The Sage Hill Vineyard is a clay and rock-dominated site in the Pritchard Hill area of Napa Valley that enjoys full western exposure, and cooling air currents from nearby Lake Hennessy that moderate afternoon temperatures. Our vineyard team harvests by hand in the cool early mornings, and sends the grapes through two rounds of rigorous sorting—first as whole clusters, then again as de-stemmed individual berries. After cold maceration, the fruit is fermented by naturally occurring wild yeasts in temperature-controlled conditions for three to four weeks.
Once this initial fermentation is complete, we gently crush the grapes with a vertical press directly into barrels for a secondary malolactic fermentation. The wine then spends 18-26 months in barrel, as needed for each vintage. We rack at most twice per year, and bottle without fining or filtration. By minimizing human intervention with the wine, we aim to amplify the voice of the terroir.
