In early 2006, James Frey teamed with Josh Bergstrom to begin work on the design of Trisaetum’s winery. From the outset, the goal was to construct a facility that allows a winemaker to blend old world tradition and new world innovation.

After several months and nine drafts, a floor plan and design philosophy were eventually turned into the 13,000 square facility that exists today.  The winemaking team of James Frey and Greg McClellan (along with wine consultant Josh Begrstrom) are fortunate to have at their disposal a wide array of tools to craft Trisaetum's distinctive Pinot Noir and Riesling.

Key Features of the Winery:

Cold Room – Pinot Noir and Riesling require a greater degree of sensitive handling than other varietals. For example, when pinot noir berries at warm temperatures are placed into a destemmer, the fruit is easily mashed. On the other hand, chilled fruit falls from the destemmer as crisp, whole berries. Therefore, our winery contains a 600 square foot Cold Room that can be chilled to 35 degrees. Harvested clusters from the two estate vineyards, upon arriving at the winery, are immediately placed in the Cold Room and fruit sorting only begins after the fruit has reached a temperature between 35 and 40 degrees.  The Cold Room also allows us to ferment our Riesling in a very slow, and deliberate manner.

Fruit Sorting – the single most extensive piece of equipment at Trisaetum is the a 9-stage fruit sorting system that is utilized to ensure only the best berries from the best clusters become part of Trisaetum’s estate wines. The process begins with the tote dumper after the fruit has been adequately chilled. The whole clusters then move down a shaker table that spreads them into a single layer prior to passing through a vacuum system that removes leaves, bugs, twigs and other matter than isn’t grapes. Following the vacuum, the clusters move through an air knife to ensure the fruit is dry and no dilution occurs in the final product. Then, the first of two manual sorting tables is utilized to select only the best clusters (sub-par clusters are removed, recycled, and returned to the vineyard as compost). The chosen clusters are then moved to an elevated destemmer where they are separated into berries and stems. The stems are returned to the vineyard as compost and the berries are gently placed on a second sorting table where we manually inspect individual berries by hand and remove any unripe or raisined fruit. In the final stage of the process, the selected berries are placed into fermentation vessels and moved into the tank hall. Given the unique double-sort process, the fruit sorting process at Trisaetum often takes up to two times as long as other facilities and can involve up to 15 people.

Tank Hall – the pinot noir berries are fermented in a mixture of 3-ton stainless steel and 2-ton oak fermentors that line either side of the 65 foot long tank hall. These smaller sized fermentors are chosen because the control they provide the winemaker. Berries go through an extended cold soak period prior to fermentation beginning. The temperature of all tanks is measured electronically and can be monitored via on-site and off-site computers. Once fermentation begins, the cap is punch-down by hand three times a day throughout fermentation (or more depending on the fruit). The must is fermented until dry, pressed, and moved via gravity-fed channels to the barrel cave below.  Riesling fermentations occur in small stainless steel barrels in order to finely tune each ferment so that the appropriate balance between sweetness, acidity, and alcohol-level is achieved.

Barrel Caves –finished wine is cellared within the 100 foot long barrel caves at Trisaetum. Depending on the vintage, pinot noir can be barrel aged from 12 to 24 months before bottling. In all, up to eight different Burgundian coopers are used to age the wine. Wine in barrels is checked weekly to monitor development and then topped off to prevent unwanted oxidation.  Riesling is aged in both stainless and oak barrels.

Tasting Room and Art Gallery - our winery's tasting room & art gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 4pm.