2021 Albarino Norte

2021 was a gratifying year, overall. We had an early bud-break but we luckily avoided the frost that impacted some of the other East Coast vineyards on the east coast. Bud-break was followed by a warm (but not too warm) summer that was filled with plenty of sunshine and just a little bit of rain when you would want it (but not when you didn’t) throughout the year, followed by a typical September with plenty of warm (but not too warm) sunshine, cool evenings, and little rainfall. Overall, the grapes were very healthy, and the picking went smoothly which led to good yields that were not too small, and not too large. In fact, they were right on track to produce a wide variety of wines including Rolling Hills and maybe even Viento and M. The harvest of our white grapes was more compact than usual - but not wildly so. All white grapes were picked between August 30th (Grüner Veltliner for sparkling) and September 8th (Viognier) instead of the usual 2-3 week span for picking.