Vine to Wine; harvest begins in early October and may last for five days, handpicking small portions at specific brix and PH. Before the second hour following first light the grapes are delivered cold to the processing facility. The fruit is hand sorted on a stainless steel table before entering the crusher/destemmer. One third of the fruit is left whole cluster, added to the bottom of the fermentation bin. 15% of the juice is immediately drained from the bottom of the fermenter to concentrate the remaining fruit, then alowed to rest (cold soak) for a six day period with lids secure to hold in CO2. Following the cold soak, native yeast is introduced with light heat to begin the fermentation process. Punch down is done a minimum of three times each day, carefully monitoring brix and temperature. At near dryness (0-brix), fermentations are gently hand basket pressed and settled 24 hours in stainless steel before racked into french oak barrels and aged on lees 18 months (full malolactic fermentation- racked once - before bottled unfined and unfiltered. The wine is aged one year in bottle before release.