Summer at Veritas: Ripening Vines and Remarkable Moments
August 28, 2025
Summer time, it’s hot and humid, it is the hottest and the most humid month of the year. It’s as if we are dogged by the “Dog Star” Sirius which is the brightest star in the heavens from late July to early August, the so-called “dog days of summer.” Dogged because it is that very heat and humidity makes wine grape- growing in Virginia such a challenge. Part of the reason we created Starry Nights was to counteract the summer time blues and the dog days of summer.
For me August is a peculiar month, it’s a sort of nothing month. You can’t get anything done in August because it seems that everyone is out on vacation. Nowhere is more evident than in France when it seems the whole of Parisian restaurants are “en vacances.” Nothing is happening in the tasting room, August is typically one of our slowest months when it comes to wine sales and visitation. And nothing is happening in the vineyard, the nets are up, the canopy is in shape, we simply have to wait for the berries to ripen.
The Wine is made in the Vineyard
The quality of the wine is directly related to the quality of the grapes we grow so bear with me as we consider the importance of weather conditions to grape growing also known as viticulture. One of the ways farmers and wine-grape growers monitor the amount of heat we are experiencing is a measure called a “Growing Degree Day” or GDD. GDDs vary from plant to plant and it so happens that vines require at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit to grow that’s why wine grape growing is restricted to certain temperature defined areas in the worldWine growing regions across the world
To calculate a growing degree day is very easy, you just add the average daily temperature -highest temperature + the lowest temperature divided by 2 – say 60 +80 -140/2 = 70 and subtract the minimum temperature – 50 = 20 GDD. The growing season is considered to be April, when the buds burst, to the end of October when harvest is over. GDDs help us predict things like harvest dates as well as knowing the life cycles of different insects that pose a threat to the vines.
As far as this year is concerned we are well above average having a cumulative total of 3166 GDDs as of August 24th
Interestingly you can see from the graph we are well above both fifteen and thirty year averages for this time of year giving you a good idea as to how temperatures have changed over the years in our little neck of the woods. You would think that with the above average number of GDDs that we will get an above average year for grape growing but just as in Porgy and Bess- “it ain’t necessarily so.” In 2018 we had significantly more GDDs than 2019 but guess what the 2019 vintage wine quality was much better than 2018. Makes no sense, it was all due to the fact that in 2018 we had rainfall at every critical point in the life cycle of the vine. It rained during fruit set so we had poor pollination of the vines and it rained through August despite the fact that it was warmer, it was warmer at the wrong times that did not benefit the maturation of the grapes.
As you would expect we have started harvesting the grapes already and as usual we pick Chardonnay early for sparkling wine the lower alcohol in the base wine allows for second fermentation in the bottle. After the Chardonnay we always bring in the Sauvignon Blanc relatively early to capture the bright acidity that characterizes our mouth watering Sauvignon Blanc. Next will be Viognier and later into September the reds and last of all the enigmatic Petit Manseng.
Wine Sales
Business is down as you can see from the above slide from the VA Wine Marketing Board. This trend is not unique to Virginia it is a trend not only throughout the United States it is a trend throughout Europe and the rest of the world, actually Europe has seen the biggest decline. In Virginia the biggest drop was in wine distribution down 14.8% whereas all Virginia wine sales were down 4.95% and Farm Winery sales were down 1.88% – bottom line people are drinking less wine in Virginia but no worse than anywhere else. And it’s not just wine it is wine, beer, and spirits confirmed in the most recent Gallup poll.
Wine is so much more than alcohol according to Tom Wark in his blog The Spill, your daily drop of wine news – here are the nine reasons why you should prefer wine above any competition.
1. There’s more of it and there is greater choice
2. Wine is more intellectually satisfying.
3. Wine is easier to drink
4. Wine is the most socially acceptable- weddings, celebrations,
5. Wine has greater variety
6. Wine is environmentally relevant
7. Vineyards are beautiful
8. Wine is the best accompaniment to food – by far.
9. Wineries are more available.
Wine for the Wine Club
Momentarius Tannat 2023
Our latest wine to join our highly successful Momentarius series is the Momentarius Tannat.
Tannat is a relatively unknown grape that originated in South West France centered on a village called Madiran. The Tannat grape is characterized by thick skin that makes it resistant to disease and is therefore very suitable to Virginia viticulture. There has been a definite up swing of the plantings in Virginia with a total of 78 acres of planted vines (cf Malbec 28 acres).
Producers in Virginia include Barboursville, Breaux, Blenheim, Horton and Chateau Morrisette
Not the first grape you think of when it comes to red wine and in fact when you pour this wine you might even think it was a black wine which is the name this combination of Tannat and Malbec is given in Madiran France -”Vin-Noir.”
Tasting Notes:
The dense, deep ruby color is usually associated with a full bodied, tannic wine which is exactly what this wine is. It smells of black fruit, black cherry, blackberry and damson. In the mouth the wine is extraordinarily smooth with wonderfully integrated assertive tannins that support a core of rich black cherry, plum,licorice, dark chocolate and cigar box flavors.The finish is everlasting and intriguingly complex.
Person of the summer – Kelsey Greiff Benson
This is Kelsey’s second harvest with us and boy are we glad to have her as one of our cellar managers. Kelsey comes to us with a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee. She has a wealth of wine making experience both in the US and in New Zealand working with hands -on experience both in the vineyard and in the day today running a wine lab and every detailed aspect of winemaking. We are indeed,lucky to have such highly qualified, attractive and hard working individual in our dedicated cellar team.
Supper Series
Our last supper series with Jean-Paul Bourgeois, the man from New Orleans and the Veritas kitchen team was an absolute blast – the food was as authentic as authentic gets and not only that the food was absolutely delicious.
Our next supper series is on September 19th that continues in the same vein as our other star studded chefs in which we are highlighting natural farm fed to table cuisine from Autumn Olive Farms don’t miss out it’s booking up fast.
Family
We had a family photo op recently so instead of using my untrained eye I thought it would be nice to share some professional pictures of the whole family in one place at a time
Thank you for reading the Veritas Summer Newsletter. Everything seems to be changing and yet everything is the same. Harvest comes and Harvest goes and yet another vintage is bottled and as sure as autumn comes after the summer we will continue to make the best wine that our vines give us and life will go on.
From all the folks at Veritas have a wonderful Labor Day,
Andrew Hodson
Retired Bottlewasher and Raconteur
Thank you Andrew, what a very lovely update on the vineyard, wine and your beautiful family. You are blessed indeed. We feel lucky to have you so close.