Balistreri Winery

I photographed John Balistreri, owner of Balistreri Vineyards, in Denver for Luxe Magazine. The location was kind of a crazy one in the middle of an industrial area, but I guess as long as you have a cellar you can make wine anywhere. They purchase their grapes from growers in the Grand Valley Viticultural Area located in Western Colorado. They are a small winery producing 4500 cases per year. One unique aspect to their wines is that they are fermented on their own yeast, unaltered by sulfites, unfiltered, and aged in American oak.

We set up the shoot in the cellar of the winery where many of the wine barrels were stored. It was rather challenging at times getting our lights to hit where we wanted them while you had huge stacks of barrels in the way. Luxe selected the first shot to be used in the magazine.