Grapes, berries and citrus
In all, seven varieties of Muscadine grapes and elderberries are used in their wines, and they’re all grown on their property and irrigated with water from a seep spring. (In addition, they’ve started a new line of whole-fruit wines, using oranges, grapefruit, lemons, tangerines and bananas harvested from their land. These wines will be ready in January 2012.)All of the wine bottles they use are recycled, the wines are stored and aged in reusable glass carboys rather than oak barrels and the grape processing equipment (crusher, destemmer, ratchet press) is manually operated, reducing the need for electricity.
Ten wines, no blends
A total of 10 wines (red, rosé and white, including a sparkling red and a sparkling white) are produced at the 23-acre winery. None of the wines are blended or made with imported grapes or juices, and all are unfiltered. By using gravity, the winemakers achieve a remarkable level of clarity in the wines. The labor-intensive process entails manually racking every carboy three to six times, which preserves the taste, bouquet and flavor of the grape.
After aging for at least one year, the wines are bottled and corked with real, natural corks (no plastic or artificial corks) and dipped in melted wax for a perfect seal.
