Winegrowing for Clos Mimi is inspired firsthand by the most unadulterated winemaking traditions of Bordeaux, Burgundy, Châteauneuf du Pape, Côte Rotie, and, bien sûr, Hermitage, the holy place of pure Syrah itself. The wines and philosophies of Lalou Bize-Leroy, Henri Bonneau, Marcel and Philippe Guigal, Michel Chapoutier and Alberic Mazoyer, the Jaboulet family, and Gérard and Jean-Louis Chave have greatly influenced the vogue for Clos Mimi.

If one attempts to label Clos Mimi's winemaking style, it falls somewhere between Pagan, Pauillac, and Port-like. First and foremost, Clos Mimi has tremendous respect for the seasons of the year, the phases of the moon, and Rudolph Steiner's lectures on biodynamic agriculture. Hence, in accordance with nature's rhythms, dates for harvesting the grapes, pressing the grapes, racking the barrels, and bottling the wine are carefully singled out ahead of time. Secondly, Clos Mimi consciously employs multiple winemaking techniques common to the finest châteaux in Bordeaux. For example, judicious amounts of sulphur dioxide before fermentation, complete destemming, warm fermentation temperatures, extended maceration, separation of press wine, thin-staved barrels, and barrel-to-barrel rackings play leading roles in extracting and preserving fruit and terroir in a classic vintage. Thirdly, Clos Mimi insists on harvesting Syrah with super-ripe tannins. Therefore, courtesy of Paso Robles' très chaud climate, grapes for Clos Mimi contain very high sugars, which are inevitably converted into substantial alcohols. These lofty alcohol levels are concealed under slabs of fruit and long-chained tannins. Intensity of fruit is further achieved by gently treading the grapes by foot, a labor-intensive tradition performed at Quinta do Noval. Since Clos Mimi's 1999 harvest, treading by foot during pre-fermentation soak and the better part of fermentation eliminates the need to mechanically crush the berries while destemming. Pigeage (as "treading by foot" is known in France) allows the winemaker to sense the varying temperatures of fermentation and, in the end, to reconnect himself with the spiritual elements of fire, earth, air, and water. Cellar practices at Clos Mimi draw inspiration from pre-phylloxera traditions practiced in Hermitage, Côte Rotie, Musigny, and Clos de la Roche. These include the use of must sulfiting, indigenous yeasts, pigeage, pre-fermentation and post-fermentation maceration, indigenous malolactic fermentation in barrel, 18 - 36 months élévage in 100% Seguin Moreau 225-liter château and 205-liter champenoise barrels, gravity-fed barrel-to-barrel rackings, and gravity-fed hand bottling with very low free sulphur dioxide levels. Wines are never acidulated, fined, nor filtered. Pumping the must and wine is kept to an absolute minimum. Beginning with the 2002 vintage, Clos Mimi has implemented significantly lower yields in the vineyard, a smaller barrel size with a high percentage of new oak to simulate nineteenth century Hermitage barrel aging practices, a longer élévage, less soutirage, a shorter period of bottle aging, and 100% gravity flow from harvest to bottle. The wines are intended for medium to long term cellaring thanks to well-preserved fruit, ripe grape tannins, well-integrated oak tannins, lofty alcohols, high pHs, and low TAs.