Mission Cellars strives to produce high-quality, artisanal wine and experiences in Poway, California.
We will work and develop lasting relationships with renowned vineyards, who implement sustainable and socially responsible practices in order to produce the highest quality grapes in an environment that fosters the preservation of vineyards for future generations.
Once the grapes arrive at our Poway facility, we will use Old World (European) and New World (e.g. American) winemaking techniques to craft exquisite and unique wines. Our wines will have depth, substance, and flavor as you have never tasted before.
The first step in producing exquisite Mission Cellars wines is to harvest the grapes from the Oregon and California wine countries. White and red grapes are harvested by hand at their optimal maturity levels, to provide the highest quality wine possible.
The process for red and white grapes differ. Red grapes are sent into a de-stemmer to remove the stems from the grapes and then the berries pass through to a crusher, which gently breaks the skins of the grapes. Next, red grapes are sent to a tank to undergo a cold soak before beginning the fermentation process. This step ensures that the contents of the grapes; color, aroma, flavor and sugar compounds are released into the juice and are available during fermentation. White grapes are quickly pressed as whole clusters to assure the highest quality juice, minimizing its exposure to oxygen, which can adversely affect quality.
The third step in producing artisanal Mission Cellars wine, is fermentation. During fermentation sugars are converted to alcohol by yeast. Yeast selection is vitally important at this stage, as the resulting wine can be greatly impacted by this selection. Also, during fermentation, red grapes are given gentle punchdowns to make sure that the floating cap of skins are incorporated into the fermenting juice below, ensuring that it does not dry out and that all the color contained in the skins is extracted into the juice.
Following fermentation, the red wine is pressed, separating the skins and solids from the wine. It is then put in wine barrels to age 12-36 months. Depending on the style of white wine, young crisp white wines will be prepared to bottle, more age-worthy white wines will remain in wine barrels to age on their lees for 6-18 months.
The next step, is to prepare the wine for bottling. After allowing it to age, we arrive at the last step which is to open it and enjoy the wine with family and friends!
