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WINEMAKING a maximum of 5 tons per hour when sorting. It can run faster when not sorting and feeding white grapes to the press. The south area handles both red and white grapes, and it accommodates whole-clus- ter delivery to the presses. The north grape-receiving area and hopper can run at a maximum of 50 tons per hour and is only for red grapes, where the fruit is also destemmed and crushed by Puleo Vega crushers and destemmers. Hall also has an array of presses from Diemme and Puleo bladder presses. The must is then pumped into the winery via Carlsen Wauke- sha must and liquid pumps. Getting with the program According to winemaker Steve Leveque, Hall's wine program consists of two seg- ments: "The Core Four," which is sold through wholesale markets, and the Ar- tisan Series, which is direct to consumer and constitutes 40% of total wine sales. The winemaking methodologies are the same between the two retail programs, only the vineyard selections differ. "Napa is a great playground of terroirs. Quality starts in the vineyard, and there are great expressions of terroir in Napa Valley," Leveque said. Harvest crews are instructed to pick at night and in the early morning in order to bring in cool fruit. All reds are cold soaked and undergo native yeast fermen- tation and natural malolactic. Leveque suspects the natural ML comes from the winery environment, where the natural yeast most likely originates in the vine- yard. Hall Wines is gradually moving away from fining and filtration as well. Temperature control is crucial to Leveque's winemaking process involv- ing native fermentation and no filtration, which he described as "bookends that keep me honest. I take no shortcuts." Leveque also doesn't rack his reds. Rather, they age on light lees and undergo a monthly battonage, or lees stirring. Hall's oak program is all French, with barrels sourced from a variety of coopers including Taransaud, Tonnellerie Sylvain, Tonnellerie Boutes and François Frères. Barrels are stacked five high on steel racks from Western Square. As a steward of the land, Hall is moving away from sulfur use in the vineyard in favor of organic JMS Stylet- Oil. Though vineyard equipment runs on Biodiesel, its presence is kept to a minimum due to the potentially negative impact on delicate vineyard soils. All 450 acres of Hall's vineyard sites are 100% organic and sustainably farmed. Bottling up finances One component that wasn't built into Hall Wines' St. Helena facility was a bottling line. Though Reynolds said there might come a time when the cost of a permanent bottling line can be justified, "We determined that we did not have the bottling demand yet to support the capital investment to install a bottling line. The investment includes the actual bottling line (costing between $500,000 to $700,000), space in a building to put the bottling line at 3,000 square feet ($150 per square foot) and Keep your an on-staff bottling line mechanic who is an expert on all machines and works on them enough to make sure they run exceptionally well." Currently, Hall Wines contracts out its bottling to Napa-based Ryan McGee Bottling, generally at less than $3 per case. Push-up Bordeaux bottles in antique green and flint are sourced through Oakland-based California Glass. Bottles are sealed with corks from Scott Labora- tories, crowned with Amcor capsules and designated with labels from Napa-based Collotype Labels International. production rolling. Unmatched mobile bottling capabilities and services. High-speed equipment Screw-cap capabilities Every truck owner operated Pressure sensitive labels (707) 258 9388 1370 Trancas St. #121 Napa, CA 94558 mary@ryanmcgeebottling.com Wines & Vines AUGUsT 2011 43