OUR WINES
Churchill Cellars specializes in the production of premium Pinot Noir from grapes grown on estate vineyards of less than 2 acres in size. We believe that small, precision farmed vineyards in the coolest regions of the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast appellations produce the regions most exceptional Pinot Noirs
WINEMAKER – ANTHONY AUSTIN
Anthony grew up in Sonoma County and received his Enology degree from the University of California at Davis. After graduation, he honed his winemaking skills under the tutelage of the world-renowned winemaker, Andre Tchelistcheff, considered the father of American Pinot Noir.
Anthony moved to the Central Coast region of California and became the founding winemaker at Firestone Vineyards before starting his own winery, Austin Cellars. His Central Coast wines are highly acclaimed. His wines won numerous Double Gold Medals and Best of Class awards in world-wide competitions.
In 2001 Anthony sold his winery and returned home to Sonoma County to make wines for a group of small premium grape growers, like Churchill Cellars.
The philosophy of Anthony Austin is to create hand made, food friendly and elegant wines of great purity using minimal cellar manipulation, unhurried fermentation and the finest French Oak barrels.
WINEMAKING PROCESS
We pick our grapes at 23 to 25 Brix when the flavors are full in the early morning hours to ensure the grapes don't start fermentation before they arrive at the winery.
Once they arrive the grapes are de-stemmed and placed in containers for a prolonged nine to ten day cold soak. The cold soak extracts the broad spectrum of flavor components and creates the smooth, elegant characteristics of a great Pinot Noir. During the soaking process, the fruit is punched down two times per day. This gentle manipulation of the cap assures balanced extraction without creating rough tannins.
Before pressing, the fruit is inoculated with Assmanhausen yeast, which finishes the fermentation with a focus on fruit expression.
The grapes are then pressed and placed in French oak barrels where it ages for 18 months. We prefer to use new French barrels which do not impart flavors into the wine enabling the full expression of the fruit to come through.
Our wines are not filtered, unless we feel filtering will add to the elegance and suppleness to the wine. After bottling, we wait 6 months to release the wines, so they are ready to enjoy.
We hope you will try our wines and love them as much as we love growing the fruit and producing them for you.