The synthesis of these two epigraphs becomes our winemaking philosophy. The wine makes itself, but it does not do so without us; our minimal presence is required.
To get our desired twin peaks of grape ripeness and healthy yeast bloom upon those grapes we harvest in multiple passes. When we contract grapes from vineyards we like, we work with those growers and the weather to get physiological ripeness without brix chasing through the fall.
Whatever nature has given us will dictate our winemaking choices come harvest. All clusters are sorted and may be trod, crushed & destemmed, whole cluster fermented, hand-destemmed and whole berry fermented, or direct pressed, and most commonly some combination thereof. We don’t purchase juice because we want to sort, handle, and lay hands & feet upon the clusters ourselves, we being also a part of nature.
All fermentations are fully spontaneous, excepting whatever gray area exists in that the spontaneous fermentation from the first pass of grapes acts as a sort of pied de cuve for any successive passes through the vines. At any rate, no cultures are added or propagated at any stage in the raising of the wine.
Vessels are chosen volumetrically first; for now our tiny and variable volumes require a great deal of agility each fall. We have taste preferences for old, well-cleaned oak, and practical preferences for stainless steel that’s wide for fermentations and narrow for élevage.
We regularly coferment hybrid varieties and vinifera (Cab Franc & Chambourcin, Pinot Noir & Chambourcin, Traminette & Pinot Gris, Vidal Blanc & Riesling, etc.) in part to help unseat established purist prejudices against hybrid grapes, and foremost for making wine principally expressive of its terroir and environs (including, of course, the resident microbes of the site). To that end, we tend strongly toward single-vineyard wines. Though we’re ambivalent about vintage supremacy, the maturation time and our small scale tend to resist blends composed across multiple vintages.
None of our tanks or vessels have temperature control, though in earlier harvest years wines may begin their fermentation in an air conditioned space, and we will intervene as warranted with manual punchdowns or remontage (by bucket, not by pump) to keep the fermentations from getting perilously hot.
Therein’s barrel cellar is the embanked first floor of a barn built in 1851. It’s about 70% built into the hillside, and has no formal temperature control. In the summer, the cellar temperature may hit 70F if we have an extended heat wave, and in the winter, temperatures drop as low as 38F. These natural seasonal temperature fluctuations are vital for a spontaneous fermentation to achieve completion and stability. The winters provide the clarity we need (since we eschew fining and filtration), and the summers ensure that the microbes present have had every chance at a successful fermentation.
From cluster to bottle, we add nothing. Some term this “zero-zero” winemaking (nothing added, nothing removed), and that fully applies here. So would “natural wine”, though some grifters and bad-faith industrial wine apologists & lobbyists are well on their way to ruining the designation. It is exceedingly the norm for a winery to purchase designer yeasts, enzymes for those yeasts to succeed, separate packs of laboratory bacteria to ensure MLF, sulfites to ensure homogenous yeast performance, extraneous acids and/or sugars, and then, before bottling, hit again with more sulfites, possible DMDC or sorbates, egg whites, gelatin, bentonite or other for fining, sterile filtration, and, if big enough, reverse osmosis to violently correct the acid balance of the wine. To say nothing of additives like Megapurple.
So yes, we who have decided to make wine from grapes and grapes alone are suddenly somehow the radical ones. And we know better than most that spontaneous fermentations are not without their risks, but wines made naturally that succeed in their aims of vibrancy, depth, and complexity—because they are alive—are well worth all such risks.
