Wine Making

Testa wines are crafted with our gentle hands with the honor of our ancestors. We make our wines from our vineyards here in Calpella that my Great Grandparents first planted in 1912. We hand pick the grapes when they are at the perfect ripeness. We use a small de-stemmer for crushing them, one tub at a time they go in by the hand of our sons Charlie and Chad. We then ferment in 3/4 ton bins, just the grapes, nothing added. We hand punch down twice a day until the fermentation is complete. We then use our basket press to get the juice to barrel, where the wine goes though ML fermentation to completeness! We store our wines in the cellar made by my great grandparents for their wine making in the early 1920’s.

The temperature of the deep cellar fluctuates gradually throughout the seasons, perfect for our wines to stay in balance with the earth temperature. Then up the wines come to travel just down the road to Parducci Winery, where Bob Swain and Mark Beaman and the Parducci Team bottle for us. Then back to Testa Cellar for bottle aging. Come by for a tasting, and like most, you will love our wines, just like we do!