I never fancied myself a winemaker. I simply enjoy visiting wineries throughout the world, talking to winemakers and tasting wine. An early personal challenge was to taste as many grape varieties as possible. After two and a half years I tasted 100 different varietal grapes. Tasting wine, interviewing winemakers and writing about travel to wineries is a far cry from making wine. However my thirty-four year background in education led me to conclude that learning is just as enjoyable as teaching. So when an opportunity to craft a barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon arose, I pounced.
This fall, Kathy and I will create a barrel of Cab at the new Vint Hill Craft Winery in Vint Hill, Virginia. This blog will chronicle the adventure through the process and beyond. The process will take place at the winery. A summer meeting with the winemakers set the direction I’d like to follow for this journey. Then when the grapes arrive, a sorting table, destemmer, another sorting table, punching down and watching fermentation will take up the waning days of October.
Check back frequently and watch the journey from a novice to a vintner.
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