Dear Friends,

From Deep in the Fermentation Bin
The workload has been pretty steady and successful over the last few weeks. Here are a few words on what we have been doing, who has been doing it, and what is coming up.

Vineyard Status: All of our fruit at the Bella Luna Estate, (the name of our property and home here on Limestone School Road) has been harvested. The yields were a little low due to the drought but the quality seems to be the best I have ever seen. We are looking at the idea of planting more in the spring but budget may have more to say about this than anything. We would be planting more Tannat along with some Cabernet Sauvignon and a fine Italian red yet to be determined.

Cellar Report: We have brought in over 24 tons of grapes at this point along with about a ton of raspberries and a ton of pears. We have wine in the fermentors, some in tanks and some in barrels at this point. The new cave is working very well. The wine stays a constant temperature and no energy is needed to keep it that way. We still have Cabernet Sauvignon, Chambourcin and Sangiovese to bring in from other vineyards totaling about 12 tons. We are using a new Destemmer-crusher this year. It belongs to Hiddencroft Vineyards, which will be opening next year. This machine processes the fruit gentler, faster, and allows fewer stems to fall into the must.

Custom Crush: Of all the fruit brought in this year, a portion of it has been for other wineries. I am able to help some of my clients/friends by processing their fruit here at my winery. This is called “Custom Crush.” For our facility, this only works with red wine, but these wineries will now have a red wine next year when they open their doors. You will hear more about these wineries in the future, but this year the wineries are Hiddencroft Vineyards, North Gate Vineyard and Notaviva Vineyards. Some people may see helping other wineries start up as a conflict of interest but I have learned over the years that my customers will buy wines from other wineries. If I can help good growers make great wine, we will all be better off in the long run. All boats lift in a rising tide, and helping this industry grow by making good quality wine has always been the larger picture for us.

Bluemont Vineyards is Open! I wrote about this winery previously and they are now open for tastings in Bluemont, about 20 minutes west of Leesburg. There is a great spirit at this winery that comes not only from the land but also from the people. Bob Rupy has been under my wing this year learning not only winemaking, but marketing and winery design. With lots of help and input from wife Laurie, brother Kevin, grower Bruce and dear friends and partners Kate and Mark, this winery is really going to be a hit. The view from the tasting room and deck is the best in the state and the wines are pretty darn good too if I must say so. There are four wines to taste right now with some fruit wines in the pipeline. Stop by, taste, and tell them that Doug sent you.

D.C. Update: Fabbioli Cellars is now the proud owner of a Solicitor’s License for the District of Columbia. This means that although we cannot self distribute in VA, we can in Washington D.C. I will start hitting the streets in the next few weeks, so if you know of any swell spots that would be interested in carrying our wines, please let me know. MD will be the next one.

Marketing Stuff: As most of you know, I do not strut my feathers too loudly; I prefer to let the wine speak for itself. We did win a Gold Medal for the 2006 Cabernet Franc at the Town Point Wine Competition. This competition only awards one medal per category so I am quite honored by this recognition. That wine gets better every time I taste it. Here are a few upcoming events. Remember, we are still open Fridays and Saturdays from 11am to 5pm for your tasting and learning pleasure. We also can schedule appointments on other days of the week.

• Farmer’s Market: We are still in Purcellville on Thursday evenings from 4-7 at the Farmer's Market until the end of the month. Starting in November, we will be at the Leesburg Winter Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings until April. We met many of you at this market last year and we feel that being a part of the market will always bring us closer to the bigger goals of a strong rural economy. Stop by to say hello and support our fellow farmers.
• Lucketts Store, October Weekends: We are going to show our face at the antiques store this month on the weekends. This has been a great relationship in the past and it is always important to keep those going. We will even sell wines by the glass there. The Lucketts Store has committed to hosting a section for Green Friday, the local farmers and artisans chance to sell to consumers the day after Thanksgiving. I will keep you posted on that subject.
• Great Country Farm October 13 and 14: Bluemont is a happening place. We will be pouring this weekend at the farm store at Great Country Farm in Bluemont. We were there in the spring and met a good number of you folks there. We will be doing it again, this time including the Cabernet Franc. See you there.
• Mom’s Pies in Leesburg October 20 and 21: We love to work with the Mom’s Pie Family as they “play very well with others.” We are pushing to sell a bit more wine this month because the wine is ready and October is Virginia Wine Month. We appreciate when you buy it as selling it pays our bills. If you are in Leesburg for Court Days, be sure to stop by Mom’s on Loudoun Street from 11am to 5pm. Visit www.momsapplepieco.com for all their info.
• Loudoun County Farm Color Tour October 20 and 21: We will be open both Saturday and Sunday October 20 and 21 for the tour. This will be a great opportunity for you so see our process, tour the vineyard and taste the latest here at the farm. There are lots of other farms on the tour that are not usually open. I will be giving walking vineyard tours at 11 am and 2pm on both days. Mom’s Apple Pie Company will be here with pies, breads and pumpkins. Be sure to stop our farm and others to help support the local green economy.

