Visit to Carriage House Cooperage

After our visit to Exultet, we drove to Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Company, located east of Waupoos on a fork of Prince Edward County. There we ran into the couple with whom we shared our B & B with, Marina and Manoush. The cheeses we tasted were excellent and just the thing we needed for a little sustenance to tide us over for more tastings. Our next destination was 66 Gilead, a distillery that was recommended to us by Kathleen, our B & B hostess. When we arrived, there was a sign on the door that said, "Back in 5 minutes" and as we looked around the place, we saw a sign that said, "Carriage House Cooperage". Wow, we thought, how convenient, a cooperage, let's check it out.

We ran into Pete, who gave us a friendly wave and said, "Come on in" and gave us a tour of his cooperage. He mentioned that he sources Canadian oak and ages it outdoors for 4 years. Pete said that most of the oak that he gets is at least 170 years old and some of the oak can be 380 years old. Pete makes his oak barrels for many of the wineries located on Prince Edward County and he mentioned that he had an order to fill for Closson Chase. Pete also mentioned that the distillary, 66 Gilead also uses his barrels and that Sophia was really pleased with the outcome of one of the barrels. We thanked Pete for taking time off from his barrel making to talk with us and then walked over to 66 Gilead.

Morning Visit to Exultet

The following morning we went to visit Exultet Estates. When we entered the winery, we were warmly greeted by Gerry and his two sons, Mario and Joseph. Gerry invited us into his winery and showed us the equipment he uses and said that he is learning how to make wine from his sons. This is really a family effort and it was apparent that Mario and Joseph enjoyed being with their father. Mario, who is eleven years old, already has aspirations of being an enologist. It's wonderful to see the beginnings of a family tradition in

the making. As we got to talking, we learned that in a former life, Gerry was a pharmacologist! He lead us into his barrel room, which was originally a cheesemaking barn and gave us barrel tastings of his Pinot Noir. The clarity of the Pinot was amazing. There were still a lot of tannins, indicative of the aging potential of the Pinot. Mario showed me the fossils that he and Joseph found in the vineyard---this is limestone based terroir, alright! Gerry's 2009 Chardonnay won the Ontario Gold Medal in 2011 and unfortunately for us, it was sold out. We did a tasting of Gerry's bottled wines and purchased a 2010 Blessed Chardonnay, 2010 Beloved Pinot Noir, 2009 Pinot Noir PEC, and his icewine. The time was advancing to the noon hour and Lia came in to call the boys for lunch, it was Joseph's birthday! Before we left, Mario and Joseph gave us a surprise that I will feature in a future blogpost, so stay tuned!

Wine Tasting at Closson Chase

It took about 3 hours for us to drive from the Niagara region to Prince Edward County (PEC). No, don't confuse it with Prince Edward Island, like we initially did. We visited PEC because they are growing grapes and making wine here. PEC is practicing some extreme viticulture. In order to grow grapes on this island, they have to bury their grapevines at the end of the growing season and then unearth the vines during spring. Amazing! Makes Connecticut feel almost tropical by comparison. Our first stop was at Closson Chase where Nick Bertrand kindly gave us a tour of the winemaking facility. Back at the tasting room, we did a side-by-side tasting of their Chardonnay from the Beamsville Bench, Niagara River and PEC and a side-by-side tasting of their Pinot Noir from the Niagara River, PEC and PEC Churchside vineyard. We were doing our tasting next to this wonderful lady who obviously knew all about how to sniff and taste the wine.

2009 Bachelder Niagara Chardonnay

Mary Delaney gave us a list of restaurants that we should go to when we were in Ontario. On our last night in Jordan, we went to Zest located in Fonthill. The wine list at Zest had the Bachelder wines. The staff at Zest had great things to say about Mary Delaney. The connection is that she is married to winemaker, Thomas Bachelder. We ordered the 2009 Bachelder Niagara Chardonnay and wanted to pair our food with the wine. My husband had the halibut and I had the chicken. The description, "Grilled free range chicken breast with an ice wine mint jus, onion, chili compote and chive puree" was enticing and it was decidedly the BEST chicken I have ever eaten! It was the perfect complement for the Bachelder Niagara Chardonnay which to me was of lemon and tart apples on the nose with a dose of minerality on the palate. Thomas Bachelder makes Chardonnay from three different terroirs, Oregon, Burgundy and Niagara and calls it the Bachelder Project. A very interesting interview conducted by Konrad Ejbich just shortly before the Bachelder Project Chardonnays were released at the LCBO can be found here: Pro and Kon. Our visit to the Niagara region was very eye opening to us. They are making some excellent wines here! The people are so friendly, we had a wonderful visit. If you're a foodie and a wine geek, I highly recommend a trip to Niagara, ON!

