In the Retail Room
Save the date and come taste and learn with Jordan at the August Tasting Session! We're switching it up this time, and holding this tasting on a Thirsty Thursday - so take a three-day weekend and kick it off right with an awesome tasting with our awesome winemaker! Thursday, August 20 (6-9ish pm) is the next session of our 2015 Tasting Series with Jordan, and we're celebrating the winemaker's artistry by focusing on blends. Why do blends exist? What is their place in the world of wine? What is the meaning of them? Well, we're going to explore all of that in this session! Just $75 for an incredible tasting. MORE INFO HERE. PLUS: tasty bites from the Wine Kitchen to enjoy prior to the tasting during the reception hour from 6-7 pm. Don't miss this one! Check out the full season and details HERE.
On Friday, August 14, between 7 am and 11 am, our winemaker Jordan Harris will hold court with My Fox 5 in Historic Leesburg, VA. Come on out to the Marshall House in Historic Leesburg in the morning and be part of the LIVE audience as Jordan waxes poetic on all things wine! MORE DETAILS HERE.
For just a taste of what one can expect when sitting Jordan down for a one-on-one, check out this in depth interview with our favorite Canadian from the Terroirist, a daily wine blog, RIGHT HERE. Vocal and transparent? You betcha!
And it's never too soon to get in gear for Loudoun County's Food and Wine Festival, Epicurience Virginia! Held over Labor Day Weekend, this is a festival like no other, where insiders come to savor award-winning wines and seek out noteworthy farm-to-table cuisine. Taste the finest in Virginia wines, meet top tastemakers and master winemakers, sample cuisine prepared by celebrated chefs from around the country. MORE INFO HERE.
Also, if you haven't had the chance to make our Friday Night Flights on the Deck, delay no longer! We're rolling through October with flights of whites, reds, and mixin-n-matchin reds and whites, bottle service, food created by the Wine Kitchen, bumping music, and an all around awesome atmosphere. Come out and rock out! It's a good time, and who knows, you may just see a Sasquatch!
Want to taste some wine in a relaxed, elegant setting, overlooking a gorgeous property? Well, check out our Premier Tastings every Saturday at 1 pm and 4 pm. Each Premier Tasting is limited to 12 tasters so book a reservation today! Don’t forget, Vine Club members receive 50% off the tasting price. Contact us HERE to book a spot. Hope to see you all soon! Cheers!
In the Club
It's always a good Sunday, but it's an especially good Sunday hanging out in the Vine Club Lounge 1 - 5 pm every week! Grab a bottle, grab some bites from the Wine Kitchen, and chill out with other members in our Great Room as we wind down the weekend, recharging the proverbial batteries for the work week. It's the perfect chance to grab a special bottle from our Library Selection, or from the Winemakers Select Bin series, and just chill, man... See you there! Cheers!
At the Show
Our 2015 Summer Concert Series is rolling now and has really picked up steam! After a soggy start in June, the shows are REALLY ROCKIN' now! Last weekend Bruce in the USA was absolutely ON FIRE! This weekend's show sees the return of Almost Queen, the ultilmate Queen tribute band. If you missed these gents last year, don't make the same mistake again - you'll thank yourself later! And the Boneyard is taking over! It's the best way to spend your Saturday evening, so grab a blanket and the lawn chairs, and head to the Concert and rock out LoCo style! Cheers!
Check out the full lineup HERE. All killer - no filler!
Remember, if you’re a Vine Club member, you get a two person season pass for $50 – perfect for bringing and entertaining the in-laws, neighbors, out-of-town visitors, or 12-year-old kids! Get your 2015 Summer Concert Season Pass HERE! It’s gonna rock and roll all night (or at least until 9 pm or so…)
In the Vineyard
We are getting to the final stage of the season. This is the time of year that we start to see if all of the hard work all summer might pay off. This point of the growing season is called veraison and it is when the grapes start to change color, the skins soften and the grapes start to accumulate sugar. It is when all the magic starts to show itself in the grapes taste and appearance. If you didn’t do a great job all summer it is likely veraison will show all your disappointment. If you were diligent and tended the vines with the care they need, it is a blissful time.
This year so far hasn’t been easy but then again no year really is. Having challenges doesn’t mean it has been bad, just very labor intensive. If you didn’t give it that labor, then it would likely be bad. People keep asking me what all this rain has been doing and it really is a twofold answer. In the best spots where the drainage is great like the hill block and most of the pond block the rain has not been all that influential. It has left the vines with sufficient water but nothing looks like it has absorbed too much. In some areas it has mean that there is excessive vegetative growth. The key to growing quality fruit is balance. One of the key elements to balance is canopy to fruit ratios. This year in many places the vine has wanted to grow too much canopy. When the canopy gets to be too unruly than the plant must put the energy it is up-taking into the foliage instead of the fruit. This causes us to have to hedge more often to keep that balance. The tough part to hedging too much is that the vine then also pushes what are called lateral shoots that are essentially shoots coming out of shoots. This makes the canopy too dense and hard to get airflow. The lack of airflow creates issues with mildew in wet and humid years like this year. So, not only do you have to hedge but then also thin laterals. This year has taken multiple passes of each, but now that we are on the tail end of that work we will likely see it was all worthwhile.
The other big charge this year versus the last several are that our crop load is far heavier. The economists out there will say, “What are you complaining about?” The quality minded producers will realize that given the vintage there is no way we can ripen all this fruit. Now is when we will have to go through and drop roughly the last 30-40% of the fruit to makes its way through veraison. It is a painful thing to see this fruit lying on the ground but we know in the end it is what we need to do to ensure a quality vintage. With that we do still expect it to be more plentiful that any vintage since 2009 in Nevaeh and Tranquility.
Essentially we have 5-6 weeks before we start making the final decision to decide the fate of 2015. We expect we will start to harvest Chardonnay either the first or second week of September. That is pretty much on pace with the average for us. Please start doing your rain dances to push any moisture away. Until now it has been fine (and actually benefitted vines planted this year) but now it needs to stop.
In the Cave
Bottling and cleaning. This is our final month before we remember what it is like to work 16 hour days 7 days per week. This coming weekend we will do our final bottling of the year with Nevaeh Red 2013, Tranquility Red 2013, Killer Cluster Syrah 2013, Killer Cluster Sasquatch 2013, Nevaeh White 2014 and Killer Cluster MarRou 2014. These wines are special. We are especially excited about the 2014 wines. You might notice that there is no Chardonnay 2014 and that is simply because it was all so incredibly delicious and perfect representations of Nevaeh. It is all in there.
One we are done bottling we will simply spend the next 5-6 week cleaning, cleaning and cleaning. We are pretty much ready for harvest to start at any time now. We still need to take possession of our new barrels and makes sure our older barrels are in fine form, but other than that we are now in the calm before the storm.
I guess what I am saying is it is time for Tim and Jordan to head over to the concerts and enjoy the Tarara property before they get locked away for the fall.
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