Zero Manipulation

No Soulless Wines

Making great wines is all about balance.

It starts in the vineyards, where we try to achieve a balance from bud break in the spring until the grapes are picked in the fall. The canopy, crop load, sun exposure, hang time, and hundreds of other details involved in managing a vineyard all must be considered to achieve the right balance.

Once the grapes are picked, it becomes the winemaker’s responsibility to continue the balancing act in the cellar. All the variables that Mother Nature gave us during the growing season need to be considered because they affect the grapes and the approach to winemaking for that vintage. If you keep a good handle on the growing conditions of the season, you have fewer preconceived notions of what the wine should taste like because you’ve already been dealing with all the realities of that vintage.

With the winemaking underway, now the balancing act involves questions like how much oak to achieve the proper intensity in the wine,what type of oak best enhances the flavors in this wine, how often should this wine be racked, or does this wine need blending?

At Peterson Winery we practice the philosophy of Zero Manipulation.

Our definition of Zero Manipulation is using the gentlest winemaking techniques possible to maximize flavors, aromatics and the original essence of the wine. “Every time you do something to a wine, you take out a little of what you started with,” says Fred Peterson. “The less you do in the course of a wine’s tenure in the cellar, the more of the grape’s and vineyard’s essence you’ll have to bottle.”