NICHE NICHE GOES TO APPALACHIA
The Wines…
Old Westminster Winery, Seeds & Skins (UPON ARRIVAL)
Region: Maryland
Grape: Pinot Gris
Old Westminster is a Family run winery that has been operating since 2011. Vineyards rest at 800' above the sea on channery loam soils overlaying a bedrock of greenstone schist. As it turns out, greenstone is a favorite of grapevines in the region, contributing intense aromatics and distinct minerality to the wines.
The wine:
Seeds and Skin is skin-fermented Pinot Gris. 100% Maryland grown. Natural Wine. Fermented with wild yeast & canned without fining or filtering.
1. Barboursville Vineyards, Vermentino Reserve Virginia 2017
Region: Virginia
Grape: Vermentino
Gianni Zonin, who hails from Piedmont, is the founder and CEO of Barboursville. He started the winery in 1977 and has now given the reins over to his three sons. Luca Paschina, the winemaker who is also from Piedmont, was highered in 1990 to restore and renew the vineyards. The 900 acres of vines are situated on the broad, rolling plateau and foothills of the Southwest Mountains in the Virginia Piedmont, running parallel with the Blue Ridge to the west. Soil structure is sedimentary rock of volcanic origin, and separate stratifications of sandstone and conglomerates, with sloping exposures of even greater variety. In the temperate mid-Atlantic weather of the growing region, this estate presents the Paschina with a dynamic mosaic of growing conditions.
The Wine:
Fermented and aged in stainless steel with 7-8 months of lees contact.
2. Lightwell Survey, Goodbye Horses Riesling 2018
Region: Virginia
Grapes: 91% Riesling and 9% Petit Manseng
Light well survey was started in the fall of 2015, with the first harvest in partnership with Early Mountain Vineyards, by partners Sebastian Zutant, Ben Jordan (Winemaker) and Jay Zutant.
The Wine:
Grapes are foot tread then whole cluster pressed. Juice racked relatively dirty and fermented with ambient yeasts in neutral puncheon. Wine left on lees in barrel for 7 months without SO2. Full malolactic. Bottled June 2019 with no tartrate or protein stabilization.
3. Early Mountain Vineyards, Young Wine Red 2019
Region: Virginia
Grapes: 90% Chambourcin and 10% Vidal Blanc
GRAPE NOTES: These are both Hybrid Grapes. Vidal Blanc was developed in the 1930s for the production of Cognac. It is a cross between the Vitis Vinifera varietal Ugni blanc (also known as Trebbiano Toscano) and another hybrid variety, Rayon d'Or (Seibel 4986). The cultivation date and parentage of the Chambourcin grape is unknown. However, we do know the grape is native to North America and has been available since 1963.
Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Early Mountain is a pristine 350 acre property surrounded by rolling hills and pastoral farms. Ben Jordan, who is also the winemaker for Lightwell Survey, oversees all aspects of winemaking and production at Early Mountain. He is a native Virginian who began his winemaking career in Sonoma County.
The Wine: The Chambourcin and Vidal Blanc are co-fermented carbonically in large neutral oak barrels.
4. Bluet, Sparkling Blueberry Wine
Region: Maine
Fruit: Blueberries!!!!
In 2014, Bluet was born of four decades of friendship between Michael Terrien and Eric Martin. The pair grew up together in Maine. They headed west after college and teamed up making wine in Napa for back-to-back harvests. Eric became a novelist and moved to North Carolina, while Michael continued making wine in California.
The Wine:
Made from 100% Maine wild blueberries – two pounds in every bottle. Wild blueberries have twice the antioxidants of “grocery store” hybridized blueberries, and great natural acidity. Martin and Terrien lay the wine to age in select oak barrels in the cellar of a barn on Damariscotta Lake (most of their barrels are imported from France, though they’re experimenting with a barrel made in Maine from Maine-grown white oak). Then, in late winter, the partners return to bottle their wine with small doses of yeast and sugar, prompting carbonation through fermentation, a process known as le méthode champenoise. In spring comes the hard work of disgorging, corking, and muzzling, all of it done by hand. Nothing is added to the wine other than yeast and the liqueur de tirage.
