Meet the Wine Maker

Russian Ridge is a small family owned winery producing less than 1,000 cases of wine annually. We were located at the West end of Alameda in California. We have moved to 1001 Washington St. San Carlos. All of our fruit is sourced from single vineyards from our Paso Robles Petit Sarah to our Berry Lane Chardonnay and Lower Chiles Valley Pinot Grigio from Napa Valley. Our Syrah, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon are from Santa Cruz Mountains fruit. Merlot and Petit Verdot are from southern Santa Clara County. The vineyards share common night environments where the cool ocean breezes extend inland to cool the fruit at the end of a warm day. Our wines are made in small lots of 40 to 200 cases. We like to cold soak all our fruit upon arrival to our winery. We cold soak on the skins for 48 to 72 hours at temperatures typically in the 50′s. We then pitch the yeasts. We try to punch down the cap four/five times a day for as long as the fermentation lasts. We remove jacks/stems from the must after each of these punch downs. This material is called MOG (Material Other then Grape) produced during the stemming and crushing. Some tannin can be obtained from the small remaining stems. I feel that early removal of these stems helps to eliminate to much tannin from being dissolved by the higher alcohol levels latter in the fermentation. We try to produce wines that are well balanced and pleasant to drink. Dark colors and rich fruit in our red wines. Balanced and refreshing tropical fruits in our whites. Since most of our wines are from single vineyards, what you should expect to see vintage to vintage is the year to year variation of the environment on the vineyard. We truly hope you enjoy our wines as much as we enjoy crafting and drinking them.

 

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