As the wine continues to flow and the work never stops, I consider myself to be so fortunate to have the people around me that make all of this possible. We always seem to find room to help one more person and they end up helping us twice as much. What a great way to go through life. Thanks for helping, EVERYONE, and for putting up with me sometimes. Life is too good to do it alone. Below is my latest column from the Old Town Crier. Enjoy and see you soon.

Doug, Colleen, Matt and Sammy

Old Town Crier October 2007
Harvest is here!

All of the anticipation and hard work has led us to the days of harvest. Each variety will come in at different times and each vineyard location will affect the ripening date also. As of this writing, we have harvested our Merlot, the bulk and flagship of our vineyard. Most other wineries have brought in their white grapes. We are picking our Cabernet Franc with the customers tomorrow. This can be a little crazy, bringing in a group of people that have never done this before. I have always been one to share what I do and the passion that I have for it. I actually enjoy making the customers work a little. There is so much romance built around this industry. I like to bring the reality into the picture through the work, the sweat, the dirt and the long days. This is a great industry and there is a great reward at the end, but you must thrive on the journey to be happy at the end of the road.

Wines in the Cave:
Here is a photo of our crushed and fermenting Merlot with Lucy our punch down foot. We crush the grapes, add enzymes to help the color and flavor release from the skins and add specific strains of yeast to start the fermentation of the sugars into alcohol. As the grapes ferment, CO2 bubbles out of the wine and catches in the skins. The skins float to the top and create the “cap.” We use Lucy to push those skins back into the wine twice a day so the color and flavor will be extracted from the skins. We ferment these grapes for about a week and then press the skins off, pumping the wine into a tank. Then it will be pumped into a barrel and stored in the new cave. Above is a photo of our fascinating wine cave; 2 shipping containers buried in the hillside. This is cost efficient and climate controlled just like a cave and in general, pretty cool. These will be full of wine by the end of the season. Our next wines to come in are Chambourcin, Tannat and Petit Verdot. The harvest will continue into mid October depending on the weather and the fruit available.

Consulting again:
I guess this is where I start talking about the Virginia wine industry again. I received 3 calls this week from landowners that are interested in planting grapes and starting a winery. I am sure you all noticed a lot more wineries lately. The count was 67 when I arrived 10 years ago and now it is over 130. There were numerous new names at the Virginia Wine Festival that I did not recognize. Each of these wineries has vineyards, winemakers, cellars, tasting rooms and people to make it all work. It is fascinating to me to think that there are that many more people looking to buy VA wine. Our sales have been growing well and I am working to make enough wine to build my inventory and feed the market. All I can say at this point is THANK YOU to all of the people who are trying and buying VA wine! Remember, if you do not like the wine, do not buy it. That goes for any wine. I am a true believer in survival of the fittest and I want all wineries to produce great wines, it is not that hard to do. Quality first and everything else will follow.

I love this time of year. As the grapes come off, the leaves change color in the vineyard and in the hills, and the cooler nights show that the seasons are changing. I really enjoy showing some new customers the process of how these little black berries that we work so hard to grow, start their journey into making deep flavored and colored beverages that we still understand so little about. Take the time to visit a winery during this magical season to experience a little of the voodoo that we do. Also, any questions about wine that you may have, please forward them to me. I will start answering them in the column as they come up. Vinofab@aol.com. Thanks so much for your support.