Vintage wine is made in wineries and vineyards across the world. Vintage wine starts as a grape growing on a vine. From there the characteristics of the individual vineyard like weather and soil impart themselves on the selected variety of grape. The vintage describes the year the grape was harvested, the grape that will eventually be turned into the vintage wine in your wine cellar. Wine cellars across the country are stocked with vintage wines that came from well known vineyards and wineries.
From the vineyard, the grapes go inside to the winery, where it is turned into the vintage wine that is poured out of a bottle from your wine cellar. The process of turning grapes into vintage wines is a pretty straightforward one. Wineries use yeast, clarifiers, and time. The master wine maker mixes different grape varieties from the vineyard to create his vintage wines. Different types of grapes are mixed together to form many of the vintage wines found in our wine cellars. The process of choosing which grapes and in which amounts they’ll be featured in your vintage wine is a very exact science that can take many years to master.
Often times wineries will specialize in certain grapes or in producing certain vintage wines that they may win many awards for. The winery’s wine cellar is stocked full with these wines. Often the winery will produce many other types of vintage wines from other types of grapes as well, to cater to the tastes of their customers and their wine cellars. Often the workers in the winery and the vineyard have a favorite grape or favorite vintage wine that they stock their wine cellars with.
Some popular wineries and vineyards in the U.S. producing vintage wines for your wine cellar from local grapes are:
- Chateau Ste. Michelle – Woodinville, WA (near Seattle)
- Stags Leap Wine Cellars – Napa, CA
- Canyon Road Winery – Sonoma County, CA
- Kendall Jackson – Sonoma County, CA
- Robert Mondavi Winery – Napa, CA
- Schramsberg Vineyards – Calistoga, CA
- Benton Lane Winery – Monroe, OR
- Ernest & Julio (E. & J.) Gallo Winery
- Oasis Winery – Hume, VA
- Stone Hill Winery – Hermann, MO