TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT WINEMAKING
April 2018 WINES&VINES 31
But that proved somewhat fortunate, Dun-
can said, because it gave the family time to gain
perspective on what they really wanted to do
in Alexander Valley. That vision evolved from a
complete remodel to building a new winery.
In 2011, the Sausal Vineyards & Winery
property came on the market, and Duncan said
he put in what he considered a fair-market-
value offer for the winery and vineyards. About
six months later, he called the broker to check
on the property and learned the owners were
about to accept another offer.
Duncan promised to have a new offer in by
the end of the day and raised his price to about
$100,000 per acre for the property. Today he's
relieved he was willing to pay more for the
ranch. "For the amount of money that we would
have missed this opportunity by, it was irrele-
vant," he said. "The market was changing."
With the property to build a winery from
the ground up, Duncan said he knew he
wanted it to be a sustainable project. Dun-
can, like the rest of his siblings, grew up in
Colorado. He said he spent every summer
when he was in high school working on a
ranch and that instilled in him a love and
respect for the environment.
When he was working on the rebuild of
the Oakville winery, he also was inspired by
Ken Grossman, the owner and founder of All of the fermentation tanks are equipped with individual pumpover pumps.
DAMION
HAMILTON
