What
exactly does letting the wines “find their voice”
mean? It simply means that each wine should reveal a uniqueness,
good balance and a sense of place. Each should differ,
stand on its own and be indicative of the vintage and
varietal characteristics. In order to attain this, winemaker/owner
David Vergari takes a non-interventionist approach, which
always takes patience and often takes courage!
Extensive fruit sorting is imperative
to ensure quality results. In the vineyard, while the
clusters are being hand-harvested, leaves and any unripe
bunches are removed from the picking bins. At the winery,
the grapes are pre-sorted before de-stemming and then
again after crushing to remove any unwanted stars or jacks.
Cold soaking to extract color, flavor
and tannins is employed until native yeast begin the fermentation.
Malolactic fermentation occurs in French oak barrels from
a selection of coopers that David respects. He varies
the percentage of new oak in each vintage based on how
it will marry with the wine believing that the oak should
not take center stage, but instead integrate with the
fruit and acids of the wine.
David’s goal is to create wines
of balance, with subtlety and seamlessness. “Wine
is dynamic, going down many paths on its way to becoming
something unique. Oftentimes I help it along. Sometimes
the best choice is to do nothing and let the wine find
its voice over time.”