2022 PASTICHE

Ancestral Method Wine

2,846 Bottles Produced

Name/Artwork:

  • “Pastiche” is a tongue-in-cheek nod to our composite sourcing and the preconceptions of hybrid and US east coast wines relative to pervasive French paradigms.

  • The ripped paper collage alludes to the three grapes utilized and the varied soil minerals from the different sites.

Fruit/Sites:

  • 38% Chardonel from M&R Vineyard in Shenandoah County. Silt and clay loams of weathered limestone, 1100’.

  • 37% Seyval Blanc from Lovingston Vineyard in Nelson County. Clay loam of weathered granite and gneiss, 650’.

  • 19% Chardonel from Zephaniah Vineyard in Loudoun County. Silt loam of  greenstone, 500’.

  • 6% Vidal Blanc from Bluestone Vineyard in Rockingham County. Silt loam of weathered limestone, 1100’.

Season:

  • Another early spring; but despite various threats, there was not widespread frost damage (for grapes - we lost almost all pears). Rains around harvest limited ripeness, so 2022 was a leaner year overall. Careful hand sorting kept fermentations vigorous and clean.

Fermentation/Development:

  • Mirroring our experience with the wide harvest window of cidermaking, and because of our limited infrastructure curtailing the amount of fruit we can process in one day, we made several partial to one ton picks from a variety of sites from late August to mid September. The result is a long, continuous fermentation that reached our bottling target in early October.

  • One of us climbs into the vertical basket press to foot stomp the whole cluster grapes as the other tosses them in. The fruit is then very slowly pressed once, with the whole cycle taking ten to twelve hours. Juice settles overnight. Press fractions were re-combined as we feel the hybrids need their phenolics and our manual pressing is less extractive.

  • Fermentation takes place in a mix of neutral French oak and steel tanks, racking together to finish in the bottle.

  • Aged on lees for a minimum of 19 months before disgorgement  (specific date is hand stamped on back label).

Lab:

  • pH: 3.42 | ABV: 10.64% | TA: 6.1 g/L tartaric | Added SO2: 0 ppm

Tasting:

  • Marigold, yellow apple, green almond