The bubble process: how we make each style of wine
ANCESTRAL METHODE:
An example of one of our Ancestral bubbles: Field Blend No. 1!
Direct-pressed juice is fermented in stainless steel with gentle stirring throughout the fermentation process. Then, when the sugars were low, we hoisted it up on a forklift and syphoned the wine into individual bottles, capped them, and let them finish fermenting in the bottle.
A by-product of alcoholic fermentation is a)booze, and b)carbon dioxide - so with nowhere to go, the C02 disolves into the wine = BUBBLES!
We riddle them to encourage the dead yeast cells (lees) down the neck of the bottle, then pop the top to expel the solids. We then top it off with wine (see above) and recap.
Pressed juice goes straight into neutral barrel or stainless tank for wild fermentation. When it hits about 2 brix, we bottle it by hand and let it finish fermenting in the bottle—pure gravity flow, no filtering. This method leaves more natural lees and a bit of cloudiness that clears over time. Some sediment might hang out, but that’s just part of the charm.
TRADITIONAL METHOD:
Our first fermentation is totally wild—no added yeast, nutrients, or enzymes—just feral juice doing its thing in tank or barrel. Once dry, we transfer the wine off-site for the second fermentation, where sugar and yeast are added just before bottling. No commercial yeast ever touches our facility. The wines aren't filtered, and after 4–6 months on lees, they’re hand-riddled, machine-disgorged, and finished brut nature—bone dry, no dosage.
Take our “Island Traditional” for example: the still wine was primarily fermented in 2023, letting the still, finished wine chill out in the barrel for a while before we did a secondary fermentation on the wine to deliver a toasty, richer style.