JM Cellars wines are handcrafted for balance, power, dimension and finesse. Our goal is to make interesting wines with varietal intensity, balanced tannins and acids, and complexity. We also make what we like to drink; and we admit to a bias for red blends. We make three: our flagship wine Tre Fanciulli (tray-fan-CHEW-lee), a Columbia Valley Cuvée (CVC) and Bramble Bump Red.

Working with the same vineyards every year to achieve a consistent style, we are sticklers for low yields, ideally 2 tons per acre. Grapes are hand-picked at maximum ripeness and fermented in open-top bins at a high temperature (approximately 92°) for 5 - 10 days. We've found that a quicker fermentation makes for a deeper, richer wine with softer tannins. Wines are aged in barrel 14 - 20 months, predominately French oak.

John Bigelow, Owner/Winemaker:

What would possess a successful 40-year-old software executive to try his hand at winemaking? Aside from a passion for wine, it was John Bigelow’s work in high-tech that fueled a desire to try something high-touch.

“While I enjoyed working in technology, I couldn’t shake a nagging urge to create something tangible,” says John. “The only thing better than pulling a cork on one of our wines is knowing that someone else has enjoyed drinking it as much as I have enjoyed making it. It’s tremendously satisfying.”

Committed to producing high-quality wines, John’s path from enthusiast to vintner was well-considered. He began by studying winemaking in the mid-1990s, taking courses at U.C. Davis and reading every technical manual he could find. By the fall of 1998, he and his wife Peggy had converted the basement of their Seattle home into a winery where they fermented and aged 100 cases of wine for their own enjoyment. Encouraged by the success of their first vintage, John made 350 cases of Tre Fanciulli in 1999. JM Cellars was officially launched.

www.jmcellars.com

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