Despite the very grown-up ambience, they also offer
something unusual for a winery—a kids’ room full of bean
bags and TV screens to encourage families to come on down.
Fedotova is especially fond of what they call a “wishing tree”
outside, where people can make a wish and hang a ribbon
on the tree to signify they’ve done so. Also out front, a large,
interactive sculpture of a wine bottle and glass allows visitors
to climb inside the art.
What distinguishes Lightpost Winery from others,
according to Roguenant, is that wine lovers will find their
wines to be “varietal correct.”
“If you taste a Pinot Noir, it screams Pinot Noir,” he said.
“The grapes have been carefully selected to taste like that
varietal.”
They take the science of winemaking very seriously and
have a blend in mind before they even purchase the grapes
to make it.
“There is an absolute vision for each varietal,” Roguenant
said. “You wouldn’t cook salmon the same way as shark. It’s
the same when it comes to the fruit we purchase. It’s not as
though we make a wine and see what will happen.”
Fedotova likens the winemaking process to a master chef
cooking. “You pick your ingredients and decide what you
will do with them,” she said.
They put a lot of work into the front end of the wine
making process, considering things such as what kind of
yeast to use, the weather, and using canopy control—taking
off or leaving on the leaves of the grapes—to manage their
acidity and sugar content.
“We are extremely careful when it comes to the blends,”
Roguenant explained. “We polish to the one percent, and
Sofia will finalize it even more. We understand all the ele-
ments. Then we blend again and again until we have got it.”
Additionally, they pay close attention to the importance of
the vintage of the wine/grapes, which makes a difference in
its quality and taste. “That’s one of the differences between
us and other wine makers—we really understand the vin-
tage,” Roguenant said. He explains that the temperature of
grapes picked in 2019 is very similar to the conditions in
2004, which will result in similar wines.
Additionally, climate change is affecting winemaking in
significant ways: “Climate change has an impact on the way
we farm,” he said.
In Paso Robles where they get many of their grapes, they
farm with more canopy of different levels of shading to
reduce the amount of intense sun on the grapes.
Hotter temperatures produce wines with higher alcohol
content, so wines from hotter regions, such as the Central
Valley, will go to your head more quickly than those from
coastal areas.
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
Though they purchase their grapes from other grow-
ers at present, Fedotova is in the process of growing her
own estate grapes on her property, which she calls Big Oak
Ranch, in the foothills east of Morgan Hill. Here their estate
wine will be made from grapes of the Rhone and Bordeaux
regions of France, resulting in varietals such as Syrah,
Grenache and Cabernet.
In the future they also aim to become certified as sus-
tainable, using organic grapes and staying away from
chemicals.
“We don’t need to make a lot of wine, just good wine.
We want to make a name for ourselves,” Roguenant said.
They hope their name becomes synonymous with fine din-
ing and destination tasting.
The tasting room is open year ‘round, Wednesdays
through Sundays from 11am to 7pm. They have a wine
club for members, and offer new release parties and holiday
promotions throughout the year.
SPRING 2020
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