THE CRAFTING

The Estate Pinot Noir wines are aged for a minimum of ten months in French Oak Barrels.  Each year about 20 barrels are set aside for our Reserve blend.  This Reserve  wine is aged up to 18 months thereby imparting stronger and more complex flavors.  To impart just the right level of oak the Estate and the Reserve wines are aged  in  new and used barrels.

Our Wine consultant Jim Kakacek, who joined Cardwell Hills Cellars in 2003, is a graduate of the viticulture and enology program at the University of California, Davis. He calls upon over 25 years of professional experience in the crafting of each year’s offering. Paying tribute to his insights into the nuances of Pinot Noir, many of his wines have earned some of the region’s highest-ranking awards.

Cardwell Hill Cellars also produces award winning Pinot Gris and a Rose’ from Pinot Noir grapes. In 2008 our first planting of Pinot Gris grapes was harvested and thus we became self sufficient with all of our fruit or a 100% Estate Bottled winery.

The Pinot Gris is whole cluster pressed, racked, fermented and cold stabilized in stainless steel equipment. We produce a relatively dry wine with just a touch of residual sugar to add flavor and complexity. Bottling is in the February following the year the grapes were harvested.

The Rose’ wine is produced from early harvest Pinot Noir. The clusters are de-stemmed and cold soaked in the same manner as our Pinot Noir wines. After about 30 hours of cold soaking, we have imparted the right level of color and flavor to the juice. At that time the clusters are pressed and the juice collected. The juice is processed in the same sequence as the Pinot Gris and bottled at the same time.
 

   THE PROCESSING