Unveiling Veritas: A Journey Through 25 Years Of Truth And Triumph
March 13, 2024
The big news this winter is that we are now in our 25th year in business—it is our 25th Anniversary!
Finding Truth Among the Vines
Yes, folks, Patricia and I incorporated Saddleback Farm, Winery, Vineyards, and Stables LLC on December 27, 1999. So we’ve got from now to December to celebrate, and we plan to celebrate! We’ve been lucky, but you know that luck favors the brave. What is the saying? It’s better to be lucky than smart. Our real luck, however, is that through no fault of our own, we have been accompanied by our three children along this 25-year road. Emily has been our star winemaker from the word go, George has carved out a brilliant career in the wine industry as our CEO, and Chloe, our youngest daughter, although choosing her career, has always been and still is an integral part of the company. Her husband, Elliott, is in charge of our sparkling wine operation and is a fantastic complement to our whole family team.
The story of our journey is going to unravel as the year goes on, but I thought I would begin by relating how Patricia and I, with no experience of wine or the wine industry, managed to pull it off.
I will serialize the story into four sections as we work through the wine-growing year. I will start appropriately in the winter of our aspirations and with the story of how we came up with the name “Veritas.” In the spring, I will cover how the vineyard got planted over the years, followed by our hilarious experiences learning how to make wine in the summer. In the autumn, I am going to bask in the ups and downs of selling wine and how we stumbled upon opportunities like weddings and Starry Nights.
So how did it all begin?
In 1998, I was a practicing Neurologist, and Patricia had her own medical billing company in Jacksonville, Florida. We were at a medical conference in DC and met a couple at a folk festival at Mt. Vernon. They told us how they had given up their professional lives in San Francisco and bought a small farm in Virginia and that, as a family, they had never been happier. Intrigued, we chatted and related how we had dreamed about retiring to create a small vineyard. They then told us: “There are vineyards in Virginia!”
Of course, that was news to us. They invited us to visit them to witness their transition (we never did), but instead, we scheduled a visit to Virginia to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The very weekend we visited Virginia, we were shown Saddleback Farm as a potential vineyard site. We put down a deposit that weekend and then tried to explain it to the kids!
We are often asked how we came up with the name “Veritas,” which, as you all know, is Latin for “truth.” Creating a name and a label is crucial to any enterprise, so we mulled over this for quite some time before we put vines in the ground. When taking on a name, we were told we could use several different factors about our business: location, name, interests, and values. So, using location, we could have been “Saddleback Winery” (the name of the farm when we bought it), or we could have named it after ourselves “Hodson Family Winery.”
We even considered my interests in the brain and what connects it all up, and that is the gap between nerve cells, or “Synapse Wines.” None of those options struck a cord for us, so we were left with what values we cherished, and no question (we always encouraged the kids to tell the truth) it was “truth.”
Well, as we were mulling over the various options, we moved physically up from Florida to Virginia. Patricia and the family moved in 1999, just after we incorporated, and I stayed in Jacksonville for a year to close down my Neurology practice. When we incorporated, we did so as Saddleback Farm, Winery and Stables LLC – the Veritas came later as dba (doing business as.) We moved into what was then the old farmhouse, and we discovered that the previous owner was a graduate of Harvard University. In the house, we notice the Harvard motto, “Christo et Veritas.” And DING our value of truth in Latin – VERITAS, that was it!
Winter Triumphs
That’s a bit of history for now; what has happened this winter?
It wouldn’t be a winter newsletter without a recap of the weather that profoundly affects our likelihood of survival every year. Simply, it has been a good winter.
We had a dreadfully cold week in early January that, by all measures, will have knocked out most of the nasty varmints that threaten our vines during the growing season. The rest of the winter has been pretty MEH. The other major factor affecting our survival is how well we prune the vineyard, a topic I have covered in detail every year for the last three years. For those readers who may have missed my “Pruning 101”, here’s a snippet.
In a nutshell, pruning determines the number of buds on a given vine, which determines the amount of fruit we get at harvest. As a rough way of thinking, one bud produces two bunches of grapes. Typically, yield is measured by the fruit weight per linear foot of cordon or cane-pruned vines. Bill Tonkins, our vineyard manager, will tell you we have almost 72 miles of vine cordon, that’s 270,720 feet of cordon, and say we prune to allow three pounds of fruit per linear foot, the expected yield is 300-400 tons of grapes for our entire vineyard. Want to learn more about pruning? Join Bill for an immersive pruning workshop and lunch on Sunday, March 24.
