The philosophy at J. Christopher is to produce wines in an Old World style that emphasizes focus, length and balance. As they like to say, “We do not make fruit bombs. We want wines that have a fine balance of fruit, acidity and texture. We want wines that give you more than just a big mid-palate blast — wines that are complete.” The key to this – they firmly believe – is patient winemaking — it is vital not to rush things and allow the wines to develop naturally. One important example: They would never use cultured yeasts to induce malolactic fermentation in their Pinot Noir. This is a New World technique done to facilitate earlier bottling, but they feel it is damaging to the wine’s texture and balance. They want the wines to evolve at their own pace, with a minimum of intervention.