PHILOSOPHY
It’s a growing trend: natural winemaking with minimal intervention. Fred Peterson was an early pioneer of this movement. A quiet leader, Fred wasn’t interested in chasing trends, but in doing the right thing.
When Fred started Peterson Winery in 1987, his philosophy was to produce wines that allowed the essence of the vineyard, grapes and vintage to shine through. This philosophy has remained a constant at Peterson Winery.
Each vintage, the wines produced reflect the true character of the grape and the terroir. (Terroir is how a location’s soil-types, the growing season’s weather conditions, and terrain affect the taste of wine.) That meant the same wine from different vintages would have distinct differences that reflect what Mother Nature created each year.
Zero Manipulation
From the beginning, Fred called his approach to winemaking Zero Manipulation.
“Zero Manipulation means using the gentlest winemaking techniques possible to maximize flavors, aromatics and the original essence of the wine,” Fred explains. “The less you do in the course of a wine’s tenure in the cellar, the more of that essence you’ll have to bottle. Every time you do something to a wine, you take out a little of what you started with.”
Jamie Peterson, the winemaker and Fred’s son, continues this low intervention approach with his own winemaking style. Working as a winegrowing team, Fred and Jamie assess the grapes from each vineyard and vintage as the season progresses, evaluating how the weather, soil and site are interacting for the particular vintage.
“We believe the winemaking process begins while the grapes are still on the vines,” explains Jamie. “Zero Manipulation is a discipline we follow to capture the character and balance of inherent in the grapes. Low intervention means using the most gentle, traditional winemaking practices possible to maximize the flavors, aromatics and texture of the wines.”
Fred and Jamie celebrate vintage differences and don’t tweak or homogenize the wine to obtain consistency of flavors, a common practice in mass-market wines. If you look a little deeper, you’ll see the heart and soul that goes into every bottle, for at Peterson, it’s all about the wines.