A Cellar Tour of Rivendell

At Rivendell Winery, all our wines are crafted using grapes contract grown for us in some of the best vineyards in New York State. From the sandy soils of Long Island, the gravelly clay of the Hudson Valley, the various loam soils of the spectacular Finger Lakes Region, most of our grapes are dry-farmed and some are organically grown. Along with the variety and consistency of flavors we can achieve, our philosophy of utilizing grapes from many different regions in our blends also helps us minimize the agricultural risks often imposed by mother nature.

Working hand in hand with our contracted vineyardists, we monitor the grapes closely during the growing season to insure that they are carefully harvested at the peak of flavor and ripeness: never too early and never too late. Once the grapes are harvested and brought to the winery, they are gently pressed in our state of the art presses, then transferred to refrigerated stainless steel tanks for settling.

Once settled, the juice is pumped into an appropriate vessel, be it the racks of French and American oak barrels for the dry whites, stainless tanks for the fruity styles, or large, open top fermentors for the reds. We take great pride (and care) in the selection of wine yeasts which are added to each wine for the fermentation. This step is the first in a process of coaxing the best and most concentrated flavors out of the juice. Each wine is fermented separately, even if it will ultimately be blended, so that we can maximize the quality of each ingredient in the final blends.

Once the wines have finished fermentation, they are aged for additional time in oak, or blended by our wine maker to achieve the perfect balance and style for which our wines are known. Our fanatical attention to cleanliness and detail in the cellars, allows our wines to be bottled with a minimum of filtration which helps to retain the maximum of natural flavors and complexities and allows the wines to age gracefully and develop their flavors over many years.

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