Based on the years of growing for various wineries and their winemakers, Bob came to learn the special skills and impact a given winemaker can have on a vintage. We know the same grapes can have much different finishes depending on the winemaker’s subtle techniques. We have tasted the results from a cocktail wine, (standing on its own, as a big robust, hot fruit bomb), to the opposite spectrum of a food wine, (great with the meal because of its lower alcohol, higher acid and palate complementary structure). The fact that these distinctly different wines came from the same grapes, picked the same day from the same block, represents the creative impact of the Wine Maker, and the versatility of the grapes themselves.
Bob’s winemaker since 2006 has been Kandy Ward, the owner and chief fermentation superintendent. She will never refer to herself as a “winemaker” because she knows that the real winemakers are the millions of yeasts cells, she pours into the fermentation bins.
Kandy’s moto is: “Leave the grapes alone….let them grow up to be special children for that year…no manipulation or adulteration!” That is a standard, not too well followed in this industry, unfortunately.