The Vineyard's Story Uncorked
April 6, 2025
What Makes Wine Unforgettable?
At Small Vines, we make every decision with one goal in mind: quality over quantity. Our team cultivates just 3,630 vines per acre, and each vine yields only 0.75 to 1.5 pounds of fruit, about one-fifth of California’s average. We don’t do this by chance; we do it by design.
Drawing inspiration from Burgundy’s famed 1-meter vine spacing, we tailored the concept to suit Sonoma’s conditions. We refined the spacing to 4 feet by 1 meter, encouraging a taller canopy that naturally shades the fruit during heat spikes. This approach preserves acidity and promotes balance. The result? Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays with remarkable depth, precision, and a profound sense of place.
Our journey began in 1995 with a clear vision: to craft wines that honor both patience and provenance. By tightening vine spacing, we push roots deeper and allow vines to experience gentle stress. This produces lower yields but delivers intensely flavored, character-rich fruit. While many California vineyards harvest 5–7 pounds per vine, we choose to harvest less because fewer grapes create more complex wines.
We’ve already seen exciting results from our high-density plantings. Fruit quality continues to rise, and we expect this to translate into wines with even greater structure and complexity. Based on what we’ve learned from similar vineyards, we anticipate a number of key benefits:
- Naturally concentrated wine
- Better natural shading for the canopy, fruit, and vineyard floor
- Balanced crop load across the vineyard
- Stronger lignification of canes, clusters, and berry stems
- Smaller berries and more compact clusters
We call this intentional viticulture. It’s sustainable, hand-tended, and intensely focused. Our team makes every choice, from canopy management to harvest timing, to capture the vineyard’s unique identity in each bottle. This hands-on approach helps us handle climate stressors like sunburn and vine fatigue, and it allows us to dry farm our vineyards with confidence.
Collectors, this is your wine. Our next small-lot release, featuring micro-block gems from TBH Vineyard, arrives this fall. Each bottle tells a story of place, precision, and passion. Join our mailing list for early access before these limited releases are gone.
At Small Vines, less isn’t just more. It’s everything.
May 6, 2025
The Delicate Art of Pinot Noir Winemaking in Sonoma County
Today I dove deeper into Pinot Noir, and more specifically, why its delicate nature challenges winemakers just as much as it rewards them. In regions like Sonoma County, California, where cool coastal influences and diverse soils shape every vine, producers like Small Vines meet this challenge with precision, intention, and care.
At Small Vines, the team hand-harvests every cluster of Pinot Noir. The grape’s thin skins make it especially fragile, so timing is everything. Pick too early, and the result is overly acidic, lightweight wine. Pick too late, and you risk losing freshness and balance. That’s why Small Vines carefully monitors canopy development and ripening across its densely planted vines, each one producing small, concentrated yields that lead to balanced, expressive wines.
One technique that really stood out is whole bunch fermentation. Small Vines uses this method selectively, depending on the vineyard site, clone, and vintage. By fermenting with intact clusters, the winemaking team builds more structure, spice, and aromatic depth into the wine. The stems contribute earthy, herbal notes and firmer tannins, adding definition to Pinot Noir’s elegant frame. Some berries even undergo carbonic maceration inside the cluster, which lifts the aromatics with fresh red fruit notes like cherry and strawberry. But this only works when the stems are fully lignified, a condition Sonoma’s balanced climate can often achieve in the right years.
Throughout fermentation, the team manages the cap with manual punch-downs to gently extract flavor and avoid harsh tannins. Afterward, they press the wine off the skins and move it to neutral barrels, where it gains texture and spice without overwhelming the purity of fruit.
Pinot Noir demands both discipline and intuition. It’s no wonder winemakers call it the “heartbreak grape.” But when grown and handled with care, it produces something extraordinary wines that are nuanced, expressive, and deeply rewarding.
June 4, 2025
Burgundy Is a Place, Not a Style
If you’ve ever searched for a “Burgundian-style Pinot Noir” or a “Burgundian-style Chardonnay from Sonoma”, you’re not alone. We hear this request all the time. But what does “Burgundian-style” really mean?
