Keever Vineyards Philosophy

— What Matters Most —

When we make wine at Keever Vineyards, we attempt to showcase the best flavors of each vineyard block and blend them into a seamless, elegant representation of that year. The journey from berry to wine begins in the vineyard.

Picking by taste, not numbers: Our Winemaker, Celia Welch, determines when the grapes will be harvested based on flavor development, not laboratory numbers. Celia walks each of our vineyard blocks, examining the fruit and tasting the berries. When she feels they have reached their peak of flavor, then, and only then, do we pick.

The gentlest processing in the business: We understand the importance of handling the fruit gently at every stage. We built our winery around a gravity flow receiving system which allows us to move our fruit from the vine into the fermentation tank with kid-glove treatment. Our fruit moves along vibrating sorting tables where we inspect every cluster and make sure that only the perfect berries are used to create our wines. Anything less than a perfectly round, perfectly ripe grape is removed. This entails endless hours of tedious work, but we know you can taste our attention to detail in the wines we produce.

Creative approaches to fermentation: Each vineyard block, and hence each fermentation tank, offers unique nuances and receives individual attention. Every day of fermentation, evaluates each fermenting tank, carefully gauges the progress of the juice or wine, and gives us specific instructions so that we may realize the best flavors and aromas from the fermenting must.

A deliberate selection of French oak: Once primary fermentation has completed in tank, the young wine transfers into French oak barrels where it will age for 18 to 26 months, depending on the blend. Each tank becomes a collection of barrels, a wine lot. Celia has spent decades working with French coopers to develop the exactly right combination of forests and toast levels which will integrate perfectly with the wines we produce. Each individual barrel expresses its own personality, and collectively they add depth and complexity to our wines.

The magic is in the blend: Each lot of wine ages separately for about the first ten months. Then we begin blending trials, evaluating each lot for texture, aroma, color, and flavor. Through multiple rounds of potential blends we look at the contribution from each lot, each barrel. Back and forth, we evaluate each offering for its aromas, texture, flavor and finish. Our winemaking team and the family work together to ensure that we create the best wine possible in each vintage.

From vine to bottle to you: After blending has been completed, bottling remains the final step in wine production. We bottle onsite, taking pride in the fact that the entire journey from vineyard to crush to ageing to blending to bottling takes place on our Yountville estate. Once in the bottle, our stewardship has finished. Now we pass the baton to you, and we hope that you will find the perfect day, the perfect meal, the perfect celebration with which to enjoy the delicious results of our efforts.

Wine is more than our business. We live every day among the vines and barrels, guarding them with care and love. Our stewardship of our land and our wines, our dedication to this craft and our family, result in wines that perfectly express both the seasons past and the dreams to come.