This was the year we expected to bring in our Grüner Veltliner and Cabernet Sauvignon for the Signature Red Blend — the first fruit from this new vineyard. A late frost had other ideas.

We are watching for secondary growth now. Whether it yields anything useful, we do not yet know. We do know that even if it does, this will not be our first harvest from Bluemont — at least not the one that launches the Draksha estate sparkling program from this land.

Friends pointed us to the spirit of our Hail Medley. This was not the first time we lost our yield to nature — make use of what the frost left us, find meaning in a difficult year. We understood the thought. But Hail Medley worked because we already knew what our Purcellville vines were capable of. The hail did not change our understanding of the fruit. The Bluemont block has not yet had the chance to show us who it is in a good year.

What This Means for Draksha

The Draksha sparkling program was always built around this block. The harvest we worked toward will move to a later date, and we are at peace with that.

Sébastien Marquet has been a mentor throughout this program. His conviction — which became ours — was that working with the varietals and clones that interest us across different growing regions, before our own vines are ready, is both serious preparation and a joy to share. That preparation is nearly ready to share with our club members and guests — to learn together, taste together, and better understand what these wines are becoming.

The Equipment Is In

One thing did not wait.

The production line is arriving well ahead of the need. Sébastien brought 35 years of viticulture experience to its design — built for flexibility across different winemaking needs, and scalable as our farming outputs grow. What is particularly satisfying is how naturally it adapts between sparkling and the estate wines.

Just before the frost, we were still finalizing the bottling and sparkling equipment. The frost, at least, gave us the time to finish. When the vines are ready, the cellar will be too.

We will be.