Winegrowing Philosophy

We believe in place. To be truly great, a wine must be more than a lovely perfume and pleasant sensations rolling across your palate. It must connect you with a place. It must taste like somewhere.

We believe in people, without whom, wine would neither exist nor contain meaning. Wine comes from nature, but it does not emerge without a helping hand. And without a conscious mind to play across, its significance would be lost. The story of a wine, and the people who made it matter.

We believe in the grape, singular in its ability to translate place. Each of our wines exists to explore the expression of a variety on our estate, or the interplay of varieties in a blend. The cellar is a tool to bring out the true character of each grape. Our winemaking should amplify what our vineyard has to say.

Finally, we believe in learning. Perfection is a mirage, always on the horizon. There is only what we have done, and what we can do better. By building on the knowledge that we have acquired over the last fifty vintages, constantly playing with new techniques and ideas, we can bridge the worlds of tradition and innovation. Integrating what works for our grapes and our land while removing what is unnecessary, we continuously refine our craft.

Place, people, the grape, and always learning. With all of this in mind, we pursue an uncommon approach to winegrowing. Stubborn in our commitment to estate grown fruit, we focus our efforts on this specific place, farming our vineyards ourselves, with our own employees. Fortunate to call the Oak Knoll District home, we rejoice in growing a wide variety of grapes, which we treat with utmost respect, carefully measuring each decision in the cellar. Each vintage is a chapter in our perpetual quest for deeper understanding – of our soils, our vines, our climate, and our wines. When we succeed, our wines should seem effortless and our winemaking ethereal, a window into a memorable place and time.