Jeff White

February 1, 2010 Hello everyone, Here is the latest update: We've had some eventful weather during the last half of January but temperatures were fairly normal with teens and twenties at night and in the thirties during the day, although yesterday we awoke to 4 degrees F. We experienced an icing event, a very powerful wind and rain storm and this past weekend's snow. The rain storm melted away the last remnants of snow from the big December blizzard. All of this moisture has saturated the ground, making it difficult to get to our vineyards which are located 200 to 300 feet higher in elevation than where our trucks are parked near the farmhouse and barns complex. In the early morning the ground is frozen and we can drive right up but it's a slippery slide back down for lunch and sometimes a walk up. After about 2 or 3 dry and sunny days the ground usually becomes firm enough again for our wheeled commute up to work. We completed pruning of our 2 year old plantings and our Merlot in the original vineyard. Merlot is the most problematic variety I grow. It is not very winter hardy, meaning that at certain cold temperatures which are warmer than it would take to affect other varieties, vascular tissue damage to the trunks can occur. At these injury points there is a risk of pathogens entering the plant, weakening it to where its fruit will not ripen and eventually causing its death. During the summer, some vine's canopy of leaves turn prematurely red and we drop the fruit on the ground and cut out the plant. During the winter months, cankers or galls are more visible at the bottom and along the sides of the trunks of the damaged vines and these too are removed. We will replant 10 to 20 percent of our Merlot this spring. Sometimes, if we can manage to nuture the vines to say 5 years old, they grow out of this condition but if not, hard and expensive decisions have to be made, whether or not to replant with another variety. This leaves valuable vineyard land unproductive and more than doubles the start-up costs for the block. By the way, I had to ban my 2 dogs from my vineyards while I prune. But please don't fret. They still go for long runs through the vineyards and all over the farm. But as I prune they are left to their own devices for entertainment and end up spending all of their time searching out and digging up mice and moles. They bring me the dead rodents to see and then quickly consume them. A little later I get to see the victim again. Ugh! The problem is much later in the summer after the grass has grown up and I have long forgotten about rodents. I'm walking in the vineyard and wretch my back by stepping into a hidden hole in the ground. Bad dogs. Bad dogs. I recently tasted through all of our red wines from the 2009 harvest. Cabernet Sauvignon is the star of the vintage. Loaded with structure, depth and concentration, it will be the backbone and highest percentage of our Bordeaux style blend called Hodder Hill. Many of the barrels are still finishing up a secondary fermentation called malo-lactic fermentation or simply ML. This process converts the harsher malic acid to a softer lactic acid which produces a more round palate feel to the wine. But during this fermentation the wines can go through some funky and awkward stages, which some of the barrels now exhibit. I have learned through the years though, not to be worried and in a few more weeks, once the fermentations complete the wines will come around again and show their true youthful exuberance of berry and spice flavors and aromas. Some activity is now happening in the cellar as we prepare for a March bottling. We will bottle 3 wines, our 2009 Sauvignon Blanc and Rose', and our 2008 Cabernet Franc. Nothing really happens to the Cabernet Franc before bottling but the 2009s require stabilization and filtering before they are put into bottle. Stabilization, and in this case I am referring to cold stabilization, is a process where we cause a reaction in the wine now while still in tank, so it does not happen later, once in the bottle. All wines contain naturally occurring potassium bitartrates in various levels depending on the grape variety, growing region and vintage. When wine is subjected to cold temperatures, like in your refrigerator, the tartrates will crystallize and fall out of solution. One will see white crystals or flakes floating in the wine or white sediment in the bottom of the bottle. The crystals have no taste but are unattractive. Basically, all we do is chill the wine down to a temperature causing this reaction and then hold the wine at this temperature until it stabilizes, crystallization ceases at this temperature. Then the wine is removed from the tank containing the crystallized tartrates and passed through a filter into a clean tank. From here it is ready for bottling. As has been the way of our family since 1901, this indeed is a family farm business and not simply a sole proprietorship. And just as both my Great-grandparents, their childern and extended families together worked this land, so do we today. I remember well the days long ago when our fields were being harvested and the barns were being filled with square bales of hay or the silos were being filled with chopped corn and cornstalks and especially on hog butchering day when our entire family along with friends and neighbors all lent a hand to complete the task. As I wrote previously, I am Glen Manor's winegrower/winemaker; (I'm its janitor, dishwasher, etc., etc., etc. too), but my parents, brothers and wife are also working members of our farm enterprise. During critical periods like harvest we even enlist the help of our friends and neighbors, including some who have their own vineyards for home winemaking. Many times upon entering our tasting room, customers comment on the decor such as wall colors, flooring, window treatments and light fixtures and my response is, "The women in my life are credited for this space. I had nothing to do with it." My mother, wife and a close friend planned this room. My mother also prepares meals for our volunteers and she relinquished her dining room and table to me for nearly 2 years as I planned and executed the construction of our winery facility and new vineyards. My father, who recently celebrated his 83rd birthday, helped plant our first vines in 1995 and today is our bookkeeper, winery groundskeeper, historian and tour guide. My wife, a trained chef and the executive chef for a select registry bed and breakfast, The Inn at Vaucluse Spring in Middletown Virginia, also works in the tasting room. With her experienced palate she assists me when we conduct our wine blending trials and with writing tasting notes and food pairings for our wines. She has also donned a headlamp and walked the vineyard with me at 1am to collect feeding climbing cutworms from the tender and apparently delicious buds as they swell in the early spring. My brothers have fulltime jobs and families but live within an hours drive of the farm. They help out at harvest and cover for me in the tasting room when I am away or working in the vineyards and cellar. It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. I believe it also takes a village to farm the land. Cheers! Jeff

