Centerba Selections is a group founded on supporting wine growers – that is, the land and vines come first. They all work naturally (organic, bio-dynamic, etc…) and use indigenous yeasts – no chemicals, enzymes or manipulation in winery.
From grape to glass, winemaking is an arduous, year round process. The vineyards are a critical determinant in the end product wines for each and every vintage.
Vineyards are like the wine’s bassinets, where early grape life begins and flourishes, for all wine is truly birthed on the vine. The vineyard’s location, climate, terrain, soils, vines and rootstocks, irrigation systems and pest management controls all factor into the final product in one way or another.
A wine’s vintage, or the year that the grapes were harvested, is a critical clue in determining if a wine will meet your expectations or not. The vintage year is one of the key pieces of information that you’ll find on the wine label.
You can have the same producer, the same grapes sourced from the same vineyards, the same winemaker and the only piece of the vivification equation that is changed is the year and …boom… this year’s wine offers a completely different experience than it did the year before. Why? The vintage variable plays a major role in determining what kind of wine will be bottled.
“It is our goal to produce wines of the highest level of quality, integrity, and authenticity, the hallmarks of which are balance, nuance, and elegance, wines that express their origins in place and time, wines through which “the earth speaks” in a clear and strong voice.
As a winemaker, I’ve deliberately chosen not to court the market, i.e., the commercial context out of which so much modern wine is being formulated. Our wines may or may not receive the highest numerical ratings bestowed by the most popular wine journals. At the moment when the wine is in the glass, and the glass is placed before the taster, the numbers are meaningless; if I can offer someone a wine that is thrilling to smell, that is unforgettable to taste, that taster, being only human, cannot help but respond. If that response is forthcoming, I will have done my job.”
- Steve Edmunds
