Spring is an exciting season for wine lovers both inside and outside of the winery. This time of year, the signs of a new growing season begin to appear in the vineyard. Within the cellar, there are equally exciting moments: finalizing blends of beloved favorites and preparing to bottle in the coming months.
Peek into the winery from Winemaker Nick Bernstein’s perspective for an exciting look into team traditions, winery happenings, and what they’re excited to enjoy this season.
“Our biggest task this time of year is perfecting the blends for the 2024 reds, which primarily bottle in May and June,” says Nick. “Leading up to this, we taste potential barrel combinations for each blend, from D2 to Chaleur Estate. This is the moment when final decisions are made, reviewing the best combinations from past blending trials, and selecting the one that has all the qualities we are looking for.”
One of the most important tasks of the year, the team crafts the classic blends that you can expect each year, as well as one-of-a-kind blends for newer projects like our Reserve Red Blend and the location-exclusive wines, which will be unique each vintage.
Each year, our winemaking team travels to visit Red Willow Vineyard to help prune one of DeLille’s vineyard blocks. It serves as a way for our team to stay connected to the vineyard and to some of our closest, most important partners who watch over the vines and their fruit all season long. The team also opens up a few of the library wines from Red Willow to see how they’re holding up. This year, they tasted a few vintages of Red Willow Malbec, and we’re thrilled with how the wines are tasting.
“This is a special tradition that we’ve had for quite a few years now. It’s a wonderful reminder of all the different people and places that go into making DeLille wines what they are,” says Nick. “Right now, it is too early to say what the growing season will bring but the Sauer family, the owners and stewards of Red Willow, are excited for what is to come!”
Each vintage, our team bottles a select number of cases with alternate cork variations. For example, the team plans experiments with samples from different vendors or different cork lengths. These bottles are held in the winery, and in the Spring, the winemaking team evaluates the lineup through both blind sensory analysis and chemistry testing.
“Every part of the winemaking process contributes to creating a wine that will age gracefully, from grape to glass to cork. We run these trials annually to confirm that we are using the highest-quality materials. It reinforces confidence in our aging recommendations, and occasionally, we might find a small change that can have a positive impact.” – Nick Bernstein
Cellar Leads Kaitlyn, Sigrid and Lindsay getting ready to prune at Red Willow Vineyard.
Winemaker Nick Bernstein creating precise blends to explore from the 2024 vintage.
Cellar Lead Lindsay racking Chaleur Blanc in preparation for bottling in April.
The DeLille and Red Willow teams working together to prune a vineyard block.
Assistant Winemaker Mari and Enologist Page tasting a barrel of Chaleur Blanc before it’s pumped into a tank for bottling.
Winemaker Nick Bernstein tasting one potential blends for a 2024 red.