Hello, It's January 16, 2010 and I'm back from my holiday and starting to get back into the thick of things here on the farm. As I'm sure you all know, it was cold around here the last couple of weeks. Actually most of the US was extremely cold from an arctic blast coming down out of Canada. A little off topic but I was in northern Wyoming and while there, for three days it was below zero and I found myself on one frigid morning standing out in the snow at minus 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Thank goodness for boot and glove insert warmer packs. Lamar Valley, YNP Negative 42 But in the vineyards we were mostly in the upper 20's and low 30's during the day and in the teens during the night. I keep a min/max thermometer in the vineyard to record the high and low temperatures and the lowest the vineyard got while I was away was 5 degrees Fahrenheit, which is fine from my perspective. During the last few years an insect, the Black-winged Sharpshooter has moved north into Virginia, presumably due to global warming. This insect is causing havoc in vineyards all through the south and southwest. It carries with it many bacteria, one of which causes Pierce's disease, fatal to grapevines and no cure at present. Once the symptoms appear in the vine it must be removed and burned, including as much of the root mass as possible. Our only salvation is cold winter temperatures. At and below 5 degrees Fahrenheit the bacteria within the plant are killed leaving a healthy vine for the next growing season. So, because of this cold temperature event we have dodged the first of many potentially harmful bullets of the 2010 vintage. Pruning is progressing along very well. We have finished pruning all of our one year old vines, 4.5 acres worth and have just begun to work on our 2 year old plantings, 4 acres worth. We always start with our youngest vines, followed by the early bud-breaking varieties, followed by the late bud-breaking varieities in our older plantings. In the spring as the sun begins to warm the vineyard soils, young vines with their roots still shallow or very close to the warmer soil surface are stimulated to begin growth and open their buds ahead of older vines with much deeper root systems in colder soils. Also, once pruned, the young vines require extra labor hours to secure the newly formed trunks and canes to bamboo stakes and wire. The canes are firmly grasped with both hands and wrapped around the trellis wire. This must be completed before the buds begin to swell and soften as each bud contains all of the genetic information for this year's grape cluster and once damaged there is no getting that cluster back. Early bud-breaking varieties that we grow are Merlot and Cabernet Franc and the later bud-breaking varieties are Petit Verdot, Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon, in their respective bud-breaking order. On a side note, I own 2 dogs and they both love the winter pruning season. While I'm working they spend the day running up and down the hillside, checking in own my progress, chewing vine cuttings dropped on the vineyard floor, eating snow and hunting field mice. Usually by the end of the day they are somewhere nearby, curled up in the grass sleeping and are very content when I bring them home for the evening. The cellar is still quiet but we will be bottling some wines in early March so some activity will be happening in the next few weeks as we prepare for this event. I will touch on this later, as it happens. Well, that's all for now. I'll write again in a couple of weeks. Cheers! Jeff

