winemaker's hand is used to bring these flavors together into a cohesive whole; to protect and promote intense aromatics; and to present a full bodied, elegantly textured and seamless wine.