Winemaker Jason Diefenderfer describes Liberty School’s approach to winemaking in terms that might sound contradictory: “It’s very traditional, and very New World.” Which means a combination of basic winemaking practices proven over decades in cellars around the world with modern technology and lush, ripe fruit.

Good winemaking always starts with good vineyard practices. The first and in many ways most crucial step in winemaking is deciding when to harvest. For Liberty School, that decision is made on tasting and testing the flavors of the grapes, the potential for structure, and the right balance of acidity, not simply on how much sugar has accumulated. Different blocks and even portions of blocks are picked separately, when they’re ready. Picking is done when the grapes are cool—early in the morning for hand harvesting, at night for machine harvesting—and all the grapes, even from the furthest vineyards, get to the crusher for processing within two hours.

In the winery, each separate lot is tracked and documented as it goes from grapes to final blend, in order to learn more for the next harvest. “There’s a lot of talking that goes on in this winery,” says Jason, “and a lot of time spent writing things down.”

Crushing is done as gently as possible in order to extract fruit, not astringency. Fermentations are conducted with a number of different yeast strains to enhance complexity; some batches get started with naturally-available yeasts from the vineyard and winery, then get finished with a commercial strain. The timing of pressing is determined by tasting, tasting, tasting; the free-run and the press wine  are aged and tracked separately.

Wine goes quickly to barrel. “We want our wine in wood,” says Jason, “ not wood in our wine.” Racking to separate wine from dead yeast and sediments is done as few times as possible, and wine is moved from barrel to barrel using gas pressure, not mechanical pumps. Liberty School wines age in barrel rooms that are not artificially humidified, which allows a little more evaporation; that reduction in volume costs money, but pays off in more rounded, concentrated, harmonious wines.

"All these different wine lots," says Jason, "are like children. Each one has its own personality, and we try to nurture them all. And like children, some of them surprise you."