A ripening cluster of Cabernet Sauvignon among turning autumn leaves

A small vineyard. An ongoing experiment.

We focus on grapes instead.

Growing grapes, making wine, and learning something new with every vintage.

Follow the wine

The spirit of Hetsakais

No château.
Plenty of mistakes.

"Hetsakais" is Swiss-German for "there is none." The grapes, however, are real. My dad used to say "Smart people learn from the mistakes of others; normal people learn from their own; dumb people never learn". So, I invite you to learn from my mistakes.

This is our open notebook: what we try, what we measure, what works, and what we learn along the way.

Read our story

From the ground up

Follow the wine.

Every stage has a story.
These are ours.

An engineer's approach to wine

A little intuition. A lot of observation.

Understanding the wine means following the numbers. Our laboratory, records, and analysis connect what happens in the vineyard to what ends up in the glass.

The wet lab bench: pH meter, SO2 titrator, magnetic stirrer, distiller and reagent cabinet
Then — the wet labpH meter, SO2 titrator, stirrer, distiller, reagents. One measurement at a time.
The dry lab bench: laptop, two centrifuges, a rack of sample vials, a benchtop spectrometer and a printer
Now — the dry labCentrifuges, sample vials, a benchtop spectrometer and a laptop. Hundreds of spectra a season.

The open notebook

Years of making.
Always learning.

Updates & feedback

Still climbing the learning curve.

And enjoying the view.
Share a thought with us
CHÂTEAUHetsakais

A small vineyard in Saratoga, California.
We focus on grapes instead.

Updates & Feedback