Visit with François Morissette at Pearl Morissette

In the afternoon, while we were in our room at the Inn, we received a phone call from François Morissette. Yeay! We want to meet François because he is making Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in Ontario's Jordan on the Bench. We knew that François spent time in the Cote d’Or working for Frédéric Mugnier, a highly respected grower based in Chambolle-Musigny, whose vineyards produce some of the world's most coveted Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. When we got in our car and punched in the location, the Garmin asked, "Walk or drive". Ha ha ha. We chose to drive. We first went into the wrong driveway and were politely told, try the other driveway and there we met François.

True to Burgundian viticulture, François has planted his Pinot Noir using a relatively tight 3x4 foot spacing. In order to manage the 4 feet between rows, François has this special tractor, which can take care of two rows in a single pass. He informed us that if we would like one of these, he would be the sales contact. We told him about the tall grafted vines that we had ordered from Mercier and he was interested in hearing why we chose to get tall grafted vines.

We also asked François about the possibility of growing Pinot Noir in Connecticut. François thought that it should be possible, but it would be up to us. François said that he has learned that growing Pinot Noir in Ontario is vastly different from growing Pinot Noir in Burgundy. He praised Southbrook, especially vineyard manager Scott, whose vineyards are biodynamically farmed. François treated us to barrel tastings of his wines. We found his 2011 Cabernet Franc to be sublime! From meeting all these people, who are generously sharing with us their winemaking techniques, we are learning that there is no recipe for making quality wine. The vintage will tell you what you need to do to cajole your grapes into the best expression of that year.

Visiting Brian Hamilton at Southbrook Estate Winery

Our interest in Southbrook Estate Winery was spurred on by a YouTube video that we saw of the Criveller Estasi Crusher/Destemmer in action. Robert at Criveller gave us Ann's contact information at Southbrook and Ann arranged for us to visit with Brian, the assistant winemaker. The other reason that Southbrook interested us was because they use biodynamic practices in their vineyard.

It was a beautiful morning and Brian was walking the vineyard when we arrived at Southbrook. He greeted us with a friendly "hello" and we immediately got into a discussion about everything! He showed us the biodynamic preparations and explained what each of the preparations did. He also showed us their vineyard sprayer for the biodynamic preparations. Then we went into the winery and Brian showed us how they used the Estasi and the shaker tables. We discussed how a smaller operation like ours might use the shaker table in conjunction with the Estasi.

Brian gave us some barrel tasting and told us that the fermentation was with indigenous yeast. Nothing beats a barrel tasting to learn how a grape variety tastes before blending. While we were in the winery, we also met Scott, the intrepid biodynamic vineyard manager. The summers in Niagara can be very humid and we wonder how they keep the powdery and downy mildew in check. Our hats are off to Southbrook Estate Winery and their staff! We don't know how they do it but we're going to try in Connecticut, because it MUST be easier here than in Niagara!

Icewine Tasting at Royal DeMaria

After our visit to Colaneri, we followed Mike to Royal DeMaria for icewine tasting. When we arrived at the door, there was a sign saying "By Chance or Appointment". Fortunately, Ainsworth, who was working in the field saw Mike and drove his tractor up to the tasting room and opened the door for us. We tasted icewine made from 7 different varieties and they all had their distinct flavor. I have to admit that after the first three icewines, I was already feeling giddy from the sugar high and it was the change to the Cabernet Franc that saved me from palate fatigue. The icewines were sweet and had a

good balance of acidity which saved it from being cloying. We purchased a few icewines because we just couldn't resist! Back at our Inn, my husband asked me if I had seen the writing on the blackboard. Of course, without

my glasses on, I cannot see 8 feet in front of me so the answer was "No", but I did capture what he was referring to in this photo on the right. I know it's a little blurry, but you can see it: In the Billy Myers series, there is a bottle of 2000 Chardonnay Icewine retailing for $250,000.00!
The icewines are made by Joseph DeMaria, a former hairdresser turned winemaker. There is more information on these extraordinary icewines and Joseph DeMaria icewinemaker at the Royal DeMaria website and also at Royal DeMaria: Canada's Icewine Specialist.

