Old Town Crier, July 2007 Issue
Exploring Virginia Wines by Doug Fabbioli

Life of the winemaker in the summer: Sometimes I feel that the planning for harvest is so much more difficult than actually making wine. Bottling wines so more space is available, construction projects, receiving new equipment, and setting up that equipment always add to the work. The most rewarding part of this time is remembering problems during last harvest and implementing the equipment and the plans to avoid those problems for this harvest. This works for quality issues as well. I put in a sorting table last year that allowed us to remove the green stems that slipped through the crusher destemmer. This added a quality step to the process to keep us on track with ever improving wines.

Vineyard Status: The grapes have flowered and the fruit is set. We have been working regularly to “comb” the shoots, or canopy, to allow the sunlight and air flow in the fruit zone. This makes for healthy and ripe fruit down the road. You can see from the photo how some shoots are trained upward and others are trained down. This gives us the most usage of the sunlight and space on our trellis. We will be dropping fruit over the next few months to keep the vines balanced and the fruit zone clear. When there are clusters of grapes on top of others, they can all go bad if left that way. Each cluster needs its own space and dropping some can be the only way to be sure of that space as the grapes grow.

Wine festivals: I developed a disdain for wine festivals over the years. They were always hot, dusty, full of drunk people and never seemed worth doing at the end of the day. That is until I had my own wines to sell. I have found a big variety of wine drinkers at the festivals. There are those that come to drink their fair share, but there are lots of others. I find folks that want to taste and learn about wines that are new to them. There are people who genuinely want to support the VA wine industry. There are people that have been truly surprised by the high quality of wines at the festivals. I also come in contact with a lot of restaurant, wine shop, hotel and tourism people that will help to make our businesses and industry more successful.
Each festival has its own style and focus. I learned from other wineries that the further south you go in VA, the sweeter the wines that people want. Mount Vernon Wine Festival has always been a premier event for building customers that like the drier wines. I think that the wineries and promoters have as much to do with the festival style as the customers. Vintage VA in Manassas was very successful for us despite the rainy Sunday. The VA Wine Festival is coming up in September at Morven Park. They are setting it up with big tents to protect from the rain and give a nicer feel. I am looking forward to doing that one. I always feel bad when we are pouring wines into a sea of hands with empty glasses. I want to connect the hand with a face and the wine to connect to us. The crowds can hurt us but I do find that people who like the wines come back later to buy, whether it is that day, at a wine shop or at the tasting room. I hope you enjoy your next wine festival and remember that if you like the wine, take some home. It gives the wineries that instant satisfaction they need sometimes.

Juanita Swedenburg 1925-2007: Mrs. Swedenburg was one of the true pioneers of the VA wine industry. Along with working the farm, growing the grapes and making wine with her husband Wayne, Juanita led the court case to allow us to ship our wines to customers across state lines. This was as good for the spirit of the industry as it was for the commerce of the industry. She showed us through her leadership that we can rise above unfair business practices and stand united as an industry. Thanks Juanita, you have earned your place in our history.