Balletto Vineyards
5700 Occidental Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95401

 Item:  Gift Certificate for (2) Two Bottles of Pinot Gris and Complimentary Tasting for Four

Although originally built as the Balletto's produce packaging and shipping center, the building at 5700 Occidental Road sure makes for a great winery.

With its 12-inch-thick, insulated walls, serious temperature control, a deep concrete foundation and floors that slope toward drains, the change from a produce facility to winery was pretty painless. Out went the stainless steel tables for making mixed green salads and in came the stainless steel tanks for making wine. With a few tweaks here and there, the transformation was complete.

Currently we have 16 variously sized tanks inside and space for about 1,800 barrels. Our outside crush pad has a few more tanks and room for three different presses (two bladder presses and one basket press). Because almost all of our Pinot Noir is harvested in a three week period, we have 34 six-ton open top tanks to handle the on-rush of fruit. In both 2009 and 2010, we filled every tank, which made for a lot of punchdowns!