The Art, and Science, Behind Every Bottle

The Role of People in Winemaking: Technology as an Enabler, Not a Replacement

We don’t believe in choosing between tradition and innovation. At Seven Apart, we believe the most extraordinary wines are born at the intersection of both.

Nestled atop Atlas Peak, our Stags Ridge vineyard tells a rare story—one where identical vines planted side by side on two dramatically different soils yield two unmistakably distinct wines. The volcanic intensity of Basalt. The refined elegance of Shale. The contrast is real, the terroir profound. But what brings this contrast into full expression is not just the land. It is the people.

Where Judgment Still Leads

Winemaking remains, above all else, a deeply human craft.

It is the quiet conversation between vineyard and vintner. It is the moment a seasoned hand tastes fruit off the vine and knows—not by numbers, but by instinct—that harvest is ready. It is the decision to wait just one more day. Or not.

Our winemaking team brings years of experience and an intimate understanding of the land we farm. Each vintage reflects their discipline, their restraint, and their vision for wines that express not only a place—but a philosophy.

And while we embrace innovation, we do so with intention because we understand that the final choice must always belong to the winemaker.

Tools That Refine, Not Replace

To say that we use technology is not to say that we rely on it. Technology at Seven Apart is never a substitute for instinct—it is a tool that brings clarity to the craft.

In the cellar, our optical sorting system acts as an extension of the winemaker’s eye. Each berry is scanned, evaluated, and selected with remarkable precision, ensuring that only the most pristine fruit moves forward. This level of sorting allows the team to focus not on the mechanical triage of fruit, but on shaping the wine’s deeper identity—from the aromatic profile to the way it will evolve in the bottle over time.

Our automated pump-over systems and temperature-controlled fermentation tanks provide consistency where it counts, maintaining ideal conditions without pulling attention from more expressive aspects of the process. With these tools managing the physical needs of the wine, our winemaking team is free to consider the wine’s feel—its texture, its tension, its emerging structure and soul.

Out in the vineyard, precision viticulture technology offers a new dimension of understanding. Sensors and data layers inform irrigation, canopy management, and pruning decisions, allowing the viticulturist to act with greater sensitivity to the nuances of each block. But here too, it is observation and experience that lead. The data informs, but it never dictates. Every decision still begins—and ends—with someone walking the rows.

This is not the future of winemaking. It is the present, practiced with intention. A quiet harmony between the precision of modern tools and the irreplaceable discernment of the human hand. These systems don’t replace human touch. They amplify it. They offer our team the space and clarity to make better decisions—ultimately leading to wines of greater refinement, age-worthiness, and honest expression.

The Power of Contrast, Made Possible by Precision

Our Seven Apart Basalt and Seven Apart Shale wines exemplify this philosophy.

Planted at the same elevation, under the same sun, on the same clones—everything about the vines is identical, except for the ground beneath them. One rooted in ancient volcanic rock. The other in fractured shale.

Without precision in the vineyard and discernment in the cellar, this contrast would be lost. But in the hands of our team and with the support of technology that enhances their ability to listen more closely, intervene more wisely, and craft more intentionally, we are able to present a rare comparison of terroir in its purest form.

It is not just winemaking. It is stewardship.

Crafted by Hand. Elevated by Precision.

The future of great winemaking will not be driven by machines. Nor will it be a return to the past.

It will be shaped by those who understand how to use the best tools available, not to interfere but to refine. Not to automate but to reveal.

At Seven Apart, that is our promise: to embrace the full measure of our craft—human, technological, and elemental—so that every bottle we release reflects the harmony we pursue in the vineyard, in the cellar, and in the glass.

Because what matters is not just the tools we use; it’s the care with which we choose to use them.