Winemaking in Napa Valley since 1994   

Voces Cellars focuses solely on producing 100% single varietal wines. 

With a deep connection to the land in Napa, Fernando Candelario’s singular vision is to give a voice to each wine. 

We begin in the vineyard. Vine by vine, every cluster is harvested by hand in the cool night temperatures. This ensures that the ideal acids from each grape are maintained. We keep any “imperfect” clusters as they add deep complexity to the wines. After hand-sorting each vineyard selection and bringing the clusters to the winery, we culminate a year's work in the vineyard.

 

 

Pre-Fermentation

In the cool cellar, we begin the winemaking process by sending clusters to the destemmer and stainless steel fermenting tanks.

Before we ferment our grapes, we cold soak our grapes for two to three days to encourage the soft extraction of distinctive flavor, silky tannins and deep color. Cooling down the freshly harvested grapes is an invaluable and time-tested way to develop desirable aromas. When the tannin balance is right, we drain and press. 

Fermentation

We ferment our grapes slowly and meticulously. The long, warm maceration in temperature-controlled tanks draws out elegant and rich flavors, and extra color and backbone from the skins.

Once the primary fermentation is complete, the free-run wine flows into new French oak barrels, and the remaining skins and seeds go straight into a bladder press. We use fine-grained French Oak barrels to give our wines more subtle notes and a silky texture. New barrels ensure a strong oak influence on Voces wine.

In the press, the skins, seeds, and pulp are lightly pressed. Like the free-run wine, the pressed wine is put into separate barrels to be aged. To provide structure and backbone to the wines, a portion of the press is added to the final blend. 

 

 

Once the wine is safely in the barrels, secondary fermentation takes place. Our wines soften and distill unique flavors from the wood. Topping, racking, and fining processes also take place during this phase. During the aging period, Fernando continually tastes from each barrel, appraising the effect of the wood on the wine.  

After the wines finish fermenting, our fining process polishes the wine. One of the oldest fining agents in winemaking, organic egg whites are added carefully to clarify the wine of suspended fragments or skins, and remove any harsh tannin particles. This ensures the final wine is clear and bright.

Our wines ferment for a year and a half before we select the final blend through rigorous blind trials. Filtration occurs at the time of bottling.

Voces Cellars’ wines receive an additional two year of bottle age before the wine is released— some three years after harvest. 

Wines are only released when Fernando is pleased with the finished product.