Two wines, made entirely by hand

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The Albini Family

Albini Family Vineyards was established in 1991 by Don and Lynne Albini, who still run their small Windsor estate by hand. Although they are tiny by winery standards, their Merlot and Zinfandel have earned national attention for their quality and distinctive style.

Everything follows a natural, hands-on approach. Vineyard yields are kept low at two to three tons per acre, and all grapes are handpicked and sorted. Fermentation happens in small open-top fermenters using indigenous wild yeast, with the cap punched down three to four times a day before the wine is pressed in a half-ton basket press and hand-bucketed into barrels.

Don famously moves his wine with buckets rather than pumps, and has been known to sleep in the barn so he can hand-punch the fruit through the night. Both wines are unfiltered and hand-bottled at the estate — a no-frills, artisan winery where guests are walked through the whole operation by the winemaker himself.

• Family-owned since 1991
• About 500 cases a year
• Russian River Valley estate
• Wild-yeast, unfiltered, hand-bottled
• By-appointment tastings