Windmill Vineyards
Windmill Vineyards, owned by Jeff Morgan, is farmed by Sergio Villanueva under the supervision and direction of Mathiasson. He literally knows every vine by name and takes great pride in tending every vineyard. The vineyard is certified organic, with pink gravelly alluvial soils in the Dunningan Hills AVA in Yolo County. The hot climate allows the grapes to ripen quickly, and the grapes can be harvested with a good balance of acidity and not too much sugar, resulting in a wine with a medium alcohol content and a soft, light mouthfeel. Harley Vineyards
In partnership with Massaiason, Shelley Harley carefully cultivates Syrah on a small, certified organic vineyard at the foot of the Silverado Trail in Napa Valley. The vineyard is located on a cool, clayey soil of just 2 acres (0.8 hectares), parallel to the Napa River, where morning fog and afternoon cool breezes from the Golden Gate Bridge and San Pablo Bay blow in. The grapes slowly ripen to full maturity, producing grapes with plenty of acidity and citrus freshness. They are the perfect blend for the soft, expansive grapes of the slightly warmer Windmill Vineyard. The grapes are grown for rosé, resulting in a juicy, lively wine. The grapes are harvested just after veraison, at the same ripeness as for sparkling wine, to retain a pronounced acidity. The grapes are whole-cluster pressed and left to rest in tank for 24 hours before fermentation and aging on the lees in stainless steel barrels. To preserve the acidity, MLF is not used. The barrels are tightly closed and are not filled or stirred, and the wine is not racked, clarified, or chilled. However, since MLF is not used, the wine is filtered to remove the sediment before bottling. Owner and winemaker Steve Mathiasson is one of the leading vineyard consultants in Napa Valley. His clients include Eisley, Chapelle, Spottswoode, and others, and he is well known for his balanced grape growing. Mathiasson is a small winery run entirely by his family. Steve's white wines are modeled after those of the Friuli region of Italy, and his red wines are mainly Bordeaux-style. He is a hands-on farmer who comes from the fields (on-site), and does all the work in the fields himself as much as possible. Steve also likes to harvest three to four weeks earlier than usual, which is an important factor in determining the taste of the wine, and this has surprised the entire California wine industry. In 2014, he was selected as "Winemaker of the Year" by the San Francisco Chronicle, a leading American newspaper, and is a talented young winemaker who is expected to have a bright future. For Steve Mathiasson, making wine is just an extension of working in the fields. The grapes used at Mathiasson are harvested from fields in Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley, and Steve himself manages the cultivation of all of them throughout the growing season. Steve is a specialist in reflecting the inherent characteristics and aromas of grape varieties in wine. He is good at not only Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, which are common, but also varieties that are not often seen in Napa Valley, such as Ribolla Gialla and Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso. Whatever the variety, his job is simply to reflect the characteristics of the soil in which the grapes are grown and the variety in the wine. The characteristics of Matheson's wines are a refreshing taste that is meant to be paired with food, and a lower alcohol content than regular California wines. By using cultivation methods suited to each vineyard, they grow grapes with a sense of concentration, and by suppressing their desire for self-expression as a winemaker and respecting the individuality of the grapes, they are able to create well-balanced wines wrapped in aromatic aromas. As a former member of "In Pursuit of Balance (IPOB)", an organization that once took the world by storm in California to explore well-balanced Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, Matheson is known for producing elegant and vivid wines reminiscent of Europe.