After a healthy winter with plenty of snow, spring arrived quickly as an extended warm period in April brought excitement and anxiety. The vines awoke just a bit earlier than normal but expertly dodged the frost. A cool, wet, and cloudy pattern settled in after budbreak, slowing early season growth and increasing disease pressure, making prudent shoot thinning especially important. The vines hurriedly caught up when June and July brought sun, rain, and heat. The rain disappeared in August, just as the fruit began to ripen, and we fell steadily into the most extreme drought in Vermont’s recorded history – bad news for our neighbors and our yields, but good news for wine quality. Ripening slowed, preserving acidity and aromatics, concentrating flavor, and allowing us to pick exactly when we wanted. The 2025 vintage will be remembered for its exceptional drought and for its wines of complexity, depth, and beauty.

Sourced from two small blocks of La Crescent in the Upper Vineyard, one trained to GDC and one to high-wire. These are quite possibly our healthiest and most vigorous vines on the farm. Their precociousness demands that we tend to them first in every management practice of the year, from thinning to positioning to leafing. But they reward us with their resilience and ability to hang fruit late into the season, achieving incredible ripeness, concentration, and depth of flavor. We love them dearly.

Block: Two small blocks of La Crescent in the Upper Vineyard

Soil: Stony loam

Vine Establishment: 2004 and 2008

Training System: Geneva Double Curtain and High-Wire

Farming Practices: Regenerative

Harvest: Handpicked into small lugs to avoid crushing

Fermentation: 100% stainless. Indigenous yeast. Whole cluster pressed and fermented dry with full malolactic.

Aging: 9 months in 50% stainless, 25% neutral oak, 25% flextank. Regular bâttonage. All components brought back together and coarse filtered for clarity prior to bottling.

Harvest Date(s):‍ ‍Oct 7

Composition: 100% La Crescent

Alcohol: 13.6%

pH: 3.47

Titratable Acidity: 7.1 g/L

Residual Sugar: 0 g/L

Cases Produced: 57