Hi, I participated in a similar thread topic on another bulletin board during the 2009 harvest. Had a great time posting what was happening in my small part of the wine world and reading what was happening eleswhere, primarily in California but also in Washington State, Oregon, the Finger Lakes, France and even in Spain. I thought there might be some interest on this board with what happens during a typical year on a Virginia farm where the principal crop is wine. I will post twice a month with what we are currently doing in the vineyard, around the farm and in the cellar. Weather plays a significant role in farming so I will be writing how this influences our day to day tasks, decision making, the vines growth, fruit ripeness and condition and of course our mood. My hope is that this will not be solely about my vineyard but that others in the industry will join in to share their experiences and possibly problem solve together. Also, for anyone reading this, please feel free to ask questions or make comments. I will limit myself to posting our experiences to only twice a month but will also try to respond to all questions as best I can. First a little background: I am a fourth generation farmer of land that my Great-grandparents purchased in 1901. To save time and for those who are interested, there is detailed information about our vineyards and estate history on our website. I am the winegrower/winemaker or the Vigneron as the French would say and part owner of Glen Manor Vineyards, a Virginia Farm Winery located about an hours drive west of Washington DC. But I am most honored to be the current steward of this farm. The job comes with much satisfaction but also tremendous responsibility as I want to leave for our family's future generations something very similar to what I discovered here in 1959. Also, before I get started let me say that writing is neither my passion nor expertise and I may have signed on to something that will overwhelm me in time...but here goes. New Vineyard In Snow It's New Years Day Twenty-ten. Happy New Years to all! Yesterday we received 2 inches of snow on top of a quarter inch of ice, this on top of the 20+ inches we received the week before Christmas. Snow just makes the farm that much more beautiful. We have a lot of old stonewall fences and I love seeing them all covered in a white blanket of snow. January is one of the most tranquil of months on our farm. But it was not always this way. Back when we had a herd of cattle, sheep, some hogs and a house full of hens to tend, the winter months were very busy times. But with the vineyard, January is a peaceful and quiet time of the year. Right now we are beginning our dormant winter pruning of the vines. This is the most relaxing task I perform. My pruners in hand, bundled up in layers of clothing and overalls, looking as round as the Pillsbury Dough Boy and with some hard rock candy in my pocket as a reward at the end of a row. There is no pressure. The air is crisp and if too crisp I find some inside work. This is the one time of the year that I get to visit with just about every vine in the vineyard. That's 24,000 vines. Now, 3 men work with me so I really only get to visit with 6,000 of them. But I do get a true since of the vineyards health at this time of the year. Roughly 90% of last years growth will be removed and mulched back into the vineyard soil. We cane prune as opposed to cordon and spur prune and if you would like me to explain the differences I will if asked but you could also simply search the terms on the web. This is also the time of the year that we evaluate last year and make any necessary adjustments. We had a slight deer problem in our newest vineyard last year so we are retro-fitting an electified deer fence that surrounds the vineyard. Originally it was constructed as an eight foot tall high tensile wire fence but some deer found their way in so we are adding wire to make it both taller and 3 dimensional. We also purchased 1.1 mile of chicken wire and are attaching a 3 foot wide band at the height where the deer tend to jump through. Attaching Chicken Wire The cellar is quiet in January. The 2009 wines have pretty much finished fermenting and are now just resting. I taste through the barrels every couple of weeks to familiarize myself with the different lots, for later during the winter and early spring we will start to assemble the blends. Not much else is going on at this time. The tasting room is quiet; we're only open on the weekends during the winter months and sometimes we must stay closed due to snowy road conditions out here in the mountains. This is also the time of the year we get to go on holiday. Mine starts Sunday. I'll be back mid month to update the thread again. Until then, "Stay thirsty my friends" Jeff

