Winery within a Winery
The winery within a winery concept allows Rodney Strong Vineyards to take the idea of a "selection process" to a new level: Ultra Selection.
Previously, Rod Strong recognized the best vineyards we drew grapes from, and isolated those (i.e.: Alexander's Crown). Then Rick Sayre took it to the next level, identifying individual blocks within the best vineyards, and then harvesting and fermenting those separately, to better assess their qualities as potential Reserve or Symmetry lots.
It starts in the vineyards where place or rather terroir determines the flavor of the grape and ultimately the wine. Place matters.» see all photos
Now, the winery within a winery takes Rick's idea further, to the level of Ultra Selection. From previously identified best blocks from best vineyards, we are now able to isolate individual sections, even row by row, for very small lot harvests, a sorting process that starts in the vineyard. Those Ultra quality rows are hand harvested, either at dawn or sometimes even at night(!), for early morning delivery of night cooled fruit. The small half-ton bins are placed inside the lower cellar to keep them cool. Then the WWW takes over.
Each half-ton bin is carefully tipped on to a belt. Crewmembers then sort through the clusters by hand, removing clusters showing any defects (rot, raisins, unripe coloration, etc.) as well as leaves, stems, or anything else. They also ensure that the speed of clusters going in to the destemmer is slow, but most importantly, steady.
Next, the clusters feed into the small, gentle destemmer (Diemme "Kappa"). The destemmed berries then land on a mechanical sorter, known as "Le Trieur", which shakes the berries across a specially designed grate. Anything smaller than a berry (shot berry, seed, bit of stem or leaf) shakes through, and only fairly perfect berries move on.
Those berries drop to another belt, where a crew of six picks over them, removing the last of any stem, leaf, or anything else not "perfect". Now the "Ultra Select" fruit drops into a sump, and using a pump designed to pump Fruit Cocktail without damage, the berries are fed into one of a series of small capacity tanks (sized to handle as little as a few tons at a time), to undergo fermentation. The results have been spectacular.