Winemaking

Carter Cellars’ winemaking begins with a simple idea: match the best grapes from world-renowned vineyard sources with purist, non-interventionist winemaking.

Under our growers’ watchful eyes and experienced hands, the cultivation of our grapes is an arduous dance — limiting vine yields, beneficial trellising, integrated disease management, and harvesting completely by hand at the peak moment of ripeness. All of this ensures the grapes we use are optimal for creating our limited production, high quality wines.

Our practices in the winery in Calistoga are just as exacting. Under the talented direction of Russell Bevan and the team, small lots are hand sorted — and further culled by the watchful eye of an optical sorter — then pressed gently to extract pure juice while leaving behind the bitter oils and harsh tannins of seed and skin. After fermentation the wines rest in Darnajou, Taransaud, François Frères, Vicard and other new French barrels for eighteen to twenty months, with minimal sulfur and minimal racking, allowing each wine to mature and fully integrate — true to its varietal character and its sense of place.