Woodenhead Wines
Nikolai Stez does not own a pump. The wine moves by hand, the caps go down by hand, the press is a basket, and the yeast is cultured, which he says out loud.1
Why go
A pump shears wine as it moves it. Doing without a pump means gravity, buckets and time, and it costs a small cellar real labour, so a winery that has made that choice has made it on purpose.1 Stez punches the caps down by hand and presses in a basket, then puts small lots into French oak.1 The part worth noticing is what he admits in the same breath: the yeast and the malolactic cultures are inoculated rather than wild.1 Plenty of producers who talk about hand work let you assume otherwise. The fruit comes off the Russian River Valley, Alexander Valley, Mendocino County and Mendocino Ridge.1
Order this / avoid
- Order: the Pinot Noir. It is the wine the whole method is built around, and the house description of the style is Burgundian done California-style.1
Good to know
- The tasting room is on River Road, west of Santa Rosa toward Guerneville.1
- No fee or hours are published on the page I read.
- Club members take 15 to 20 percent off and get at the club-only bottlings.1
Verdict
could-visit — Nikolai Stez does not pump wine. Everything moves by hand or by gravity, the caps are punched down by hand, the press is a basket, and the wine goes into French oak in small lots. That is a real cost in labour paid for a real difference in texture, and the winery is straight about the other half too: the yeast and the malolactic cultures are inoculated, not native, which most producers making the same handmade noises will not say out loud. Fruit comes off the Russian River, Alexander Valley, Mendocino County and Mendocino Ridge. The rung stops here because the winery is the only voice and no fee or hours are published.