Greeting friends! Winter is upon us, and while our wine is snuggled safely in our new winery, fall has been quite the whirlwind, and winter looks to be pretty much the same. If you're pressed for time, here's our news in a nutshell: the wine from 2023 is really jam-packed with flavor, texture and aroma; we will be pouring tastes of our 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintages on Thursday January 25th at The City Foxes in Waynesboro VA; and we are offering that same 2019-2021 by mail order with free holiday shipping. But if you've got a minute to spare, please read on and thanks for your continued attention and support.
First Ferments Almost Finished
As you may know, we built ourselves a winery this year, and true to form, while the construction wasn't totally finalized it was "finished enough" to make wine. The wine we made is a barrel-fermented blend of 90% cabernet sauvignon and 10% petit verdot. The harvest timing was convenient, because a small quantity of PV was ready to pick a week ahead of the CS. So, we picked the PV on September 23rd and began fermentation. On September 30th we picked the cabernet and combined it with the already fermenting PV to kickstart the cabernet's transformation into wine. This sequence made for a lively and robust co-fermentation. Primary (alcoholic) fermentation is complete, but as is often the case with wines that are harvested later in the season, the cool temperatures have the secondary malolactic fermentation creeping along slowly and should wrap up by spring. The wine is thus far showing powerful tannins and cherry-infused aromatics. The cherry-quality is fairly typical of our cabernet at this early stage, however, the tannin and aromatics of this vintage have a real intensity, an almost physical presence. It will be very interesting to see how the vintage plays out as the aromas evolve and the structure of the wine softens with time.
A Vertical Tasting at the City Foxes
The "vertical" is a time-honored tradition of tasting wines from the same vineyard over successive vintages. Verticals are always a fun wine exploration, as we get to experience how the stylistic imprints of vintage weather are woven around the textural and aromatic elements that recur in grapes grown in the same plot of soil, year after year. We are super-stoked to be pouring tastes of our 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintages at The City Foxes in Waynesboro VA on Thursday January 25th from 6-8pm. The City Foxes is a beautifully appointed wine café featuring the work of regional artists and artisans, where you can grab bottles, have a seat and snack whilst you sip -- we're very proud to be on their shelves. And in case you didn't know it, Waynesboro is hip as heck nowadays, with a real focus on craft wine and beer, and definitely a fun place to spend the evening.
Free Shipping and a Vertical 2019,2020 and 2021
Speaking of the 2019-2021 vertical, we stealth-released our first "vertical" in early fall, and the wines are really singing right now (we "test" them regularly ourselves). This is a fascinating array of wines to taste because while they are clearly kin, they are also marked by the weather of the vintages that spawned them: mediterranean drought (2019), burgundian cold (2020), and mid-Atlantean ambivalence (2021). We are celebrating the holidays with free shipping through 12/31 on all orders over $100, just use the code WINTER23 at checkout. Please note we can ship to Virginia and DC only at this time. You can find the vertical 2019-2021 here and all other offerings here.
Curbside Pick-Up at Mount Alto
We will be at the vineyard from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon on Saturdays from December-March with the exception of Christmas weekend (to pick up on another day of the week, please call for an appointment). Click here for directions and general information. Please call or text us ahead of time at (804) 476-0883