Exactly three years ago I began chronicling the process of removing and replanting a vineyard with the goal of producing better wine. We are now at the halfway point and 2020 will mark the “virgin” harvest: the first vintage.
Read More2018’s planting struggled to get going this spring. Some vines did not make it through the winter, as they were too weak after the unforgiving rains and lack of sun last year. The planting is looking healthier now.
Read MoreThree years ago I started writing about the decision to remove and replant the vines growing on one of Hardscrabble’s best vineyard sites.
Read MoreThe trials and tribulations of the 2018 growing season have consumed my attention, so it has been a while since I’ve written about Linden’s Terroir Project. In 2016 we removed several underperforming vineyard blocks from a slope with great, but unrealized potential. In April of this year it was replanted. The progress is being documented step by step until we have a glass of wine to share with you (perhaps 2022?).
Read MoreOur newly planted baby vines love all this rain. A few weeks ago we removed all but one shoot and that shoot is now growing quickly.
Read MoreWith great anticipation Linden’s newly planted vines have budded out. It is now officially a vineyard. Although at this point it looks more like a field of chickweed and bamboo sticks. We encourage the chickweed as it will soon go to seed and die leaving lots of organic matter for the soil and a good layer of natural mulch to retain moisture and hinder other weed growth.
Read MorePlanting has started! The cuttings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc that we gathered over a year ago and sent to a nursery to be grafted and rooted are now back home in the form of young grapevines.
Read MoreOur new planting looks like a vineyard. Except there are no vines. Harvest has finished (not counting the Petit Manseng) and it is too early to prune. We are taking this pause to establish the trellising system for our 2018 planting.
Read MoreThe seemingly undistinguished ridge behind the winery is starting its metamorphosis into a vineyard.
Read MoreIt may look like a disheveled meadow right now, but our soon to be 2018 vineyard is sprouting abundant cover crops, wild flowers and grasses.
Read MoreDecades ago, a certain intellectual curiosity led me to Virginia to grow winegrapes. That curiosity has not waned. Initial plantings in the 1980s and 1990s where established with great enthusiasm, but without much knowledge or experience. I am now very familiar and even intimate with the soils and slopes on this small farm.
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