A moment in time we can all share
Our family winery has been making huge strides these past 10 years in our vineyards, winemaking and bottling.
As referenced here, starting in 2008, we took on improving every step of our winemaking process. Now in October of 2018, we are excited to pass along some very exciting updates.
Matthews has always worked with exceptional vineyards. Starting in 2008, our winemaking team (alongside winemaker Aryn Morell) began working only with vineyards who were 100% sustainably farmed. We are excited to announce that Matthews is now crafting wines from vineyards that are farmed using only organic practices and methods.
The vineyard health is as high as we have ever seen, and the grapes being harvested show every indication of happy and healthy vines.
In addition to working with fully sustainable vineyards, all of our vineyards are also 100% hand-harvested. No machine harvesting is used in any of our Matthews wines.
Many times, we pick through a vineyard two or three times to select different sides of a row in order to ensure the grapes meet a certain criteria.
Every harvest starts early in the morning, at first light, to ensure the grapes are picked at a cool temperature that can be retained until they reach the winery.
After every vineyard has been fully harvested, each lot is expedited to the winery, where they are immediately inspected by our winemaker, Aryn (as seen above).*
Our step-by-step process ensures that mulitple members on our team are able to visually check and taste each vineyard lot before any of the grapes make it into the fermentation tanks.
The next quality check is on the hand-sorting table.
Over the course of several hours, the winemaking team will remove any odd clusters or extraneous vineyard material while the grapes make their way down a vibrating table. Only the highest quality clusters will make their way to our de-stemmer.
Next, the individual clusters are de-stemmed and sorted by berry size. This is done on a state-of-the-art Pellenc sorting machine, which can be fully customized to sort by individual berry size.
This is a vital last step for our team to visually inspect each lot for quality. Once the fruit is fully sorted and every cluster is de-stemmed, we are left with clean berries to begin fermenting into wine.
To ensure we retain as much individual personality, each vineyard lot is sorted and fermented separately.
After processing each vineyard lot and de-stemming each cluster, the grapes are placed into either a concrete or stainless steel tank for fermentation.
Our red wines are primarily fermented in concrete, which has shown to elongate fermentation times. Previously this was around 14-15 days in stainless steel, but now between 20-24 days in concrete (this timing can fluctuate per vineyard).
Concrete tanks also allow us to ferment at a slightly lower temperature, thereby crafting a more elegant and integrated wine from the very first few days of a vintage.
Note: there are some exceptions in which red varietals will be fermented in stainless steel, such as if a lot would benefit from slightly higher fermentation temperatures and a quicker timeline.
Our flagship Sauvignon Blanc is fermentted in stainless steel (see above), while our Reserve Sauvignon Blanc is fermented in concrete.
After fermentation is complete, the “free run” red wine is moved to barrel immediately, to begin it’s 14–18 month aging process.
The “free run ” is the wine that flows out of the tank after fermentation without any pressing or heavy machined extraction, such as using a grape press. The “free run” juice is considered the most elegant, and is used in our Claret, Cuvée, and Reserve wines.
The remaining berries are then removed from the tanks and pressed to expel any extra wine. While this pressed wine comes from many of our top vineyard sites, it shows a more youthful flavor and is ideal for our new Blackboard label.
Each vineyard lot of wine is then individually checked and tasted between 50–60 times before being graded and sorted for blending. (yep, 50–60 times.)
Our French oak barrels come from many of the most reputable and highest sought after cooperages in the world. We have selected these cooperages for their attention to detail in crafting their oak barrels, their farming practices, and their heritage of working with many of the most prestigious wineries across the globe.
Once each vineyard lot and barrel is graded for flavor, intensity, structure, depth, verve and overall presence, the Matthews wines are crafted from a blend of barrels within their specific classification.
Each wine is then moved back into barrel to integrate together for several remaining months, and then finally to a large concrete or stainless tank before being bottled.
Deciding to finally bottle a wine is a very special thing. Even more, deciding what type of enclosure to seal the wine inside the bottle is also important. We bottle and enclose our wines with a selection of premier cork composite enclosures.
Cork technology has improved more in the past 20 years than in the past 2000 years. We are excited about using several types of new closures that ensure 99.999% of all of our wines will be TCA free. (i.e., you won’t get a corked bottle).
In our experience with these new types of corks, we have found the resulting wine tastes and smells nearly identical to how it did while in barrel. This means that all of our joyous hard work to craft a wine that we love will taste nearly identical to you, no matter where you are enjoying it. This, above all else, is what winemaking is all about:
To capture a moment in time we can all collectively share.
After bottling, each one of our wines are stored at 55 degrees until they are available for purchasing at our tasting room + farm, in our online store, or at your favorite restaurant or wine shop.
Thanks for reading! We want to get the word out about all these winemaking updates. As a way of spreading the love, we are offering a complimentary wine tasting to anyone who shares this article in any of their social networks (Facebook, Twitter, etc). Email hello@matthewswinery.com to line up a tasting. We’ll be using the honor system. We love crafting each one of our wines, and while many of them are extremely limited, we want to share them with our most passionate fans. Of course, you must be 21 years old.
All tastings will be held at our tasting room in Woodinville: 16116 140th Pl NE, Woodinville, WA 98072.
Also, follow along with our harvest and updates! We have Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and keep them regularly updated with a window into everything that’s happening around the winery.
For more detailed information on any of the specific wines, email us at hello@matthewswinery.com or visit www.matthewswinery.com.
Thanks!
*Note: though a limited amount of wine production still is done in the Woodinville location as it has been for almost 20 years, most of the grapes are now delivered to a production facility located closer to the vineyards for improved wine quality.
