Our goal, whether for wine or juice, is to produce something that is flavorful, true-to-variety and grown in a sustainable manner. In spite of the fact that we are harvesting Pinot Noir grapes that otherwise could be made into more expensive wine, harvesting for juice is fun; it gives us a preview of the upcoming harvest. We harvest Pinot Noir for juice at the same level of ripeness as sparkling wine; harvesting them earlier would result in less flavor and harvesting them later would make the juice too cloying. We cold filter these juices almost immediately so that the snappy fruit flavors of the harvest remain fresh; our Pinot tastes of strawberry and rhubarb with a little tang to the finish.
We first made varietal grape juice from our vines when our son, Aaron, was a toddler. Now, his little girls are enjoying Navarro grape juices. Not surprisingly Navarro wine grape juices are bottled just like the wine and sealed with a cork. Serve them well chilled and once open, the juices should be refrigerated.