You've probably heard the buzz about natural wine, but what does it really mean – and how does that delicious bottle of natural wine come to life?

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Let's dive into the fascinating world of natural winemaking and uncover the magic behind every sip.

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The Basics: Our Approach to Natural Wine

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At Peony Lane, we believe in minimal intervention for maximum expression of our high desert terroir. It's remarkable how little the natural winemaking process has changed over thousands of years. We're still using the same humble ingredients our ancestors did: grapes and time.

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The Natural Winemaking Process: 5 Key Steps

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Let's break down how we make our wines at Peony Lane:

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1. Terroir: The Foundation of Great Wine

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Terroir is a French word referring the the unique environment that each vineyard inhabits. From climate, to soil type to irrigation style, little things can make a bit difference. At Peony Lane, we're blessed with a cool, dry climate and have some of the highest elevation vineyards in North America. Typically, these growing characteristics lend themselves to fruit forward wines with vibrant acidity, but this is better experienced through a glass in hand, not words on a page.

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The most tangible benefits our climate offers are expressed by what is not in our wine. The hard winters of Colorado sufficiently fend off pests so that we never have had to even think about using pesticides and the dry summers inhibit the fungal infections that terrorize more humid environments.

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2. Harvest: Picking the Perfect Moment

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Harvest is often the most challenging time for us. Animals seem to think the grapes ripen just before we do and scaring off birds and raccoons while we wait until the perfect moment is more of an art than a science. This year, a bear was having its fill from nearby fruit farms and we honestly just had to hope that it never found our vineyard for a midnight snack.

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Harvest is done by hand, using nothing but shears and baskets. It's labor-intensive, but the difference it makes is monumental. After seeing the result of a mechanical harvest, a long time local grape grower once told me that he couldn't believe that people made wine out that. Our rigorous process ensures that only the best grapes make it into our wines

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3. Fermentation: Nature's Magic

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After harvest, we crush the grapes and let them ferment in "open-air" containers. We rely on wild yeasts living on the grape skins to start the fermentation process naturally. No added yeasts here - just pure, natural fermentation.

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4. Pressing: Moving from Grapes to Wine

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In another labor intensive process, we hand fill our barrel press and gradually press the grapes into each barrel. This insures that we never over-press to avoid getting excess tannins from the grape seeds into the barrels. Once this is complete, the time pressure is off. The wine is protected in the barrel and we can take a moment to enjoy this yearly dance.

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5. Aging and Bottling: Patience Pays Off

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While a wine is never truly "finished," the final step before bottling aging. We age our wines in neutral French oak barrels for at least a year, and, depending on the style we're aiming for may add additional oak. Since toxic additives have no place in Peony Lane wine, oak is our main tool in the wine room.

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To avoid chemicals, we also take advantage of our natural environment. Unlike many commercial winemakers, we are not adding chemicals to fine (clarify) our wine and do not use filters. We let gravity do that work for us as we're in no rush. Additionally, if a wine needs to be cold stabilized, we will leave it out in the winter cold to let the tartrate crystals form and sink to the bottom, racking the clean wine off afterwards.

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When it's time to bottle, we use natural cork, which allows a small amount of oxygen interaction over time, continuing to develop the wine's flavor, because we never consider a wine to be truly done and believe that the low time preference approach of aging provides a magically unique experience every time you pop a cork.

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Experience the Peony Lane Difference

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Winemaking is both an art and a science and natural winemaking leans much harder into the art side. At Peony Lane, we've learned to predict how each small decision will affect the final product, but each decision doesn't create a definitive outcome. Over time, we've developed the knowledge and intuition to create extraordinary pure Natural Wines.

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Ready to taste the difference? Join our wine club and become part of the Peony Lane family. Experience wines that truly reflect their origins, crafted with care and respect for nature.

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Cheers to pure, natural wine! 🍷✨

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