Journal | December 12, 2025
second of a four-part series
1987
Winemaking | Then and Now
Wines of Effort
1987 was Linden’s first vintage. There was a lot of pressure to make a great wine right out of the starting gate. Big powerful wines were garnering accolades and high Parker points. New technologies and scientific analysis were driving American winemaking. I was not immune to the trends of the day. The path of numbers-driven, interventionist, aspirational winemaking was my initial approach.
Lab analysis was consulted at every winemaking decision point. Grapes were picked as ripe as possible. White wines were given skin contact to increase mouth feel. Reds were aggressively punched down. The grapes were pressed hard (every last drop). New oak barrels were de rigueur. Linden’s first wines had some weight, but lacked in finesse and precision. The young wines were often clumsy, rustic, and bitter. Clever winemaking techniques such as fining, acid additions, and lees stirring were needed as makeup to hide the flaws.
Those early wines showed well in “speed dating” scenarios such as competitions and festivals, but when I took them home to the dinner table they quickly became tired and one dimensional.
Influences and Transitions
For the ensuing decades our mantra was improving wine quality. That was a tall order given all the parameters and possible directions. Equipment upgrades were an easy and obvious first step. Our original crusher-destemmer mangled the grapes and contributed to a harsh bitterness. Pumping crushed grapes was also deleterious as skins and seeds were sheared. Gravity flow eventually replaced the pump. Sorting tables had an immediate impact on elevating wine quality. With all this in place (along with better picking decisions and more processing restraint), there was no longer a need to manipulate or make additions in the cellar.
There were bumps in the road. The non-interventionist approach sometimes went too far. For example we eventually abandoned “wild” fermentations after making one too many funky wines with off flavors. This was not terroir speaking.
Wines of Terroir
On asking advice from a famous Burgundian winemaker, he responded, “taste, taste, taste.” Tasting at every possibility, along with trade visits to European producers, fine-tuned our palates. Decisions at each winemaking step were made by taste. When to pick the grapes is the most important winemaking decision. The quality of a grape’s acidity and skin tannins can only be measured by the palate. How hard to press, how warm to ferment, which barrels to use are now all palate-based decisions. Our red blends are determined by mouthfeel, harmony, and texture impact. As to aromas and flavors, we learned that they will change significantly with age, so we let the vineyard take the lead and don’t concern ourselves. We have learned to trust the wines. There is no longer the pressure to prove.
Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Hardscrabble Journal: December 12, 2025