Visiting Colaneri and Meeting Winemaker Andrzej Lipinski

We followed Robert to Colaneri Estate Winery, to meet with their winemaker Andrzej Lipinski, who uses equipment made by Criveller, including the Estasi destemmer/crusher that we were interested in. Andrzej gave high marks to the Estasi and said that he also doesn't use the crusher until after the grapes have gone through the destemmer and are carefully sorted to ensure selection of the best quality grapes. Andrzej uses the appasimento process of drying the grapes in modified tobacco kilns in his winemaking. The appasimento process is used by the Italians to make Amarone, but here at Colaneri, a portion of the grapes are treated in this manner and blended back into the wine. The result is a bevy of trophy winners garnered by Colaneri:

Mike from Toronto had joined us at this point and we were treated to a barrel/tank tasting of Andrzej's 2011 Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc, and Reisling which would soon be bottled.

We also tasted their wines---nothing quite like it! While we were tasting, co-owner Betty Colaneri stopped by to chat with Robert and they were both wearing the same chartreuse colored apparel. Great minds think alike! Read more about Andrzej Lipinski and his unique style of winemaking in an article called Kiln Dried which appeared in Tidings on September 21, 2011.

Afternoon Meeting with Robert Begin of Criveller

In the afternoon, we met with Robert Begin of Criveller to look at their destemmer/crusher from Milani called the Estasi. In the photo at the bottom is a side view of the Estasi on the left, and a top view showing the conveyer with fingers, on the right. We don't intend to crush any of the grapes and only want the destemmer portion of the Estasi. Robert said that it is possible for the Estasi to come without the crusher and if we decide to get the crusher, it can be field installed at a later date.

The way that the Estasi works is that the conveyer transports a metered amount of grape bunches into a slot which then goes over a metal grate which pulls intact grapes off of the rachis. The photo below shows the view of the Estasi from the bottom on the left and a view of the fingers and metal grate that does the grape removal on the right. On the photo at the right, you can just see where the conveyor fingers meet the metal grate.

Robert was kind enough to make an arrangement for us to see an Estasi at Colaneri Estate Winery and meet with Andrzej Lipinski, the winemaker. Next stop, Colaneri!

A Visit with Natalie Spytkowsky Winemaker at Rosewood Estates Winery and Meadary

Our next stop with Darryl Fields was to visit Rosewood Estates Winery and Meadery where Natalie Spytkowsky is the winemaker. Natalie uses the EuroSelect to destem their grape clusters.

Behind the scenes, there was an impressive array of variable top tanks lined against the wall in an immaculately clean facility, a stellar example of winery sanitation practices in real life.
Natalie explained how they made their wine and then gave us a tasting. We started with Riesling, then a

Riesling made with an addition of sussreserve, Semillon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Estate Merlot and two kinds of mead. Wow, they make some really good wine in Ontario---who knew! Natalie has an infectious laugh that makes me smile whenever I think of our visit at Rosewood Estates.

North to Canada---First Stop with Darryl Fields and the EuroSelect

When we were at the Wineries Unlimited Conference, we spoke with Mary Delaney of Bouchard Cooperages and told her that we would be attending a Winery Sanitation Workshop in Portland, NY. She suggested that we visit Niagara-on-the-Lake at the same time and gave us a list of restaurants as well as places to stay. We had other business in Ontario, such as visiting Criveller and EuroMachines so we extended our trip by visiting Canada. With passports in hand, we were welcomed at the border crossing by a torrent of hail.

The following morning, we met Darryl Fields(Vines to Vintages Inc) in the lobby of our hotel and he took us to see a new winery construction that he oversaw. Seeing this layout is instructive because this winery will be producing about the same number of cases that we will be. We saw how the winery was outfitted. We were especially interested in the EuroSelect, a new type of destemmer/crusher. The EuroSelect works by placing your grapes in a hopper. The conveyor belt which has holes in it moves the grape bunches up to two sets of "fingers" which turns in a direction opposite to the conveyor and gently removes whole grapes from the rachis. The speed of the conveyor belt as well as the fingers can be adjusted to optimally remove the grapes.

