V.Sattui Winery

Italian winemaker Vittorio Sattui arrived in San Francisco in 1882 with his new bride, Kattarina, to begin their life in America. Born in Genoa, Vittorio, like his father before him, was by trade a baker from the small hilltown of Carsi. In San Francisco, Vittorio at first worked as a baker, making wine in his spare time, while Kattarina took in washing. Soon the industrious Sattui family had saved enough money to start a boarding house in the Italian colony of North Beach.

Vittorio continued to make wine, serving it to his patrons at the boarding house. By 1885, the reputation of Vittorio's wines allowed him to quit the bakery and devote himself full-time to his real passion, winemaking. Vittorio quickly established a thriving commercial venture (located at 722 Montgomery, now Columbus Avenue) called St. Helena Wine Cellars, taking the name of the small, bucolic, Napa Valley town were he obtained his grapes. Vittorio always said, "there is nothing like St. Helena grapes!" He would personally select the grapes during the harvest and then haul them by horse-drawn wagon to Napa for transfer to San Francisco by ferry.

When Vittorio moved his expanding winemaking business and family (Kattarina and Vittorio eventually had six children) to the Mission district at 2507 Bryant Avenue, near the corner of 23rd Street, he adopted the new name, V. Sattui Wine Company. Vittorio continued to ferry his grapes from St. Helena, crushing them at his new winery. The V. Sattui Wine Company's high quality wines were sold directly to the customers and delivered to their houses in barrels and demijohns (usually one to 25 gallon sizes) throughout the Bay Area by horse-drawn wagon. Eventually, Vittorio's clients reached as far north as Oregon and Washington state. The family business thrived.
But in 1920, Prohibition sounded the death knell for Vittorio Sattui's family business. "I'll do nothing against the law." Vittorio said, and V. Sattui Wine Company lay dormant for the next sixty years, a dream deferred and half-forgotten.

Winemaking starts in the vineyards, and here we strive to manage the quality and flavor of the grapes so that they exhibit all the qualities and complexities we are looking for. By controlling the entire process from “Vine to Cork” we are able to carefully focus on the vineyard practices and attributes that will produce the most distinctive and elegant wines. Our philosophy in the vineyard begins with a “Sustainable” approach to managing vineyard pests and diseases. We are committed to minimize our use of fossil fuels and maximize the use of organic and biodegradable products. We are always evaluating our “carbon footprint”, to promote a complex vineyard environment with diverse habitat and species and reduce any impact from our farming on the local environment.

In the vineyard we know that the essential element of grape quality is to balance the ratio of green growth – leaves and shoots- with the amount of fruit per shoot and cluster per vine. This “vine balance” will determine the overall flavor profile, maturity and acid balance of the grapes at harvest. During the growing season we train and manage shoot growth so that all leaves intercept light without overly shading the fruit. This involves carefully “suckering” (removing shoots) and “cluster thinning” (removing grape clusters) to achieve this ideal balance. These practices not only improve grape quality but also help to open up the canopy for better air circulation which provide better temperature and humidity management around the clusters, reducing excessive heat and minimizing mildew and other diseases so that we can reduce our spray applications and materials.

We acknowledge that “great wine is made in the vineyard”, and we strive to farm our vineyards to optimize the intensity of flavor and varietal characteristics of the grapes. In the winery, we combine traditional winemaking methods with technologically advanced winemaking equipment and techniques. As a result, the wines show a depth of flavor, complexity and richness that bring enjoyment every time you sit down to enjoy a glass.

Our white wines are made using “whole cluster” pressing techniques with clear separation of “free run” juice from all “press” juice to maintain the most delicate balance in the finished wines. We employ cold temperature fermentations with specialty yeast that maintain aromatics and promote varietal character retention. Barrel fermentation is used on our dry whites using only the finest French oak casks, in combination with “Batonnage” (a gentle weekly stirring of the yeast sediment, or “lees” during aging).

Winemaking starts in the vineyards, and here we strive to harvest all of our grapes at peak flavor development and maturity, followed by time-honored winemaking techniques such as hand-sorting the grape harvest, “punching-down” our red wines in open top tanks instead of pumping must, oak aging in small French barrels in the desired humidity and temperatures found in underground caves and cellars, all designed to maintain and promote the natural flavors and characteristics of the grapes.

All red grapes are transported and handled via belts to provide the gentlest processing possible. We hand-sort much of our red grapes to ensure that only fully ripened, whole grape clusters make it into the crusher. Our goal is to move must and wine via gravity, with as little pumping as possible, and our small-lot open top fermenting tanks allow us to fill the red tanks without the use of pumps. After fermentation we use a gentle transfer method to bring the pomace (spent skins and seeds) to the wine press, assuring limited extraction of harsh flavors and promoting silky smooth tannins. Again, ‘free run” is often separated from “press wine” and aged separately, with a goal of targeting a perfect balance of tannin and flavor in the finished wines.

The new red wines are allowed to settle briefly and then racked to barrels with “light yeast lees” and grape solids to promote a natural secondary, malo-lactic fermentation in barrel. This slow, secondary fermentation enhances the integration of the oak and grape aromas and helps to fix the red wine color. Barrels are selected based upon stylistic goals for each varietal and also to enhance the varietal, vineyard character and flavor profiles of the wines. After malo-lactic the wines are racked and the first of many opportunities for blending and consolidation of small individual lots take place. The wine is then returned to barrel for the extended barrel aging process.

The cave and subterranean cellars provide ideal aging conditions for our wines, with year-round, stable temperatures of 58-60 degrees F and naturally high humidity of 80%. The barrels are “nested” on runners in the traditional manner of many fine French chateaux and the castles of Italy. The multitude of small rooms in the cellar allow us to maintain numerous small lots separately to observe their evolution and flavor development during aging, and to carefully assemble the blends closer to their final maturity and bottling date.