The winter season is busy in the cellar for two main reasons: one, we bottle the newest white wines from the year before, typically Sauvignon Blanc, and two, we bottle our best red wines, Veritas Reserve and Petit Verdot, which have been in barrels for eighteen months. And it wouldn’t be winter without our signature New Year’s Eve party!
New Year’s Eve Masquerade Ball
We brought in the New Year in true Veritas style—with a really delicious five-course meal by Executive Chef Andy Shipman and a variety of delicious Veritas wines, lots of dancing, lots of music, and lots of fun.
Award Season is Not Just for the Oscars and Grammys
San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition 2024
Of all the wine competitions, San Francisco is regarded as one of the best-judged and most competitive in the United States. To our delight, we submitted seven wines and won five gold medals. Two of them, 2022 Sauvignon Blanc and 2022 Viognier, won double gold (a score of over 95 out of 100). Our 2021 Veritas Reserve Red Blend, 2017 Cabernet Franc, and 2021 Momentarius Monticello White Blend won gold medals (90-94 out of 100). This is an incredible achievement; credit goes to the Veritas team!
2024 Virginia Governors Cup Wine Competition
Even more recently, we competed in the 2024 Virginia Governor’s Cup Wine Competition. We attended the 42nd annual Governor’s Cup Gala on Thursday, March 7, where George had the honor of hosting the award ceremony. A total of 750 wines were sampled as part of this year’s competition, with 138 awarded gold medals. We were delighted to receive three golds: 2022 Sauvignon Blanc, 2021 Momentarius Monticello White Blend, and 2021 Veritas Reserve Red Blend. Again, congrats to the whole team and all the medalists!
Upcoming Events You Don’t Want to Miss
2024 Supper Series
For the second year in a row, we are partnering with guest chefs to bring you a variety of culinary delights like you’ve never experienced before. This week, we are featuring local chef Rachael Harris from Staunton as she delivers a contemporary twist to some Southern cooking favorites. Check out the entire season lineup for the fantastic talent we have scheduled and the memorable experiences that will last a lifetime featuring Willett Bourbon, a hip-hop and wine-paired dinner, over-the-fire cooking, and our first international chef!
Wintergreen Music Sounds of Spring April 12 and 13
Continuing our superb collaboration with Wintergreen Music Festival, we are holding two events celebrating the Sounds of Spring: an Evening Serenade at the Farmhouse on April 12 and music in the grove at the winery on Saturday the 13th.
The Gala of All Gala’s – Our 25th Anniversary Gala on April 27
This will be a doozy at the same level as our Masked Ball! A four-course meal, wine, music, and lots and lots of fun, but this time without the masks. We hope to see you there! Tickets are available now and open to the public.
Outstanding Employee
I am delighted to officially welcome Meredith Jackson, who joined us last August as our Wedding and Events Manager. Meredith brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our Events team. She was born and raised in Nelson County giving her an intimate knowledge of everything that is the best in the county. As a mother of three teenagers, she knows how to organize things, which is something she has shown us from the very day she started. Meredith is a go-getter and a true asset to the Veritas team!
Family Updates
Patricia and I went to Burgundy, UK, Ireland, and Sicily–nothing much really.
Lydia loves Boston University.
Hailey and Amelia celebrated a High School Team State Championship together, with Hailey winning her 3rd 4X800 championship in 4 years.
Charlotte is rowing her heart out.
Weenies are just as lovely as their mother!
We’ve come a long way, and above all, we are grateful for what we’ve got; we’ve got a lot to celebrate. We can’t wait to celebrate with you this year!
Wishing you all the best,
Andrew
Congratulations on this important anniversary and on the well- deserved accolades given to your fabulous wines! I want to offer a personal thank you for your part in seeing that our family had one of the nicest experiences in our lives – the wedding at Veritas of our son and his lovely bride in September 2023. Every single thing was absolutely perfect. Veritas will always hold a special place in our hearts!
Well, Andrew, you know I thought this a very bad idea.
“A waste of a good neurologist” is what I believe I said, and kinda still believe. But I so admire what you and Patricia have done, and mostly I love seeing you happy, so I guess the world could do with one less neurologist. I love you both, I’m proud of you. Congratulations!