SUNSET HILL

At SUNSET HILL SCHOOL OF WINE, teaching wine enthusiasts the art of making fine wine is our job! Our Mission is to create a unique experience for each and every winemaker. Whether it be spending time with your children at the crushing of the grapes or team building with a group of fellow employees at bottling, SUNSET HILL is not only committed to the teaching of wine making, we are committed to creating that special social atmosphere that European winemakers have enjoyed for centuries.

Come experience the difference!

Session 1 – The Crush

Freshly harvested grapes have arrived at SUNSET HILL from some of the best grape producing regions in California in refrigerated trucks. A three day journey!

In this session you learn how to crush and de-stem the grapes into a “Grape must” utilizing our professional winemaking equipment or the old fashioned way – foot stomping.

Our award winning winemaker will conduct a series of tests and make any necessary adjustments to the grape must by combining old world and advanced winemaking techniques, modern science and a few tips from a retired international award winning winemaker.

Finally, a special blend of yeast will be added to start primary fermentation.

Session 2 – The Press

For seven to ten days after “The Crush” our chief winemaker and staff monitor your wine and mix the grape must in the morning and again in the evening. Your welcome to come on in and give them a hand. White clothing is not a good idea!

In this session you will press the grape must to extract the juices, fill your oak barrel with your own hand crafted wine and start the aging process. This can be done with the authentic italian oak wine press or our state of the art stainless steel automated press. Your choice!

Session 3 – Racking

During the third session which is scheduled in January, you will learn how to rack your wine and remove lees (sediment) from the barrel.

You start by carefully removing most of the wine from the barrel while leaving the lees in the bottom of the barrel. The barrel is placed on a barrel spinner, filled with water and hand spun to remove any remaining sediment. In addition, we utilize a pressurized nozzel to inject water into the barrel to ensure the barrel is clean before you put your wine back into the barrel to continue the aging process.

Session 4 – Bottling

Congratulations! The fruits of your labor is now complete and your hand crafted vintage is ready to bottle and more importantly enjoy with friends and family.

This session takes place in August and you will start by sanitizing your bottles and filling them with our hands on bottling machine. Lots of fun for the kids!

You will then move onto corking the bottles with a age old manual corker and finish with affixing your personalized labels.