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TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT WINEMAKING July 2015 WINES&VINES 51 style wines, including Phelps Insignia, and Sinegal is also producing this type of wine. "I was always interested in the (Sinegal) property," Biagi said. "Vineyards along the western edge of the valley tend to produce intense wines." He worked collaboratively with David Sin- egal on the first vintage made at Hourglass, then crushed the first grapes onsite in 2014. "It was a great harvest," he told Wines & Vines. "We crushed 20% to 30% of the berries, but it was mostly whole grapes. We kept it warm, even hot at first, to make sure of complete extraction." The grapes were divided into 2-ton lots from specific blocks, so they could be harvested at optimum conditions. Biagi is a big believer in monitoring pheno- lics to help guide picking decisions and wine- making choices. His team collected grapes for ETS Laboratories to analyze, intensifying that program once harvest began. Biagi thinks that the ability to monitor phenolics during growing and winemaking has ushered in a new era of winemaking. "We can gather good information that allows us to optimize the process," he said. Assistant winemaker Ryan Knoth, who just joined the winery, formerly worked with Scott McLeod, a leader in using phenolic measure- ments in winemaking. The duo worked to- gether first at Francis Coppola's Rubicon/ David Sinegal