Gentle Handling
In every bottle of La Crema there's an elegance that comes from the careful attention paid by Head Winemaker Craig McAllister and his team, from the first bud break all the way through bottling. We believe gentle handling is key to preserving the beautiful complexity of the grapes, so we’re meticulous in our approach.
Harvesting with Care
We prefer to pick grapes in the coolest hours of the day (or night), and handle them tenderly to ensure the clusters arrive at the winery in prime condition.
When is a grape ready to harvest? Some statistics (like Brix, a measure of the sugar content of the grape) can help a winemaker “call the pick,” but nothing compares to actually tasting the grapes. Throughout the season, Craig and his team are in the vineyards daily, looking for complex flavors in the grapes, and also tasting the seeds, which change from green to brown as they ripen, and develop a biscuity flavor.
Chardonnay Winemaking
From Grape to Juice
When Chardonnay arrives at the winery, the grapes move via conveyor belt to the press. To best capture the fresh fruit character, we gently compress whole clusters, which minimizes any bitter compounds from the skins, seeds or stems.
Malolactic Fermentation
Our Chardonnay goes through 100% malolactic fermentation. This process converts the tart malic acids in the juice to mellow, lactic acids. Lactic acid is fuller and lusher, and leads to a beautiful round finish to our wines.
From Juice to Wine
We ferment our Chardonnay in oak, and stir the lees (yeast deposits) by hand twice a month to create a rich texture on the palate.
Pinot Noir Winemaking
From Grape to Juice
Pinot Noir grapes are hand-sorted at the winery. Any clusters with green or overripe grapes are removed, along with any stems, leaves, or other “MOG” (material other than grapes). Clusters move by conveyor belt to a destemmer, which separates grapes from the stems.
After the wine has completed cold soak and fermentation, the free run wine is drained from the tank using gravity. The remaining wine is gently extracted using a basket press leaving behind the pomace consisting of just the skins and seeds.
At the La Crema winery, fermentation then takes place small, open-top fermenters, with the floating cap of skins and seeds punched down into the juice three times each day to extract tannins and color.
From Juice to Wine
After destemming, Pinot Noir is given a “cold soak,” resting in chilled tanks for three to five days. As the grape juice, which is clear, steeps in the deep purple grape skins, it takes on gorgeous luminous color. Cold soaking also captures layers of complex aromatics.
Pinot Gris Winemaking
From Grape to Juice
Our Pinot Gris is grown in Monterey, one of the longest, coolest growing areas in California. That means grapes develop juicy, complex flavors and minerality.
Pinot Gris juice is transformed to wine very, very slowly. Unlike Pinot Noir, which ferments in a matter of days, Pinot Gris takes nearly a month to complete fermentation. This means all the lovely floral and fresh fruit notes are preserved.
From Juice to Wine
At the winery, we gently press the grapes without de-stemming. The wine is then fermented in 100% stainless steel to capture all the bright fruit flavors.
Our Barrels
La Crema's Barrels
Barrels have a big influence on a wine’s flavor, aroma and mouthfeel. We use primarily French oak for our Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Our winery has a partnership with stave mill in France, allowing us great control over quality.
French white oak (Quercus robur) has long been the choice for the most elegant wines in the world. This oak has a tight grain and offers subtle hints of spice, vanilla, toast, honey and butter. American oak (Quecus alba) can also be used for barrels. It imparts more intense flavors of coconut and sweet vanilla.
The interior of barrels are burned in a controlled manner in order to offer a wider range of oaky characteristics. Think of toast level as a spectrum, from very light (and therefore very subtle) through medium all the way to high char. Each toasting style contributes different flavors and aromas to the finished wine.
What does Oak do?
Aging in oak lends pleasing characteristics to wine, such as flavors and aromas of baking spice (such as cinnamon, clove and nutmeg) and the sweet, heady notes of vanilla bean. Oak also imparts of bit of tannin, and provides a richer mouthfeel.