September 2025 was our first season with the automated hydraulic basket press.
The Press
The basket press works slowly and gently. The juice that flows first, before any real pressure is applied, is the finest the fruit will give. What comes after is measured — gradual pressure, fraction by fraction, until the basket has given everything it has.
The result is juice of real precision. But what struck us as much as the juice was what remained.
The Cake
After pressing, what is left in the basket is the cake — the skins, seeds, and pulp that held the juice until that moment. Nutrient-rich, still moist, still carrying the character of the fruit.
Ours goes back to the earth.
The cake from this press returns to the vineyard as compost — working back into the same soil the vines drew from. What the vine gave, the earth receives back. What the earth receives enriches what the vine will give next season. For us, it is one of the most direct relationships we can have with this land.
The Barrel Door
The circular barrel door was the last piece before the tasting room opened. Cut through the wall into the production facility, it frames a direct view of the press — the same press the fruit came through, the same one whose cake went back to the earth.
The door is circular — the same form as the logo, which shows the estate as seen from the tasting room terrace: the manor, the silo, the vineyard rows. The logo is the view out. The barrel door is the view in — into the cellar where what those vineyards produce becomes wine. That is why these harvest notes belong here alongside it. What the press handled in the cellar is now visible to every guest who visits.