September Winery and Vineyard Update
Happy Harvest, Everyone!
This is one of the more rewarding times of the year as we focus our attention on picking grapes and making wine. These two aspects are why many of us get into the industry - sales are typically an afterthought.
Wine grape harvest is exciting in whatever region of the world you may be, but Virginia has some unique qualities that define our terroir. The biggest factor is nature and how wildly different each vintage is. Precipitation, temperature extremes, invasive and noninvasive species have eliminated the term “normal growing season” from our repertoire. This is why growers and winemakers in VA are some of the finest in the world as there is no room for complacency. The seasonal challenges we experience force us to adapt our practices, decisions and style each year, but our focus on quality fruit and wine production never waiver.
We finished picking this past Sunday! The wines coming out of fermentor are absolutely delicious. We were blessed with another high quality and slightly higher yielding vintage than last year.
This is one of the earliest vintages in recent memory. We started picking Chardonnay clones 10 and 17 on August 7th for sparkling wine. This may be one of the reasons you don’t see more sparkling wine producers in the state because it adds a whole month onto what is already a long harvesting period. Chardonnay clone 96 was the next block to be picked 7 days later. We kept the clones separate for blending purposes and all are aging in neutral French oak for roughly 10 months. Other than stirring and topping once a month these wines are considered buttoned up until June, at which point we will blend them and put them into tirage to be made into champagne method sparkling wine.
Chenin Blanc and Roussane came in the window at the same time this year. In 2023 Roussanne was the last white to come in by a large margin, however, this year it was ripe the third week of August so we picked it the same day as the Chenin. Both wines will be still and single varietal, although my daughter has these as options for blending components for her “Lucienne” white blend she's making for you all.
The feedback from my wife on the 2023 Sauvginon Blanc was that it could use slightly less acid and a touch more fruit on the olfactory, Thus, our 2024 Sauvignon Blanc was picked a bit riper and has met the two parameters set in place by the chairman - don't worry though I put a two case limit on her!
We have 3 clones of Merlot all of which express much different cluster morphology and chemistry. We picked clone 3 for Rosé the last week of August. It tends to crop heavier, retains more acid and generates slightly lower sugars than clones 181 and 348, making it perfect for Rosé. This wine is almost done fermenting and has a beautiful nose, palate and lovely pink hue. You can look forward to “Rosie’s Rosé.” I’m still on the fence about making a portion of it into sparkling wine - we’ll see how it shakes out after primary fermentation.
Before the last respite from rain we picked the remainder of our Merlot and Cabernet Franc for red wine. Both came in riper than last year and are going to make powerful wines.
The last two hanging were Petit Verdot and Cabernet Sauvignon. We picked the PV on Saturday and the Cab on Sunday. Given the rain that was in the forecast and what we are currently experiencing, I’m happy we brought them in. Skin integrity is very important in red wine making. The tannins in the skin are responsible for the color, texture, depth and age ability of red wines. If the skins are compromised in any way then so too will be the resulting wine.
Although we are finished picking there is still a lot of cellar activity with fermentation management, pressing /barreling down reds, racking whites and making a sparkling cider! I love cider and have made many iterations of it over the years. This version will be made from Arkansas Black, Black Twig, Winesap, Gold Rush, and Hewes Crab, made in the charmat method - similar to our sparkling C2.
Two days prior to picking the Chard on August 7th we finished bottling 950 cases of our 2023 Red wines. More impressive than getting the wine into bottle in one day, was squeezing them into our very modest warehouse under the tasting room. We’ve been pouring samples of the five wines in the tasting room on weekends so please come by to taste them if you haven't already.
The first of the 2023 reds to be released (in the 4th quarter club package) will be the 2023 Vintner’s Blend. Similar to the 2016 and 2022 blends this is Cabernet Franc heavy, fruit forward and smooth on the palate. Due to the vintage it does possess a degree of weight and concentration that the previous two vintages do not. The Merlot, Cabernet Franc and two red blends will be released gradually in the new year.
As always, thank you for helping to make this dream a reality.
Sincerely ,
Theo and the Capstone Family