Forrest Kelly
The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast
Why He Lets Pinot Ferment Wild but Never Chardonnay Pt. 6
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Why He Lets Pinot Ferment Wild but Never Chardonnay Pt. 6

AI is coming for everything — but can it come for the cellar? Justin Ennis, Senior Director of Winemaking at Joseph Phelps Freestone Vineyards, tells Forrest Kelly where he'd welcome AI (the office, the sorting line, early vineyard detection) and where he

Forrest asks the question on everyone's mind: is AI finding its way into the vineyard? Justin embraces technology on the business side — presentations, emails, efficiency — and sees real potential in equipment applications like smarter sorting and earlier detection in the vineyard. But when it comes to handcrafting wine, he's protective. To Justin, AI is a recipe: put in the parameters, get a result. Wine's beauty lives in vintage variation, challenging seasons, and a little chaos. Strip out the creativity and you're making formulaic, boring wines.

Then the conversation turns to Justin's minimalist, low-intervention style. His philosophy: high-detail, attentive farming delivers fruit so good the wines nearly make themselves. He picks for natural acid and alcohol balance and avoids additions when he can — not hands-off, not lazy, just letting the vintage and the site dictate quality instead of heavy-handed winemaking.

One fascinating detail: the Pinot Noir ferments naturally on native yeast, but the Chardonnay gets inoculated — because every time he's let Chardonnay go wild, the fermentation got stuck. Adapting to what the circumstances give you, in action.

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