P.M Staiger Vineyard, Santa Cruz, 2019
Model Farm
- CountryUSA,
- ColourWhite,
- VarietalChardonnay,
- ProcessSustainable, Organic,
We find such joy in the simplicity of making white wine. For us, it is purely the product of careful pick decisions, skillful choices at the press, and a lot of patience. Beginning in the vineyard, we are constantly tasting and waiting for acidity and flavor to reach their point of optimal balance. Our Chardonnay is then gently whole-cluster pressed as we watch over the ever-changing flavors, textures, and chemistry that transpires during the pressing cycle. We separate the juice into distinct lots and leave them to settle overnight. The next day, we fill lightly used barrels, by gravity, with the settled juice. Each barrel remains tucked away in the cellar, undisturbed, to begin fermenting at its own pace. There is no inoculating, no stirring, no additions – just time. We monitor each barrel’s unique fermentation over the course of 12 months. Once the wines are ready, they are moved into stainless steel for an additional 6 months of aging. The added aging provides the wine with additional focus and length.
Producer: Model Farm
Model Farm produces single vineyard wines in Sonoma, California, seeking out compelling sites of unique terroir while maintaining our core values of sustainable farming and honest winemaking. We produce our wines using minimalist, old-world techniques. All wines are fermented with native yeasts, no additives, additions or adjuncts, and none see new oak.
LA CRUZ VINEYARD La Cruz, a sustainably certified vineyard, incorporates practices derived from organics, permaculture, and biodynamics that were learned over the years since the vineyard’s inception in 1989. These practices include bee-keeping, owl and bat boxes, a flock of over 200 sheep that graze and fertilize our land, and careful management of the pond system that ensures our water supply. As with all of our wines, we employ minimalist winemaking techniques to protect the integrity of terroir. 100% native fermentation, 100% whole cluster, no additions or additives, bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal effective SO2.
ESTATE VINEYARD Our Petaluma Gap Syrah is farmed exclusively by the two of us. We chose the ambitious task of farming our vineyards ourselves in order to better understand the intimate, complicated relationship between vineyard and wine. All of our vineyard practices are organic, and we farm by hand, without the use of a tractor to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. No herbicides or fertilizers are used and no-till farming helps to preserve soil diversity. All weed control is done by hand. This attentive, hands on farming style allows us to be hands off in the cellar. 100% native fermentation, no additions or additives, bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal effective SO2.
Organic and Sustainably Farmed Vineyards, Non-additive Winemaking, Minimal Effective SO2, Used Oak Barrels, Non-Filtered Wines, Vegan, Non-GMO, Gluten Free,