Here’s the truth, Burgundy is not a style of wine. It’s a place, a legendary winegrowing region in eastern France, just south of Dijon and north of Lyon. It’s home to some of the world’s most celebrated expressions of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Burgundy is known for its cool-climate vineyards, limestone-rich soils, and centuries-old traditions that focus on terroir-driven winemaking. Rather than relying on bold winemaking techniques, Burgundy wines are celebrated for their restraint, elegance, and ability to express the land they come from.
Burgundy Subregions:
- Chablis – Famous for mineral-driven Chardonnay with high acidity and flinty character
- Côte de Nuits – Produces some of the world’s finest Pinot Noir, including Grand Crus like Vosne-Romanée and Gevrey-Chambertin
- Côte de Beaune – Known for Chardonnay from villages like Meursault, Puligny-Montrachet, and Corton-Charlemagne
- Côte Chalonnaise – Offers excellent value Chardonnay and Pinot Noir with vibrant freshness
- Mâconnais – A warmer area producing fruit-forward Chardonnay, including Pouilly-Fuissé
So, what does “Burgundian Style” really mean? In reality, there is no single “Burgundian style” of wine. Wines from Burgundy vary dramatically, from lean, mineral Chablis to richly textured Meursault; from ethereal Pinot Noirs in Chambolle-Musigny to structured, earthy reds from Nuits-Saint-Georges. When someone asks for a Burgundian-style wine, they’re usually looking for:
- Elegant, cool-climate Pinot Noir with red fruit, earth, and balanced acidity
- Chardonnay with minerality, finesse, and subtle oak
- Wines made with minimal intervention, allowing the vineyard to shine
- A focus on terroir, not just winemaking technique.
At Small Vines, we farm our high-density Pinot Noir and Chardonnay vineyards in the coolest parts of Sonoma County with the same philosophy found in Burgundy: small yields, organic farming, and wines that perfectly express their terroir.
July 8, 2025
Natural Wine vs Low Intervention Wine. What’s the Difference?
About five years ago, natural wine was the darling of the wine world. Bottles with cloudy juice, quirky labels, and a whole lot of funk were everywhere from your neighborhood wine bar to the shelves of trendy bottle shops. But as with many movements, the hype around natural wine has evolved. These days, you’re more likely to hear the term low intervention thrown around instead. So, what happened? Has natural wine fallen out of favor? And what exactly is the difference between natural and low intervention wine?
At its core, natural wine is about purity. The idea is simple: nothing artificial added in the vineyard or during the winemaking process. No pesticides or herbicides, no lab-cultured yeasts, no fining or filtering, and minimal, if any, sulfur. The goal? Let the grapes and nature do the talking. But here’s the catch there’s no legal definition of natural wine. As wine writer Alice Day noted in 2022:
“As with any natural product, the term natural wine simply indicates that nothing artificial has been added to the grape growing or winemaking processes. Natural winemaking aims to express the essence of wine without interference, and it’s up for interpretation.”
This is where low intervention wine enters the picture. The ethos is similar, let the grapes and terroir speak, but with a bit more flexibility. As Jacob Davis explained earlier this year:
“At the heart of low-intervention winemaking lies a philosophy that emphasizes the natural expression of the grape. Vintners in this realm strive to minimize the use of additives, opting instead for a more hands-off approach that allows the terroir, the complex interplay of soil, climate, and microbiology, to shine through.”
The key difference? Low intervention winemakers might allow for minimal sulfur use or light filtration. They still value purity and transparency, but they’re not opposed to making small adjustments when necessary to protect the wine’s integrity and stability.
Think of it this way: if natural wine is an unedited documentary, low intervention wine is a thoughtfully cut indie film still authentic, just with a touch more polish. The move from “natural” to “low intervention” reflects a broader evolution in how we think about wine. Consumers have become more informed. They want wines that are honest and environmentally responsible, but also clean, consistent, and delicious. Low intervention offers a middle ground. It respects the same principles as natural winemaking but with a more pragmatic lens. It’s not about being dogmatic; it’s about balance.
The real question isn’t natural vs. low intervention. It’s what do you enjoy drinking? If you love bold, unfiltered wines with a bit of funk and surprise, you may be a natural wine fan. If you appreciate clean flavors, expressive terroir, and a bit more control in the process, low intervention wines might be your match.
In the end, both styles are part of the same movement: a return to thoughtful, honest winemaking that prioritizes the land, the grape, and the people behind the bottle. Whichever you choose, pour a glass, taste slowly, and appreciate the story in every sip.
