Alta Colina Wines

Best known for bold and balanced Syrahs, Rhone blends, and gorgeous Rhone whites, Alta Colina vineyard is the perfect site to grow the kinds of wines we love to drink! Our focus is on farming at the highest quality and translating the beauty of Alta Colina Vineyard into every bottle. 

While demand is high and case count is limited, we’re always developing new ways to experience Alta Colina (Spanish for “high hill”) beyond our intimate tasting room and wait-list for membership. The Tillmans host select destination events and dinners throughout California, and at their Trailer Pond – a secluded, vintage trailer campsite located within the estate vineyard, a recipient of Sunset Magazine’s “Best of the West” Travel Award.

Visit the estate or purchase online to experience Alta Colina first hand.  Tastings include a 4 (ish!) wine flight that highlights a combination of our core wines: Grenache Blanc, 12 O’Clock High Viognier, Claudia Cuvee Marsanne, Model Citizen Roussanne, GSM, Sun Worshipper, Toasted Slope Syrah, Old 900 Syrah, and Ann’s Block Petite Sirah.

Estate Vineyard

No handmade wine would be what it is without the influences of the local soils and climate–Alta Colina’s terroir is magic! Our vines sit almost 1,800 feet above sea level in steep, exposed soils of fractured shale. Alta Colina’s high altitude ensures enough sun exposure to mature even our latest-ripening variety (Mourvedre!) while its proximity to the Pacific brings cool ocean air, which helps retain acid and maintain balance.

In the Vineyard, we try to encourage even growth and ripeness throughout the growing season because balanced vines lead to balanced wines! To encourage happy dirt, we farm all 31 acres organically and, beyond basic maintenance, minimal intervention is at the core of our approach.

Winemaking

Like our approach in the Vineyard, we aim to bottle Alta Colina Vineyard with as little intervention as possible.

Every cluster is hand-picked and brought down the mountain to the winery. Upon harvest, our white grapes go straight to the bladder press, then the juice goes into the cold room overnight to settle. All of our whites are fermented dry and spend anywhere from 4 months in stainless steel to 14 months in primarily neutral oak.

When reds arrive to the winery we cluster-sort, destem, berry-sort, cold-soak, and move the fruit into open-top fermenters.

Fermentations take off with native yeasts and last between 10 and 25 days. Bob and our team taste every lot daily before barreling down individual lots to complete fermentation in barrel. After 20 months is French oak and at least a year in bottle, Club members have first access to all Alta Colina wines.