Winery Sanitation Workshop

We spent the evening at Findley Lake and when we got up the next morning, I looked out the window and told my husband that it had snowed. He didn't believe me, but it got real for him soon enough! This is really worrisome for people with vineyards because this past winter was really warm and this spring has been amazingly warm. When we visited Cameron Hosmer, he mentioned that he had to hire helicopters to buzz his vineyard to stir up the air when there was a frost warning a few weeks ago.

We arrived at the CLEREL facility in Portland, NY right on time and checked in. There were about 50 people attending the class. The agenda for the class is shown at the right. Denise Gardner began the Workshop with some sanitation terminology and the proper use of the terms, "clean", "sanitize" and "sterilize". The way to keep spoilage at bay is to maintain the proper level of cleanliness. The current sanitation protocols are moving away from the use of chlorinated agents due to the formation of trichloroanisole or TCA, the smell associated with cork taint. The water used to clean a winery should also be tested for chlorine, since this could also lead to TCA formation. Anna Katherine Mansfield followed with a session on the microbiology of spoilage, the organisms involved, the flaws that they could create in the wine and how to prevent or ameliorate the impact of the flaw. Chris Gerling's session was on the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and how to prepare the sanitizers. He also mentioned the use of the ATP bioluminescence reaction as a rapid method for testing the cleanliness of the winery environment.
After a brief respite for lunch, we reconvened for the last session of the workshop which was the sensory analysis of wine flaws in both red and white wines. I really enjoyed taking this workshop.

Hector Wine Company

After lunch at the Red Newt Bistro, we went to the Hector Wine Company, just up the road. Tina Hazlitt said that we should check it out because their son Jason is the co-owner of the winery and in charge of marketing. Justin Boyette, the winemaker and co-owner was in the winery when we arrived and he showed us the new oak fermentation tanks that they recently took possession of and then gave us a tasting. While we were there, a steady stream of visitors arrived.
After that, we were on the move again. We made our way to Findley Lake, NY on the Southern Tier Highway, an hour away from Portland, NY where the Winery Sanitation Workshop was held the following day. Take note of the ominous dark clouds. They will come into play soon.

Sawmill Creek Vineyards

Our next stop was at Sawmill Creek Vineyards where we met with Tina and Eric Hazlitt. We met them at the Eastern Winery Exposition dinner where we sat at the same table and discovered that we had something in common. We lived in the Finger Lakes in the early 80's. Tina gave us her card and said that if we were in the Finger Lakes region, we should look them up. When we arrived at Sawmill Creek Vineyards, we noticed a sign on their door that said, "Not a Winery". Tina said that they had to put up that sign when they had so many people stopping for a wine tasting! Tina and Eric are grape growers and we stopped to look at the types of grapes they were growing. While we know the white varieties we will be growing, we are still undecided about the red variety that we would like to grow, so visiting the Hazlitts is part of our education. Tina gave us a tour of the vineyard, pointing out the various grape varieties that they grow. Both Eric and Tina remarked that although they do grow Pinot Noir, it is definitely, in Eric's words, "a heartbreak grape."

After the vineyard tour, Tina mentioned that we should go up the street to the Red Newt Bistro. The Red Newt Bistro features some wines made using Sawmill Creek Vineyard fruit. My husband and I split some appetizers and he had the Sawmill Creek Vineyard Red flight and I had the Pinot Noir flight. The Sawmill Creek Vineyard Red flight was a 2007 Cabernet Franc, 2007 Syrah and 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. My husband was partial to the 2007 Syrah. Something interesting that both the Hazlitts and Cameron Hosmer mentioned was that they have seen that when they leave twice as much fruit and more canopy, their Cabernet Franc tastes better. Interesting!

In the Finger Lakes Meeting Cameron Hosmer

Our next appointment was with Cameron Hosmer. Since we made our way from Connecticut to Geneva, New York, the previous day, it was about a half hour drive to reach Hosmer Winery where we had an appointment with Cameron Hosmer. He and his son can do laser guided planting and we had a few questions for him. Since we are doing tall grafts, we were wondering if Cameron's equipment could handle that. Cameron said that he is getting some new equipment from Wagner (currently somewhere over the Atlantic on it's way to the Finger Lakes) that he felt confident could handle our tall grafts. Cameron gave us a tour of his vineyards, showed us his winery and gave us a taste of Cayuga fermenting in insulated milk tanks that can hold 2000 gallons. The Cayuga was very nice, a little fizzy, indicating that it was still fermenting, but there was none of the foxiness one associates with hybrid varieties.

