For our August Winemaker Spotlight, we have the amazing John Neufeld from Palatine Hills Estate Winery in Niagara, Ontario, Canada. Join us as we chat to John and learn more about the contribution of Sentia to the great wines they make.
"The Sentia device has cut my free SOâ‚‚ testing time by 75%. A job that used to take me 2 days without the Sentia now only takes a half day!
The Sentia is so fast and efficient we have opted to double the amount of testing we do in our barrel program. The unit is portable so if we have any concerns about a tank or barrel it can be tested right away out of the tasting valve or on top of the barrel stack if needed."
John studied Winery and Viticulture at Niagara College, and began his career working one vintage in Mclaren Vale in South Australia. Wanting to return to Canada John worked 15 Vintages in the cellar before taking over as Head Winemaker at Palatine Hills Estate Winery two vintages ago.
Over four decades ago, the Palatine Hills property in Niagara-on-the-Lake began to take shape under the careful cultivation and tillage of the Neufeld family.
Not only is Palatine Hills now a family affair, with two generations of Neufelds sharing their passion on the winery soil, their wines are also esteemed across Ontario and Manitoba. To this day and into the next decade, the Palatine Hills family aims to maintain the same respect and awe for their land they had first discovered, knowing that this is what is truly expressed in the fruits of their labour.
https://hubs.ly/Q01hXC8s0
We are happy to share our July Sentia Winemaker Spotlight, Riley Hollenbach from Bartier Bros. Vineyard and Winery: “The Sentia device has been a joy to use as it is so intuitive and very quick. I mainly use it for free sulphur analysis and comparing the Sentia against other methods, aspiration and autotitration, I would recommend the Sentia unit hands down. I cannot even begin to calculate the amount of hours saved in the lab because of Sentia.”
Riley was born and raised in Penticton in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. After finishing University in the Maritimes of Canada Riley returned home and entered the BC wine industry in 2009 at Red Rooster Winery on the Naramata Bench. Over the next 6 years Riley learned cellar craft, laboratory procedures, and cellar management skills, graduated into a winemaking position in 2015. In 2019 Riley left Red Rooster to join Wild Goose Winery for a harvest before settling into the winemaking role at Bartier Brothers Winery in Oliver in 2020. Every year the Okanagan wine industry has presented its own unique challenges from fires, floods, heat domes, spring frosts, and early snowfalls - you name it and we’ve probably seen it, and through all of it continue to make world class wines in our little slice of Canada. It’s a truly amazing spot.
Now we can count another reputable winemaker as one of our friends. Meet Don Schroeder from Sea Smoke Vineyard - our Winemaker of the Month of June with his shared experience about Sentia wine analyzer: “For us, this innovative and simple to use device has taken our task of free SOâ‚‚ monitoring from a two-week process down to two days.”
Don started his career 22 years ago at a Babcock winery learning everything from vineyard practices to lab work and winemaking. He spent time working at Rideau as assistant winemaker/vineyard manager before establishing a brand for family and making their wine for many years. His career with Sea Smoke started in 2003 as the Assistant Winemaker and in 2008 he took over as Winemaker. Over the years he has enjoyed making Alsatian white blends on the side and was the first producer to make and distribute gruner veltliner in Santa Barbara County.
https://www.seasmoke.com/
This month, we're welcoming Mark Fiore of Efestē Winery as our May Sentia Winemaker of the month.
“The Sentia is so accurate, quick and easy to use. It has to be too good to be true. I’ve been using the AO method to measure sulfur in wine every month for the past 12 years, I’m excited to have this amazing new addition to the laboratory here at EFESTE!”
Mark Fiore’s winemaking career began in Walla Walla where he had relocated for work in 2008. Mark worked two harvest seasons at Beresan and Balboa wineries, which led him to an all-encompassing job with Charles Smith Wines in August of 2011. The growth of these brands took Mark to Seattle in 2015 when Charles Smith Wines packed up its entire production in Walla Walla and moved across the state. During the time Mark was making wine with the company, production increased from roughly 9,000 cases per year to upwards of 35,000. Throughout this time, Mark supplemented the experience he was gaining with formal education, completing all of the extension courses at UC Davis as well as taking educational trips to Portugal, Spain, and France.
Mark is excited for the opportunity at EFESTE to step out on his own and work to take the already fantastic wines to the next level.
https://www.efeste.com/winemaking
Sentia is featured in April's issue of Wine Business Monthly as a Cool Product at the Unified Symposium in 2022. Check us out on page 32!
We are happy to announce Chris Eberle of Eberle Winery as our April Sentia Winemaker of the Month!
“Sentia is easy to use and provides quick, accurate results. But what’s exciting is the potential for future testing. For all the tests this unit will do makes it a smart, affordable choice for any size winery. Takes up very little space in the lab and handheld for portable testing in the cellar.”
Chris graduated from Cal Poly in 2005 with a degree in agricultural business with a focus on marketing, as well as a minor in viticulture. Concurrently, he earned a diploma in enology from Washington State University. So why not put those talents to use close to home? Chris accepted a position at Eberle Winery as assistant winemaker in 2006. But by 2009 his wanderlust enticed him away from the Central Coast to look for opportunities in other winemaking regions…many of them. For fifteen vintages, Chris spent time expanding his winemaking knowledge in South Africa, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and France. Though his longest stint was in Australia (where he met his wife, Tessa), Chris says his time in Germany probably contributed the most to his winemaking career: “I loved the German culture and people. Even better, I had the opportunity to work in the experimental cellar at the Staatsweingut (State-owned winery) in Weinsburg, Baden-Württemberg. Between vineyards and winemaking, we managed 200 plus experiments. I learned an incredible amount about winemaking in a short amount of time.
That knowledge base would come in handy. In 2015 Gary Eberle, in his search for a new winemaker, contacted Chris in Australia and offered him the head winemaking job in Paso Robles. Chris and Tessa were back in Paso within three weeks. “From the vineyards to the caves to Gary & Marcy and the crew, it was like coming home. I always knew I'd be back,” enthused Chris
These days, Chris says his greatest challenge as a winemaker is the seasonal variation of the local climate. Normal rainfall one year, dry the next; heat spikes during ripening, then sudden temperature drops right before harvest. But he agrees it’s that variability that makes Paso such a unique and alluring wine-growing region: the gratification is in the challenge.
And, oh yes, since he’s been back at the winery, Chris has produced more award-winning white wines than ever before in Eberle Winery history.
