Vintage Factors

An early and very fruitful April budbreak, without following frost, encouraged aggressive shoot-thinning and cluster selection, vine by vine, preparing for a normal growing season. But with some 75 days of very persistent rain, we were required to edge the vines 5 times, when a dry year like 2010 would not require this; and we more than doubled our leaf-pulling for an average season. Spared the many storms which moved across Virginia in the crucial month of August, our clusters then ripened efficiently in the crucial month of August. White varietals, all picked by late August, showed high to great quality. The resumption of almost interminable rain, commencing in early September, placed the red varietals under pressure to be harvested at their early margin of optimum ripening, which arrived by September 10th, with only Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve eluding us because of harsh weather. Historical experience with each vineyard sector’s support of the varietals planted there, together with constant vine maintenance, allowed us to prioritize this harvest to salvage an Octagon again in 2018.