Tricycle

Vineyards — As we've mentioned, we are producers of small batch wines. Working in small batches is a real advantage (try cooking a good meal for 3 people, then try it for 300). The disadvantage of being small is that you often don't have the resources to own your own vineyards, which is critical for quality control.

The uniqueness of our partnership is that we can both do small-batch production AND have control. Because of the Molnars' history in the wine business, we own vineyards and therefore control our destiny and quality.

Our seaside vineyard, which we have farmed for the past 33 years, is Poseidon's Vineyard in Carneros, Napa. Within the 86-acre vineyard lies Primo's Hill a seven-acre block. Our hillside property at 2,640 feet of elevation is Obsidian Ridge Vineyard, which we have farmed for the past 8 years.

Our wines are single-vineyard, or estate-grown, wines, which mean they come from only one vineyard. Why do people get so excited about estate-grown wine? Primarily because the winery has full control over its source of fruit: when and how much to prune, irrigate, and harvest. Because prime vineyard land is pretty expensive, many small producers don't have the resources to control their fruit, and therefore find it a challenge to attain quality and consistency in the vineyard that is required to make great wine year after year.

You can't make good wines from poor quality grapes, which is why you read a lot about “winegrowing”. Good wine starts in the vineyard, and it starts with control. Good winemaking is essentially the process of taking a good grape and not letting a winemaker screw it all up (please don't tell Michael that).