I have spent a lot of my time over the years working with organizations involved in the wine industry and Northern Virginia’s rural economy and continue to do so. It seems like I am on more boards now than ever before. This allows me a broader view of how each of the groups relates to and feeds each other; there are some trends and developments in the industry that we should look for this year. Among them: The new winery movement in Virginia is cresting. The 2015 Virginia wine guide has added 8 new wineries to the map while 5 wineries dropped off the guide. My take on this is that the grape shortage and price increases have affected the business plans of wineries. We must now focus on growing the wineries we have, and growing the grapes to do that. More wineries offer “dark horse” varieties. Increasingly, customers are interested in new releases at wineries. As grape growers, we regularly look for varietals that will grow well in our climate and at the same time make a good wine. Tannat and Petit Verdot are good examples. They may not be dark horses now, but they certainly were in the past. Vermentino, Petit Manseng, Touriga and Rousanne are good examples of the next dark horse wave. The Wine Tourism Conference will be in Loudoun County this November. This annual conference travels to different wine regions. 2015 will be the first time the East Coast is hosting, affirming that we in the Mid-Atlantic region continue to gain in reputation for quality and experience. It is important that we are authentic in our products and our presentation. This event will show off all we have to offer. Epicurience Virginia Food and Wine Festival is three years old. This event continues to redefine…
First of all for those interested, a brief vineyard update: Most of the colder sites in the state have suffered damage from the cold winter. This was also varietal specific, meaning Merlot, Tannat and Sangiovese for us had a lot of winter kill. The circulatory system for some of the vines is healing and the buds that have pushed will soon receive the nutrients needed to grow and rebuild the vine. Some of the vines are showing no sign of life and will need to be replaced. Others are relatively healthy and even though they will produce little fruit this year, they should be fine for next year as long as there are no polar vortex issues again.I will be transplanting dead vines with heartier varieties which meant that we will have less Tannat, Merlot and Sangiovese available from our estate in the future. As we in the industry work our way through another challenging year of grape growing, we see our recognition as a major wine region continue to grow. The. Virginia wine board is putting together a plan to get more folks into the challenging world of Virginia grape growing in order to fill the void of grapes we have now and will have in the future. The most important part of this is identifying the best land to grow grapes on. Elevations between 500 and 1500 feet with sloping land shaped like an elephants back or a gumdrop is the best. This keeps the cold air from pooling up where the vines are planted and causing many of the challenges that we face. Depending on who owns the land will depend on where this effort goes next. The best case would be that they are already a farmer and are looking to plant a new crop. A…