Winemaking

Philosophy

We are big fans of "BIG" yet, balanced wines. With our wines, Longfellow looks to produce wines that have deep color and concentrated layers of aromas and flavors yet are balanced from start through finish. Our goal is to produce wines that will get better over time, but ones that you will be talking about after dinner and tell your friends about the next day. Our small varietal production allows Longfellow wines to be truly handcrafted from vineyard to bottle. Every aspect of the winemaking process is directed to produce wines true to their varietal heritage, but unique expressions of the vineyard and climate where they were grown.

As with all exceptional wines, the quality starts in the vineyard. With the Longfellow label, we committed that for each varietal, if high quality fruit could not be procured, the wine would not be made. Our ultimate case production will depend solely on the ability to source grapes from extraordinary vineyards. In pursuit of this goal, we have forged relationships with growers who are the foundation of our commitment to quality.

Winemaker - Rolando Herrera

Longfellow is very fortunate and proud to have Rolando Herrera as its winemaker. Rolando is the foundation of the Longfellow winemaking philosophy. He shares our singular goal of only producing exceptional wines of unique character. Rolando started his winemaking career at Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars as their cellar master. After graduating from the University of Stag’s Leap (as he puts it) where he learned the basics of the wine industry and winemaking, he moved on to become the associate winemaker at Chateau Potelle. From there, Rolando refined his personal winemaking style as the winemaker at Vine Cliff Winery and more recently as the Director of Winemaking for Paul Hobbs Consulting helping manage several limited production, ultra premium wine projects. For the last four years, Rolando has directed his energy at establishing and growing his own label, Mi Sueno, as well as several small production wineries who share his vision of producing quality wines made with great passion and love.