This winter has been uneventful, laidback, and kind of boring. Just how we like it. Vintage 2018 took a lot out of us and extra time was needed for a proper recovery. We are now ready to get going. We are giving you lots of reasons to visit.
Winegrowers don’t agree on much, but we all unhesitatingly profess our love for pruning.
Read MoreRather than totally sell out each vintage, serious wineries hold back a portion of their bottlings. Some of these wine libraries are very extravagant and public. Most are simply a designated corner of the working cellar.
Read MoreThe vineyard floor is ice coated as partially thawed snow was rained on then re-frozen. This makes pruning hazardous, especially on steep slopes.
Read MoreSnow is magical and we love it at Linden.
Linden will recommence a series of in-depth seminars that focus on our thirty years of winegrowing. Reservations can only be made on Linden’s website. (No phone reservations accepted.)
In order to make your weekend planning easier, reservations can now be secured online for Linden’s Saturday Special Cellar Tastings. Walk-ins are also welcome if space permits.
We are thrilled to have a restaurant of such caliber so close to Linden.
Read MorePruning season is upon us. We got an early start this year, which does carry some risks.
Read MoreOn Saturday, December 15, 2018 officially became the wettest year in recorded history for our region. This gave us winegrowers a sort of perverted sense of satisfaction, knowing that it is possible to produce serviceable wines under the most extreme conditions. We do hope the record stands.
Read MoreThis cold, but not too cold, weather pattern is just what the vines need. They had a most confusing growing season, so a long, restful winter will bode well. A normal, typical, average, uneventful winter would be ideal.
Read MoreI could not resist. After so many dreary, bone chilling days, yesterday was the perfect day to be outside. Well aware that it is recommended to delay pruning until later in the winter, I started anyway. Pruning is every winegrower’s favorite task. It is creative, it is quiet, and it rewards immediately. It is what we signed up for.
Read MoreHow and why a given wine ages is one of the most frequent questions asked by both novices and professionals. Most winegrowers can readily answer the “how” part, but the “why” part is usually vague and elusive. Best that it remains that way. Science can often ruin a good story.
Read MoreIn some ways bottling is the worst thing that can happen to a wine. A youthful, delicate, expressive wine in barrel or tank will retreat into a shell of itself after bottling. This widely recognized phenomenon is known as bottle shock.
Read MoreWinter slows the pace at Linden. After an intense and often stressful harvest season, we can now take time to get re-acquainted with our past vintages. For the last several years we have enjoyed sharing this process with all of you.
The trials and tribulations of the 2018 growing season have consumed my attention, so it has been a while since I’ve written about Linden’s Terroir Project.
Read MoreThere’s been some puzzlement and confusion coming from Virginia wine enthusiasts who have been following the 2018 vintage.
Read MoreThe consequences of the wet 2018 growing season linger. Most noticeable are the leaves, still hanging on, but not exactly vibrant. The mountains lack their usual luster of fall and are slow to change color. Vine leaves are similar, with the top leaves now all gone exposing still green shoot tips that should be brown. This is the problem.
Read MoreThe 2018 vintage ended abruptly and left us somewhat dazed for a while. It was an enormously stressful year in which inclement weather dictated hard work and tough decisions. Then it all ended without much fanfare.
Read MoreThis fall’s harvest has very quickly become a distant memory. We are looking forward now.
Read MoreVintage 2018 finished last week with the harvest of Petit Manseng. While it was a difficult year, I’m very confident about the decisions that were made and the wines that will be bottled. As winegrowers we know that there is no alternative to the hand that we are dealt.
Read MoreIt was a fortuitous finish of an otherwise dismal vintage. The Petit Manseng grape has grit. A seriously spiteful Mother Nature threw everything she had at these resilient vines, but they still gave us a harvest that will make some of the best wines of 2018.
Read MoreAll Linden’s red grapes have been harvested. We have a record amount of rosé fermenting in tanks but no red wines for 2018. It is a very eerie feeling to walk through an empty cellar that should be bustling with pump-overs and punch downs.
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