This past Wednesday (Nov 26) marked the end of “harvest” with the pressing of the last grapes, Norton. I say “harvest” because, even though the last grapes were harvested from the vine last month (Oct 22), from a winemaker’s perspective, harvest encompasses all the raw processing of the grapes. So now the Norton wine is pressed off its skins and now begins the next phase of processing wine in the cellar. The French call this elevage, which simply means “aging.”
In general, we had great fruit come into the winery this year. As always, we push for greater ripeness and those efforts paid off again for ’08. Highlights include, for the second year in a row, the Glenway vineyard Cabernet Franc. At this early stage, this wine reminds me of Loire Valley (France) Cabernet Franc. We made also some great Merlot this year, which having been absent from our 2007 harvest, will be a nice addition to our lineup. The Chardonnay from our Glenway vineyard is showing intense fruit and will be a perfect complement to 5 months’ worth of French oak barrel aging.
For the immediate future, we are gearing up to bottle 6 wines during the 2nd week of December. This will include the long-awaited 2006 “Super Meritage” which will be the first wine bottled under our new packaging. We’re also bottling the 2007 Cabernet Franc. As you know, we garnered some great critical acclaim with the 2006 Cabernet Franc, and the 2007 we feel is even more promising. Be sure to try it sitting down, because it will knock your socks off! We are shooting for a spring release of these wines.
Check back soon for more regular updates in the cellar.
-Jason
Vintner of Rappahannock Cellars
