Not yet named and navigating these blogs
How NYN works
Not Yet Named subscribers vote on every important winemaking decisions that affect the style of each wine we make, they will then receive that wine once it’s ready!
“You can never make a ‘bad’ choice, the votes are stylistic and do not impact quality...”
Every time I am faced with a winemaking decision, I provide two or three good options to our subscribers that will affect the style of the wine along with all the advantages, disadvantages, risks, impact on flavor, etc. For example, when choosing where to mature the wine, our members can choose between a cleaner and fresher style aged in stainless steel or a more toasted and rounded wine from barrel aging. Then we put it to a vote and the majority wins! Subscribers can also vote on some fun things, like the name of the wine (hence Not Yet Named Wine Co), the label design, and sometimes the music we play to the barrels...
The Blogs
This series of blog posts will cover some of the most frequent decisions we've faced over previous six vintages, featuring direct excerpts from the emails that guided members through each choice. If we revisit these votes in future vintages, subscribers will be pointed back here for a refresher on the key principles—while the vintage-specific voting emails will focus only on the specific nuances relevant to that year’s vintage conditions and varietal nuances.
It should give new readers a sense of what our members go through to help create the wines we've made so far—along with a few reflections on the surprising things I’ve learned along the way. I’ll be focussing on the practicalities and realities of Not Yet Named winemaking behind the scenes. Some might call it the unromantic side of wine, but I think it’s sexy.
the decisions
We may add to this list over time, but here are the Top decisions that tend to come up again and again. I’ll do a post on each to start and add more as we continue the adventure:
Picking date
Destem or whole bunch press (White)
Malolactic fermentation
Yeast
Oak use versus stainless steel
Whole bunch fermentation (Red)
Punchdown schedules (Red)
Pressing
Blending
Closure
Before picking decisions are made, we often start with grape variety and/or vineyard. But those choices are so dependent on country, region, and winery that they’re harder to generalise, so that info will provided whenever we are faced with those specific decisions
sign up to take part!
about me
For context: I’m a serial dropout of formal wine education. I paused my WSET Diploma to study Oenology and Viticulture at Plumpton, and I’ve now paused that as Not Yet Named begins to take up most of my attention. So you're hearing from a wine student, an oenology student, and now a travelling winemaker across 5 continents—offering a perspective that’s somewhere in the middle of all of that.
And because of that, I genuinely welcome challenges. I wish I’d finished all the qualifications, and for those of you who have—please tell me when I’m wrong. I want to become the best winemaker I can be, and your feedback keeps me honest. That goes for this blog, too. I welcome your questions, your corrections, and anything that helps me explain my thinking more clearly.
