Winemaking

We want our wines to express the unique characteristics of our vineyards and our fruit, so we take a minimalist approach in the winery. Our talented winemaker Marco DiGulio shares this philosophy. “Great wines are all about the vineyard,” says Marco. “The goal is to extract and retain the most of what each vineyard has to say about itself.”

A graduate of UC Davis with a degree in Fermentation Science, Marco has used his considerable skills, instincts, and artistry to become one of the country’s most sought after winemaking talents. He first achieved widespread notoriety during his work at Lokoya in Napa, when their 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon earned an astounding 98 points from Wine Spectator. Marco’s decision to work with Collier Falls is a testament to the character of our hillside property, and speaks volumes about the quality of our vineyards and our fruit.

In the winery, extended maceration and cold soaking extracts additional color and tannins from the skins and seeds. Racking the wine 6 times prior to bottling allows us to create a completely unfiltered and unfined finished product. We use French and American oak barrels from 11 different cooperages, and we age our wines for 18-24 months in the barrel, and an additional 18-24 months in the bottle. These strategies create an approachable wine with beautiful aromatics, and a soft mouthfeel with nuanced flavors of fruit and spice.