Here's my take on half bottles: Personally, I love them when I'm dinning out or home alone. Professionally, my thinking is they can be viewed as a low risk investment for someone wary of trying a "Virginia" wine for the first time. When I dine out, I usually go with no more than one other person, my wife. So for the two of us, half bottles are the way we like to go. Think about it. When we eat, we like a multitude of aromas, flavors and textures in our foods. It's the same with our wines and of course different wines and wine styles pair differently with different foods and cooking styles. So it's usually Champagne first, followed by a crisp aromatic white, followed by a fuller bodied white, followed by one or two reds, followed by maybe something sweet. With lot's of water, some coffee and trips to the bathroom. That's going to be 2.5 full bottles per person, not going to happen, or with half bottles the equivalent of 1.25 full bottles per person. Because the former will not happen, restaurants would actually sell more wine if their wine list included a decent selection of half bottles. Yes, half bottles cost slightly more than half the cost of a full bottle of the same wine. But the per ml packaging costs are indeed higher. We don't use half corks, half capsules, half labels or half boxes. Only the glass is around half but the cost of the glass is not half and the time it takes to bottle half bottles is almost double and therefore more costly. The consumer is paying a slight and justified premium but receiving tremendous benefits, in my opinion. People ask me, "What is the best way to preserve a half finished bottle of wine?". My answer is never have a half finished bottle of wine. The best way is either to finish it or have at home empty half bottles and decant into them, giving you a full half bottle for drinking the next day. And it's not that half bottles to do not age as well as 750s or larger formats. It's that they age faster, about twice as fast, I've read. One could use half bottles as a rough guide to how your 750's are doing. I would shy away from older vintages of half bottles at wine shops or restaurants. They are still there because the consumer has not been educated to their benefits. Just my 2 cents.

Two of my wines are bottled in both 750s and 375s. The 2008 Sauvignon Blanc-$12, and a Cabernet Sauvignon based Bordeaux style blend, 2007 Hodder Hill-$16. So far the halfs are only carried by a couple of restaurants and are available at the winery.

Hey everyone and thanks for the kind words. On my website at http://www.glenmanorvineyards.com I list where one can find my wines but the 2007 SB is currently at The Vienna Vintner, Norms Beer and Wine, both in Vienna, Maison du Vin in Great Falls, and Ceciles Wine Cellar in McLean. The 2008 SB can be found at Arrowine in Arlington and the Leesburg Vintner. There are also a few restaurants listed on my site that carry these wines. Don/Dave, Please do come out sometime. It's quiet here this time of the year and I'd welcome the time to show you our farm. Ask Alison, she's been out. Alison, How's the new gig? I enjoyed having you and the crew here!

Hello all. I guess I'm the newest member. My name is Jeff and I'm one of the owners and the Vigneron for Glen Manor Vineyards, a Virginia farm winery. I found this site after a friend forwarded to me a copy of the City Paper where Don recommended my Sauvignon Blanc...Thanks Don! I'll lurk for a little while but you will hear from me now and again. --- Edit - Readers, here are a whole bunch of links to Glen Manor threads, the most important being the first one where Jeff blogs for an entire year (Jan 1, 2010 - Dec 31, 2010) about the 2010 Virginia vintager. It should have won the James Beard Award for best writing on the internet, but somehow it didn't. Amazingly, there are no specific threads on Jeff's Sauvignon Blanc which is my favorite Glen Manor wine of them all. Happy reading! Don Rockwell The Virginia 2010 Vintage <--- This is the single best thread ever written on donrockwell.com 2007 Hodder Hill 2009 Hodder Hill 2010 Hodder Hill 2014 Virginia Governor's Cup Winners Glen Manor Tasting at Whole Foods (2010) Glen Manor Spring Barrel Tasting (2011) Glen Manor Winemaker Dinner (2011) Glen Manor Winemaker Dinner (2014) Glen Manor Vineyards (This Thread)