Winemaking

The Pinot noirs and Chardonnays from Jim Ball Vineyards stand apart from many others, even so-called cult wines, for a number of reasons.

Our process begins early in the Spring with careful hand pruning. Throughout the Spring and Summer attention is paid each grape vine to coax out the best possible fruit that the vine can offer up. At harvest, grapes are picked in the vineyards by hand at night or in the early morning so that fruit arrives at the winery cool and in pristine condition. The fruit is again inspected when it arrives at the winery. The berries are hand sorted and then processed into small lots.

When primary fermentation is nearly complete, the wines begin malolactic fermentation. The wines are transferred into small French oak barrels for continued aging for up to 20 months. This commitment to the smallest details continues today in the winery, where the idea, and the ideal, of the word "handcrafted" is translated to our hands-on approach to fermentation, punch-downs and racking.

We keep production small, so that we can maintain that intimate connection with the wines. We are physically in the vineyards any time we need to be, which has a significant impact on viticultural and picking decisions, and ultimately, on quality.

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Winemaking
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