Behind the Wine
Virginia Vintners Share Winemaking Stories
By Jerry Hale

     With the 18th Annual Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival upon us and looking bigger and better than ever, we decided to ask participating wineries to share interesting tidbits about winemaking in Virginia.

A Stinging Tale
     From Lydia Hansen, Prince Michel Vineyard and Winery near Culpepper: “With both bees and humans loving grapes, there’s bound to be a problem. Every harvest, Prince Michel has a competition among the grape picking crew: Who Gets the Most Stings. The record is held by a French intern who got stung 15 times in three days!” He’s reported to be living in Bordeaux, France, where, we hope, the bees are less aggressive.

Weathering the Storm
     Winemaking is very weather sensitive. When Hurricane Isabelle knocked out the power in September, 2003, Prince Michel had more than 100 tons of grapes that had to be processed. Refrigerated trucks — some donated by local florists — were brought in to preserve the precious fruit until power was restored. One vineyard from which Prince Michel gets a special variety picked 40 tons in howling winds just before the storm washed away what was left.

Wine with “Anti-Pest-O”
     Dave Gibbs of Virginia Mountain Winery, in Fincastle described vineyards as a battlefield: “Winemakers soon learn to think of their vines as being constantly under siege,” he said. “Just as the buds begin to swell, platoons of determined cutworms emerge from the soil to feast on luscious, young plant tissue. Several timely pesticide applications are necessary to beat back this early-season invasion.
     “Later in the spring, a combined land and air attack must be similarly thwarted as leafhoppers, grape root borers and grape berry moths arrive en masse. Grape berry moths don’t eat much – they are only 1/8-inch long – but they lay millions of eggs, which later hatch into hungry larvae that then bore into the fruit and eat from the inside out. Rot and spreading disease also attack the entry hole and can destroy an entire cluster — especially with tight-clustered grapes like Chardonnay.”
     And this part will be familiar to Lake homeowners: “Midsummer brings another airborne assault as Japanese Beetles begin their feeding frenzy. Initial damage is not too severe: at first they concentrate on the tender new leaves at the tops of the vines, actually helping with essential pruning.” The beneficial effect is short-lived, however, as the non–stop mastication extends down the shoots. “Left unabated, beetles will strip the vines of the leaves necessary to ripen the fruit clusters,” Dave explained. 
     The military analogies hit home with Donald Furrow-Scott of Hickory Hill Vineyards & Winery. He was the first to tell us about the ravages of marauding squadrons of whitetail deer, likening them to destructive tanks intent on leveling the quaint Moneta winery’s valuable vines.
      “Investing in electric fencing is about the only answer,” he shrugged. “And when the grapes get really ripe and sweet, the deer will often take the shock and crawl under the wire. An aggressive vineyard dog or two is what you need then.”
     Hickory Hill handles bird invasions, however, in a more modern fashion: Donald and his wife Wendy have learned to pilot radio-controlled airplanes over the vines, which has proven much more effective than inanimate scare tactics like dangling aluminum pie plates and old CDs.
     “The birds seem to stay away longer when they’ve actually been chased,” explained Wendy between turns at the RC transmitter.  

Local Color
     Debra Vascik of Valhalla Vineyards in Roanoke, provided a colorful insight: “Most wine lovers don’t know that the juice from most red grapes is actually white. It’s contact with wine skins that yields the rich coloration of cabernets, merlots and pinot noirs. We gently push the skins down through the juice three times a day during a 48-hour cold soak, and again during the 7 to 10 days of fermentation, until the colors are brilliant and the juice [now wine] has reached the desired dryness.”    

It’s Not Always About the Grapes!
     “Honey wine is regarded as the first wine consumed by mankind,” said winemaker Danny Johnson of Bedford’s Peaks of Otter Winery. “We make wine out of lots of stock — from honey to berries to fruit to chili peppers! You can try them all at the SML Wine Festival.”

The 18th Annual Smith Mountain Lake Wine Festival will take place Sept. 23-24 at Bernard’s Landing Resort and Conference Center. This two-day lakeside event will showcase 25 Virginia wineries and 85 craft and food vendors. Held at Live music: Domino on Saturday and The Tams on Sunday. Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tickets in advance: $15 for tasters, $8 for non-tasters. At the gate: $20 for tasters, $10 for non-tasters. Deadline for advanced ticket sales is Sept. 20 at 5 p.m. 800.676.8203 or visitsmithmountainlake.com.