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Winemaking

HomeWinemaking

WINEMAKING

At Sei Querce, we are blessed to be working with land that has been producing wine and winning awards and recognition for over 130 years.  To respect this legacy, we strive to have as light a touch on the land as possible, both to preserve the beauty of nature and to produce the finest fruit.  We carry that approach forward with our winemaking, in three critical ways that are mutually reinforcing.

VINEYARD FOCUS

If you front-load your energy by giving meticulous care to the fruit on the vine, you can step back in the cellar and let the grapes shine all on their own.

Great fruit requires more than just a superb growing site. Our winemaker and viticulturist work closely together throughout the growing season to monitor and care for the vines.  Seemingly minor adjustments to items such as canopy management and soil moisture content can have significant effects on grape quality.  At veraison, as the grapes begin to ripen, you will find our winemaker walking the rows with increased frequency, pruning clippers in hand, doing everything she can to ensure that only the finest, most delicious fruit, in peak condition reaches the cellar.

BALANCE

Our goal is to pick when there is balance in the berry, this gives us the purest expression of fruit in the glass.

Capturing grapes at their optimal state of ripeness is both a science and an art.  It takes an intimate knowledge of each vineyard block, to know when to call a pick (i.e. schedule harvest).  The reward for paying such close attention is fruit that comes into the winery with its sugars, acids, tannins, and flavors all in balance with one another. While every variety has its nuanced differences, the overall goal is to capture acidity to keep the wine fresh on the palate, provide moderate alcohol that gives the wine body, but not heat, encourage soft tannins that provide structure without being too rustic, and present varietally true aromas and flavors that support one another.

MINIMAL INTERVENTION

Purity of flavor, a sense of place, these are the attributes of great wine, and the less the winemaker intervenes, the better.

We have always believed in the importance of purity. But we took this value to the next step by working with our winemaker Kate Nowell-Smith in 2019. We want our wine to sing of what it is and where it’s from.  Wines tweaked in the lab, or given multiple additives or fixes in the cellar taste like they have no home.  In contrast, healthy, balanced fruit becomes a balanced wine, with minimal input from the winemaker.