Alpha Omega’s winemaking philosophy has always emphasized securing the highest quality grapes from the most heralded vineyards in the Napa Valley.
In the cellar, a similar emphasis exists from the moment grapes reach the winery to the day the wine is bottled. The combination of traditional handcrafted techniques complemented by modern technological advances creates wines that possess a true sense of place.
Alpha Omega farms prized grapes from its own vineyards and from historic vineyards in Napa Valley’s best sub-AVAs, including Rutherford, Oakville, St. Helena, Spring Mountain District, Atlas Peak, Mount Veeder and Carneros. Blending these valley floor, hillside and mountain vineyards bring complexity and depth to our wines.
Handcrafting wines in the cellar begins with intuitive, experienced hands carefully managing our vineyards throughout the year Each vineyard is farmed with an emphasis on yearlong individual vine management and sustainable farming techniques that result in lower yields of perfectly ripe, high-quality grapes that dramatically express the essence of each vineyard’s unique characteristics.
The culmination of our hands approach in the vineyard occurs at harvest. Grapes are carefully handpicked in the middle of the night into small yellow bins that protect the integrity of each bunch of grapes. Cool night temperatures preserve the freshly picked grapes for their short journey to the winery for processing.
Watch this video of the 2020 night harvest at Alpha Omega’s Thomas vineyard.
When red grapes arrive at the winery, an optical sorting machine provides a state-of-the-art method of obtaining the highest quality grapes by sending grapes through a high-tech camera inspection on a conveyor belt. Used by only a handful of Napa Valley wineries, the grapes that don’t match the winemakers’ very specific parameters are not used to produce Alpha Omega wines.
Alpha Omega has been a pioneer in barrel fermentation of red wines, a process that began with the first vintage in 2006. This unique style of fermentation for red wines is done almost entirely by hand, as each barrel undergoes it’s own fermentation. Individual barrel fermentation is a very labor-intensive process that creates an integration of oak and fruit flavors making the wine approachable when young, but also empowering it to age gracefully in your cellar.
Using only the finest French oak, our winemakers carefully select barrels from France’s finest barrel makers. Alpha Omega is one of the only wineries in the Napa Valley to have a full-time barrel cooper to oversee barrel maintenance. Constant attention is paid to the evolution of the wine in each barrel that provides insights for the winemaking team to decide its final destination. The expertise and art of blending these barrels is a cornerstone of creating consistency and quality in every wine produced by Alpha Omega.