“One of the first things I discovered as a winemaker, is that you can only make wine as good as the grapes in the environment in which they are grown. The grapes at Heaven’s Hill Estate are premium quality and adapt to the rugged, arid and unforgiving micro-climates of Southern California. It’s truly exceptional.
- B. Alan (Winemaker)
First, we determine the ripeness of the fruit. When sufficiently ripe, the fruit is harvested by hand. Hand harvesting is essential in our artisan process as it allows us to precisely select the grapes while protecting their juice content.
Grapes from our vineyard are then destemmed and hand-sorted to assure only the highest quality fruit is used.
Once the grapes are de stemmed and sorted, they are put into stainless steel tanks to begin fermenting. Fermentation is the process in which yeast coverts the grapes sugars into alcohol.
Next, the wine is put into barrels for aging. After harvest, the barrels are evaluated to determine which wine they best fit. For example, the darkest, most intense fruit, with both power and finesse lend themselves to the profile of our Estate Syrah.
Depending on the blend, the wine then spends from twelve to eighteen months in-barrel where it gains complexity and nuance.
When the wine has matured to the desired flavor and aroma profile, it is put into a blending tank and then finally bottled. Depending on the wine, it may then also rest twelve to eighteen months in bottle.
