Eagles Nest Winery

Eagles Nest Winery
18261 Chablis Road
Ramona, California
USA 92065
Phone: (760) 505-8229
http://eaglesnestwinery.com/

Contact: Julie Grimes
Email: [email protected]

Eagles Nest Winery is located at the western end of Ramona Valley AVA between the historic gold mining town of Julian, and the city of San Diego. The property is situated high on a hill overlooking the scenic Ramona valley. On a clear day, you can see the Mount Palomar, the Laguna and Cuyamaca Mountains. To the west ans south you can see Mount Woodson and Iron Mountain. Elevations on the property range from approximately 1300 feet to over 1600 feet.

Eagles Nest Winery's focus is on excellence and a commitment to sustainable farming practices. Our wines express our attention to terrior and a respect for the environment. The vineyards maintained by Eagles Nest Winery are located in several locations in the Ramona Valley, and South Coast AVAs.

Depending upon the terrain, the vines are trained to either a vertical shoot position (VSP) Trellis System or are Head Pruned/Trained. Eagles Nest initially planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Tempranillo, Viognier and Zinfandel and other varietals.

We harvest our estate grapes when their winemaking conditions are optimum, taking into consideration the following brix and acid levels, the soil, exposure, elevation, and grape varietal. We believe the role of the winemaker is to allow the wine to fulfill its terroir-determined destiny. Our winemaking choices during the two-year evolution from grape cluster to bottle respects the natural winemaking process.

We hand-pick the grapes in the early morning to ensure cool clusters from the previous night's low temperatures. The cool grapes are then de-stemmed by using a stainless steel crusher destemmer. Any remaining bits of stem are removed by hand to reduce any possible vegetative tendencies in the wine as we move it to our fermentation bins.

We then use carefully selected yeasts that tolerate the temperatures and alcohol levels of the fermentation process and that yield the best wine characteristics. Fermentation lasts about one week to ten days followed by any extended post fermentation maceration that may be desirable. The wine is then pressed in gentle bladder presses, and racked in due course to improve the clarity and flavor characteristics of the wine.

Bacteria metabolize malic acid in barrel after harvest and over the winter. Allowing secondary fermentation to take place in barrel results in a seamless integration of oak and wine tannins.

We age our red wines in natural oak barrels to impart desirable oak characteristics that compliment the grape varietals, and our white wines are processed in stainless tanks to preserve their delicate characteristics.

Winemaker: Dennis Grimes

Update Winery information  Submit new wines to be posted  Wineries of America