Hands-on, attentive winegrowing. Low-intervention winemaking methods that ensure freshness, balance, and purity. It's Los Olivos through and through—from Rhône Valley blueprints.
Lyons Vineyard wines are crafted to be classic in style, with more of an Old World than New World orientation. Balance and finesse are the highest priority. Happily the vineyard’s microclimate and terroir enables beautiful phenolic ripeness while maintaining brisk acidity.
Achieving this style begins in the vineyard. For example, every year the Grenache easily ripens to 25 brix, but still maintains a pH of 3.3 or 3.4. Reds are generally picked at a modest brix level for lower alcohol (24-ish) and while acids remain at 3.3 pH. The Lyons Vineyard is all farmed by hand, and harvested with the goal to create balanced wines.
Harvest is always done in the middle of the night (usually starting at 2am or 3am) to preserve freshness & acidity. Since the bunches are all harvested by hand, selection of which to keep and which to drop happens right in the vineyard, ensuring the finest quality fruit. This hand-sorting in the vineyard—versus bringing it all to the crush pad—means that the fruit that lands in the winery is incredibly healthy and pristine.
In the original two vineyard blocks, spacing is 5’ x 3’, but in all new blocks, spacing is 6’ x 3’. Both formats promote competition between the vines, resulting in smaller berries, thicker skins, more concentration, and ultimately, a more complex wine.
Lyons Vineyard is farmed with a sustainable, ecosystem-minded approach, focusing on soil and vine health, integrated pest management, and methods that promote biodiversity in the vineyard. These practices are not only better for the health of every worker, customer, the planet, and future generations, but also let the wine express itself in the best way.
"Thoughtful winegrowing. Minimal-intervention winemaking. All the oak used is neutral, so the voice of the land comes first. Balance and drinkability are paramount. Only non-GMO yeast and minimal sulfur are used. Our wines are as vegan as grapes are."
Minimal intervention winemaking is the goal here, letting the fruit and the land shine through. Lyons Vineyard wines are fermented in 1-ton or 2-ton open-top fermenters, allowing control over small lots, and ensuring top quality for each bottling. Varieties such as Grenache and Syrah see partial whole-cluster (+/- 20%) fermentation to add complexity, depth and interest—however not so much that it overwhelms the varietal expression.
The only aging vessels are 100% large 228-liter neutral French oak barrels, which allow the wine to mature elegantly, without imparting heavy seasoning—something that is especially critical for Grenache. The red wines are typically aged between 12-18 months before bottling, and another three to four before release. Balance and drinkability are paramount, and the wines are made to improve with time in the cellar. Lyons Vineyard uses only non-GMO yeast, minimal sulfur, and the wines are vegan. Wines are filtered only as needed.