The art of making wine from Merlot requires a careful avoidance of any over extractions of tannin from the fruit and seeds. Smith & Hooper choose to vinify in static fermenters while continually tasting the wine as it evolves. The skins are eventually pressed when the requisite structure and palate weight can be achieved without any distasteful tannin hardness. In pursuit of these soft tannins, Smith & Hooper are judicious in their barrel selection, maturing the finished wine for up to a year in a combination of new and older French oak hogsheads and barriques.