Our Winery
Pinot Noir Winemaking
After meticulously farming our estate vineyards on the True Sonoma Coast, the hand-crafting of our wines begins. All of our fruit is hand-harvested in the early morning into small bins to ensure proper delivery to the winery. Hand cluster selection begins on our custom-built shaker table. Pinot Noir clusters are dispersed and gently conveyed to the next sorting table where six sorters can assess the clusters that will be allowed to pass to fermentor.
At Flowers, we de-stem Pinot Noir to ensure gentle handling and provide a 75% whole-berry environment in our small open-top fermentors. Pinot Noir is cold-soaked for five to seven days at a temperature of 45°F and the hand-punching-down begins. After the cold-soak period, the fermentor warms to 68°F - 85°F and wild yeast carries the fermentation to show terrior and complexity.
Free-run wines are drained to barrel and the remaining skins are gently pressed in a small old-world basket press. All wines are aged between 14-16 months in small oak barrels from Burgundy Coopers. The wines are bottled without the use of sterile filtration and no fining occurs. Our philosophy is to retain all of the natural vineyard elements while hand-crafting our Pinot Noir. This ensures the true expression of our unique vineyard sites when the wines are enjoyed.
The wines receive additional bottle age in our temperature controlled cellar and are released annually for direct purchase from Michelle at the winery.
Chardonnay Winemaking
We hand cultivate all of our vineyards on the True Sonoma Coast. When the decision to pick is made, the grapes are harvested in the cool morning and placed into small bins to ensure proper delivery to the crush pad. At the winery we conduct one final hand sorting. Then the whole clusters go directly to press to preserve fresh fruit and limit the amount of solids in the new juice.
Gently pressed chardonnay juice is settled then put directly into new and 1-2 year old French oak barrels for 100% barrel fermentation. Barrels undergo fermentation in temperature and humidity controlled aging rooms. When fermentation is complete, the new wines are put through a second fermentation converting Malic acid to Lactic acid.
The True Sonoma Coast yields chardonnay that has distinct naturally high acidity and a balanced low pH structure. Twice monthly barrels are hand stirred with a thin wand. This hand crafting method of battonage adds complexity by whisking up natural yeast and fermentation sediment known as lees and allowing them to settle back out through the aging wines. Using this age-old technique the wines become softer, more complex and gain exquisite mouth feel.
Final blending takes place in early summer. The wines receive additional bottle age in our temperature controlled cellar and are released annually for direct purchase from Michelle at the winery.