Winemaking: Elegant and Age-Worthy

“I love making wine. I love the art of it, the science of it and most of all the tradition of it. I continue to be fascinated by wine’s capacity for reflecting the subtlest of influences from the vineyard environment to the winemaker’s touch. And my goal is always to produce a wine that is true to the varietal and growing site” -- Jeff Gaffner

Saxon Brown Wines are made with great reverence for tradition. Our grapes are nurtured in the vineyard throughout the year. We harvest based upon touch, smell, taste and look, not lab reports. We emphasize gentle handling, slow fermentations and (except in the case of our Semillon) lengthy aging to promote wines of elegance and longevity.

Timing of our wine releases is often out of sync with other wineries and signals a strict adherence to stylistic ideals.

Our Pinot Noir and Syrah, for example, debut a full year later than most others of the same vintage. They are made to be very elegant and that takes time, both during the winemaking process and in the barrel and bottle. Small lots are barrel fermented, racked out of barrels for blending, returned to barrel for sixteen months and then bottle aged for an additional twelve months. We wait until we get the integrated, seductive flavors and textures we're looking for before releasing the wines

When it comes to Zinfandel, our passions run deep. Our first wine was an “old vine” Zinfandel from our family’s century old Casa Santinamaria Vineyard. The vineyard, located in Sonoma, is one of the few remaining “field blended ” vineyards in California, and we are one of only a handful of wineries keeping the tradition of “field blending” alive. While the release date for our Zinfandel is the closest to normal of the three varietals we make, the style is different from most. We prefer an elegant style across the board, but a lot of people think Zinfandel doesn’t lend itself to elegance. We’ve found that our old vine grapes, which are small and highly concentrated, develop beautifully and elegantly when aged in a mix of tight grained French barrels for up to twenty-two months.

In a real departure from the norm, the Saxon Brown Semillon is released much earlier and without the oak aging this varietal typically receives . The reason dates back to the late 1800’s when the vineyard that produced this wine was planted. The old Italian growers planted field blends of Semillon and Muscadelle de Bordelaise, recognizing their complementary nature. We decided to retain both the figgy richness of the Semillon and the bright, fruitiness of the Muscadelle, which usually gets lost during barrel aging. Instead our Semillon is cold tank fermented, rested briefly on yeast and then bottled for release within eight months of harvest. We’ve always wanted to make a Semillon like this; young, lively, full of fruit and perfectly refreshing for summer seafood and entertaining. It’s a truly different style for Semillon .

Our Dry Rosé's distinction is not so much owing to timing as it is to approach. Unlike most dry Rosé, ours is not the by-product of another wine. Our Syrah grapes are grown specifically for this dry Rosé wine.  Further, we press only the first 3/4 of the juice from harvest in order to maximize fruit flavors and minimize the astringent influence of the stems and seeds. This is a significant sacrifice for a winery of our size, but one that is necessary to produce our style and quality of dry Rosé