The trick, according to Cameron and his winemaker is to pick the grape at around 17 Brix.
It was a beautiful spring day. Our next appointment was with Eric and Tina Hazlitt of Sawmill Creek Vineyards, located in Hector, New York, on the east side of Seneca Lake.

Since Hosmer Winery is located on the west side of Cayuga Lake, it was just a short drive to reach Sawmill Creek Vineyards. But along the way, we saw some interesting and inspiring sights, such as this Amish farmer tilling his land. As we drove further along the rather deserted country road, we saw the following amazing site. Sitting on a fencepost was this hawk. We passed her/him once and decided to turn around to see if we could get a photo. S(h)e stood perfectly still long enough for us to get this portrait.

Checking out Black Locust for Fence Posts

We were on the move again making our way to Portland, New York to attend a Winery Sanitation Workshop, at CLEREL (more on this in a future blogpost).
We drove from Connecticut to New York. Our first stop was a black locust lumber provider. We want to use black locust for our vineyard because of it's natural longevity it doesn't need any chemical preservatives. We met Tom at his lumberyard. It was brutually cold and he had let his crew go home for the day. We saw mountains of black locust.

Tom showed us some 10 foot x 4-6 inch logs. We really liked the idea of locust posts...until we saw them. They were crooked and they came with the bark still on them. Tom said that he could take the bark off, but then it would cost us $25.00 a post! Time to rethink vineyard posts. Sigh. My husband said, "That's why we go to see them first hand." Next stop, Finger Lakes.

More Information on Tall Grafted Grapevines

After some research on vineyards in our Southeastern New England AVA using tall grafted grapevines (Close Encounter with Tall/High Grafts, Visit with Rob Russell at Westport Rivers), we decided to order our grapevines from Mercier Nursery in Vacaville, CA. When we went to Vacaville in January of this year, Sebastian and Franco were in the midst of harvesting the rootstock (The Clones are Coming).
When we met Sebastian at the Wineries Unlimited Meeting in Richmond, VA, Sebastian said that he has an article (in German) on tall grafts. I recently did a Google search and found that a nursery in New Zealand called Ormond Nursery and Elite Nursery in Australia are providing their customers with tall grafted grapevines. There is more information on the links that gives details about the benefits of using tall grafted grapevines.

Meeting Mike McAndrew---Winemaker at Stonington Vineyards

Following our meeting with Nick and Happy Smith of Stonington Vineyards, we met with Mike McAndrew, winemaker and Jim, assistant winemaker.

It was a beautiful spring day. Mike and Jim showed us around the winery. They have a new EuroPress that handles up to 24 hectoliters (or about 5000 pounds) of grapes an hour. He mentioned that when they had a problem with the EuroPress, Paul, the service representative was there within 24 hours and fixed the problem. For us, the after purchase service of a major piece of equipment is just as important as the equipment itself, so it was good to hear that EuroMachines has such prompt service. Mike also has a new Cima sprayer for the vineyard and we got a closeup look at the sprayer. Visiting wineries and talking with the winemakers is giving us a good idea of the types of equipment that we will need when we get our winery up and running.

2008 Dehlinger Russian River Valley Chardonnay

We had the 2008 Dehlinger Russian River Valley Chardonnay with cedar plank smoked sockeye salmon with a cilantro pesto dressing. That was a delicious pairing, but we also really enjoyed sipping it with the dessert which was fresh strawberries and blackberries on crème fraiche. We purchased the bottle of wine from the Wine Emporium in Sebastopol when we went there in January on our way to attend the Unified Wine and Grape Symposium in Sacramento.

Weygandt Wines in DC

While we were in Richmond, we went to Arlington to meet up with our son and his fiancé for the weekend. On Saturday evening, we took the Metro to Cleveland Park to meet them for dinner at Ripple, but before that, we went to Weygandt Wines.

We met our son at Weygandt and Warren gave us a tasting. We tasted Aligoté, an Albert Mann Cremant, and a 2004 Nicholas Joly Savenneires. This was our first taste of all the wines. I had never tasted an Aligoté before. Later, I learned that Aligote, grown in Burgundy is descended from Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc. This is interesting because Chardonnay as well as Auxerrois are also of Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc parentage. The Nicholas Joly was very yellow in the glass, suggestive of oxidation. I liked the wine but I was the only one that voiced that opinion. We liked the Cremant and bought a bottle to take to our dinner reservation at Ripple. If you are in Washington, D.C. stop by at Weygandt. They have an eclectic selection of good and reasonably priced wines. You might also be in time for a tasting!

