Harvest Season at a Glance
Getting Started
Late August marked the official start of the Harvest season in Virginia. Our production team hit the ground running by processing the first fruit to come into the winery, Pinot Grigio. From there, we picked our first vintage of Chardonel grapes from our vineyard next to the tasting room. This was a very rewarding day for our team and family, as this was the first true harvest on site!
Early September can still bring along some hot days! To beat the heat, team members arrive early in the morning to remove netting, place lugs and to generally prepare for the day. By 7:00AM, our team of family and volunteers are rocking and rolling.
down the road: Mikelaites-Laurel Vineyards
We soon continued our harvest east, further into New Kent, at the home and private vineyard of one of our owners, Brian Mikelaites. Years ago, Brian transformed a portion of his own property into what is now a fruitful vineyard. Here, we had much more ground to cover, but with the help of our incredible volunteers, we successfully picked Chambourcin, Vidal Blanc and Norton.
The Work to Come
After we wrap up picking and transporting the fruit, our production team remains hard at work to process and produce our delicious wines! They will be busy destemming and pressing fruit, monitoring fermentations, and doing lots of cleaning. So far the harvest season has been relatively dry which is great for fruit ripening.
It's shaping up to be a great vintage year!
THANK YOU, VOLUNTEERS!
We couldn’t have done it without you!
Interested in volunteering with us in the future? We are excited to offer experiences for our Wine Club Members to take part in this process. Keep an eye out for future volunteer opportunities in upcoming Wine Club newsletters or learn more about our joining our Wine Club here.