{"id":10592,"date":"2021-10-30T09:03:15","date_gmt":"2021-10-30T13:03:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/?p=10592"},"modified":"2024-08-25T20:36:34","modified_gmt":"2024-08-26T00:36:34","slug":"in-the-wine-light-linden-vineyards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/in-the-wine-light-linden-vineyards\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Wine Light – Linden Vineyards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the Wine Light<\/a> is Linden Vineyards<\/a>. On our return from our trip to the Finger Lakes this summer, we made a couple of stops in Virginia.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Our second stop was at Linden Vineyards in Linden. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We first visited Linden Vineyards in October of 2019.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>We had tasted Linden’s wines previously at an American Wine Society Conference in 2015.\u00a0 Owner Jim Law led a session on “Site Specific Variations in Wine”.\u00a0 During this session we tasted Chardonnays and Cabernet Francs from various Linden sites.<\/p>\n

\"Hardscrabble

Hardscrabble Vineyard – Linden Vineyards – Linden, VA<\/p><\/div>\n

Backstory<\/h3>\n

Linden Vineyards began in 1985 with the establishment of the Hardscrabble Vineyard.\u00a0 This site, once an apple orchard, had long been abandoned.\u00a0 Eight acres were planted with mostly grafted and propagated in-house from budwood obtained from the few local vineyards in the surrounding area. The first planting consisted of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Vidal Blanc, and Seyval Blanc as noted on Linden’s website<\/a>.\u00a0 The first commercial vintage was 1987.<\/p>\n

There are currently 22 acres under vine across 3 vineyard sites:\u00a0 Hardscrabble, Avenius, and Boisseau.\u00a0 Avenius is a nearby site first planted in 1996.\u00a0 Boisseau, a warmer site, is located in Front Royal, VA.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jim Law has been a well-respected member of the Virginia Wine<\/a> community for decades.\u00a0 That respect extends down to North Carolina as we have heard numerous people sing Jim’s praises.\u00a0 Jim willingly shares his knowledge and expertise and is a mentor to many.<\/p>\n

\"Barrel

Barrel Room – Linden Vineyards – Linden, VA<\/p><\/div>\n

Winemaking Philosophy<\/h3>\n

Linden Vineyards has a distinctive winemaking philosophy.\u00a0 A recent social media post<\/a> described it as palate-based winemaking.\u00a0 Extraction decisions are made solely on taste. They note that taste is somewhat subjective, so the try to discipline their tasting regiment by taking two samples every two days from each lot. In Linden\u2019s library, one of the samples is tasted alongside a sample taken two days previously. They can then taste the progression of extraction. This procedure continues every two days until they decide to drain the wine off its skins.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another key philosophy for winemaking at Linden is around where the winemaker spends most of his time.\u00a0 At Linden Vineyards, the winemaker spends more time in the vineyard than in the cellar.\u00a0 As they say, good wine starts in the vineyard.<\/p>\n

Tasting – Chardonnay<\/h3>\n

Visits to the Linden Vineyards’ tasting room are by reservation only.\u00a0 Our tasting appointment was at 11am.\u00a0 Jen greeted us and got us started. We began with the 2018 Village Chardonnay.\u00a0 This Chardonnay is a blend of all three vineyard sites and spent 10 months in neutral French oak.\u00a0 The nose gave notes of roasted banana while the palate had crisp pear with some flinty undertones.\u00a0 The acids were pleasing.<\/p>\n

Next up, we tasted the 2016 Avenius Chardonnay.\u00a0 2016 was a warm vintage.\u00a0 Again, this wine spent 10 months in neutral French oak which showed on the nose.\u00a0 Lightly candied pear dominated on the palate.\u00a0 With crisp acids, this wine was full bodied and very enjoyable.<\/p>\n

Tasting – Red Wines<\/h3>\n

After the whites, we tasted three red wines starting with the 2014 Claret.\u00a0 A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (44%), Merlot (34%), Cabernet Franc (20%), and Petit Verdot (2%), this wine presented a gorgeous nose with aromas of violets, blueberry, and spice.\u00a0 The palate gave roasted plums, figs, and a hint of spice.\u00a0 The tannins were medium with a balanced acidity.<\/p>\n

Next was the 2014 Petit Verdot.\u00a0 Made of Petit Verdot (88%), Cabernet Sauvignon (8%), and Carm\u00e9n\u00e8re (4%) and aged in older French oak, this wine gave a smoky, toasty nose.\u00a0 The palate was rich with flavors of blueberries, tobacco, and black tea and hints of violets.\u00a0 The oak gave a spicy undertone.<\/p>\n

We finished the tasting with the 2016 Hardscrabble Red made from fruit from the Hardscrabble vineyard.\u00a0 A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (56%), Merlot (41%), and Cabernet Franc (3%), this wine was aged in new and used oak for twenty-two months.\u00a0 Blueberries, black plum, and violets danced on the nose.\u00a0 Roasted black figs, vanilla, blueberries, and a hint of violets showed on the palate.\u00a0 The tannins were bold with a long, pleasing finish.<\/p>\n

\"Bottled

Bottled Wine – Linden Vineyards – Linden, VA<\/p><\/div>\n

Tour with Winemaker<\/h3>\n

After we finished our tasting, Linden Vineyards winemaker, Jonathan Weber, took us for a tour.\u00a0 Jonathan has connections to North Carolina having studied at viticulture and enology at the program at Surry Community College<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We started on the crush pad, talking about the vineyard and harvest.\u00a0 Typically grapes are harvested on day and processed the next.\u00a0 Sorting tables a used to sort grapes saving the best berries for winemaking.\u00a0 Recently, they have moved to more whole berry fermentation.\u00a0 We ended the tour in the cellar further discussing the winemaking process.<\/p>\n

\"View

View at Linden Vineyards – Linden, VA<\/p><\/div>\n

Must Visit<\/h3>\n

If you are a serious wine enthusiast and haven’t visited Linden Vineyards, you should plan a trip.\u00a0 We’re sure you won’t be disappointed.<\/p>\n

We look forward to our next visit!<\/p>\n

#InTheWineLight #VAWine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[326],"tags":[192,363],"class_list":["post-10592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-wine-light","tag-va-wine","tag-va-wine-month","has-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10592"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10605,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10592\/revisions\/10605"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ncwineguys.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}