Making Wine in Sonoma

In many places in the wine country as you drive or walk around you'll get the sweet and distinct fragrance of the fermentation taking place in the surrounding wineries. I love each year being a part of this wine making process. It has so many interesting and satisfying steps and I'm happy to share some of those with you.

We just wrapped up our harvest and now we wait for the grapes to turn its sugars into alcohol. This year we made 250 cases (or 3,000 bottles).

I shot a couple videos for the fun of it and for you to enjoy what I am lucky enough to experience. Making wine is truely a joy (well most of the time). I love to visit the vineyards during the year and watch the grapes grow. Tasting them as their getting closer to picking time.

The barrel room is also a favorite of mine, the combination of oak and wine is something I'm never tired of. I would love to have more meals in the cellar surrounded by the abundance of wine and the enticing smells (keep an eye out, I'll be doing a dinner in the cave at some point and everyone will be invited).

Pulling wine from the barrel with a wine thief (glass gadget that can sucks in wine for tasting) is something I do and relish during the entire year. It's a rough job but someone has to do it. You really do have to stay on top of the wine as it's on it's journey to be a finished wine. Is it oaked enough? How's the acid levels?

At the end of a long day, you pull a bottle from the past, pop it open and toast all it took to make that tasty glass of wine.