Wine Tasting at Linden Hardscrabble Vineyard

After attending the Wineries Unlimited show, we made our way to Linden Vineyards. We had a tasting of their wines and then sat on their veranda for a snack consisting of a delicious baguette, Grayson cheese and sausage with a glass of Hardscrabble Chardonnay and Hardscrabble Red.

We walked the vineyards a little and saw that their Chardonnay were lyre trained as well as VSP trellised and then we ran into Jim Law, the owner, vineyardist and winemaker of Linden.

Jim Law wrote a book called The Backyard Vintner which was published in 2005. We have this book and it provides good information for winemaking on a small scale. We were delighted that he stopped to speak with us. We explained that we were going to grow Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Auxerrois in Connecticut. Jim was interested in the tall grafts that we are going to receive from Mercier next spring.
On Sunday, we went to Linden Vineyard again, this time with our son and his fiancé and made it in time for their 11:30 weekend guided tour and their noon cellar tasting. We tasted their Boisseau, Avenius, and Hardscrabble Chardonnay and Red Wines. We were all impressed by the different flavors from the various vineyard sites that were expressed in the Chardonnay and Red Wines. It was difficult to pick which one we liked the best, they are like children, you like each for their individual characteristics.

Photos from Wineries Unlimited

We attended the Wineries Unlimited Conference and concentrated on meeting the vendors at the Trade Show. We saw many of these vendors in Sacramento and then again in Lancaster, PA. We spent more time with the vendors to ensure that the vendors we met have sales and service representatives on the East Coast. In no particular order here are some of the people we met.

We met Jim and Mary from Bouchard. Barrel aging can have an imprint on the flavor of the finished wine and barrels from different makers can interact in different ways with wine. Bouchard Cooperages sells barrels from the following makers: Billon, Cadus, Damy, Vicard and Canadell.

Jeff and Barrie from Winery Advisor showed us how they can take a website and make it compatible with social media such as facebook and twitter.

Sebastian from Mercier Grapevines was there. We ordered our grapevines from Mercier so Sebastian gave us an update on how our tall grafts were coming along.

We met Robert at the Lancaster, PA meeting and have been corresponding with him regarding the Estasi destemmer. Criveller is based in Niagara, Ontario. There is a great video of the Estasi destemmer in action taken at Southbrook Vineyards.

We spent some time with Charlie from Boucher Vaslin. When we were at the Lancaster meeting, we spent some time with Paul from EuroMachines since we were looking at presses. Both Charlie and Paul are located on the East Coast and they would be the people to call if any service was required on the presses.

Steve from Jacto informed us about their vineyard sprayer. We went to many more exhibits and amassed more literature before our legs gave out and we called it a day. There are so many things to buy, our heads are spinning!

A Visit with Matthieu Finot at King Family Vineyards in Crozet, VA

On our way to Wineries Unlimited in Richmond, Virginia, we met up with Matthieu Finot, the winemaker at King Family Vineyards. Matthieu kindly invited us to visit him if we were in Virginia when my husband was initially inquiring about Mercier Nurseries. Back then, we were deciding which nursery to buy our grapevines from and Matthieu's name was provided to us by Mercier.

Well, we found ourselves in Virginia and we dropped by and Matthieu met us in the tasting room. Matthieu said that when he came to King Family Vineyards, the trellising style that they were using was the ballerina. We have never seen the ballerina trellising and we wouldn't at this visit because the vines were just in budbreak.
He gave us a tour of the winemaking facilities

and explained his technique including his experimentation with various barrel makers. Matthieu mentioned that the King Family Vineyards are in the process of expanding the winemaking facilities because they have outgrown the current one. Their production has grown from about 5000 cases to 6500 cases. The outgrowing of winemaking facilities seems like a recurrent theme at the wineries that we have visited. At the end of a very instructive tour, Matthieu gave us a tasting of the wines that he had crafted. One of the wines that I especially enjoyed was his Viognier 2010. Usually, I am not an imbiber of Viognier, but this Viognier was excellent. If you find yourself in Virginia, do go to the King Family Vineyards!