You have to have great grapes to make great wine. That is our winemaking philosophy which began with the 1994 vintage when Les created his first “real” wines from Staglin and Inkgrade Vineyards both in the Napa Valley. Our first proprietary blend of Cuvee Lola was made in 1994 as well. Cuvee Lola was one lonely barrel that Les felt was just amazing wine, and he couldn’t figure out what to do with it. He tried blending it into the other wines, but it got lost. Then he tried blending other wines into it, but they disguised the qualities he felt were so wonderful and unique about it. Finally, he decided to bottle it just the way it was and name it after his and Lisa’s new baby girl, Lola.

This is how our philosophy, if you can call it that, of making small batches of handcrafted wines came to be. The vineyards really told Les how the wine should be made, and he has continued to follow that instinct – let the vineyard express its unique personality as a stand alone wine but make fun, inspired blends when that is what the wine wants.

This method of making wine flows directly from the lessons he learned from his early mentor, Ed Oliveira, after whom we named our Alder Springs Syrah. Les has been aided along the way by too many winemakers and vineyard managers to begin to mention them all, but Ed is special. Ed was the Arcata High School principal, and with three Behrens children drifting through those halls at one point or another, Les knew Ed fairly well. It also just so happened that Ed owned a bonded winery down the road from Les and Lisa’s house. As Les’ interest in wine grew, information and assistance from Ed flowed freely. Ed was a scientist by training and had a beautiful state-of-the-art lab in his winery. However, the most important lesson he taught Les was to trust his palate; labs can be helpful, but they will not teach anyone how to make great wine. He also stressed the importance of the winemaker actually making the wine and being hands on at every step.

The major factor that we believe leads to wine quality is the vineyard sources. Lisa Drinkward is our Vineyard Manager. She is in and out of the vineyards from pruning until harvest, and with vineyards from Carneros to Mendocino, that is no small feat. We work with wonderful vineyard owners who really know their properties and are willing to discuss everything from crop loads to irrigation. Lisa’s primary goal is to coax physiological ripeness, balance and intense flavor out of the grapes just in time for harvest, and the diversity of the vineyards, including climate, soils and clones, allows each wine to emit a sense of place and personality.

Beyond this, a myriad of decisions were made, such as basket versus bladder press, punch-down versus pump-over, filtering or not filtering, French or American oak barrels and so on. All of these play a role in the end product, and our philosophy always leads us to make the decision that will result in the best possible wine. That is what we believe.

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