“There is a romantic trinity around wine that involves the genes of three organisms, the grape, the yeast, and the human.  The winemaker is the director of this symphony. A good winemaker cares for their plants and puts their heart and soul into the endeavor.  The plants take all the environmental stimuli provided by the terroir, action or inaction on the part of the winemaker and through its genome, makes its end product, the fruit.  The winemaker takes this final product, the fruit, and prepares it for the yeast to begin the fermentation.  All of the effort and style of the winemaker along with the environment the winemaker provided are taken in by the yeast while fermenting.  The yeast’s genome uses everything provided by the grape, the winemaker and the environment to make the vintner’s pièce de résistance, the wine.  Finally, the human drinks the wine.  Because the wine was made by living organisms, the components of the wine are biologically active in the human body.  The human genome now works with the components of the wine to create our mood, health, spirit and life.  The circle, or trinity is now complete.  The cycle repeats every spring when the plants break bud, every fall when the yeast is pitched, and year round while the wine is enjoyed by the masses.” – Monica Keady, Winemaker at Ashley Vineyards

Thanks for joining me! This is the first post for the Ashley Vineyards blog.  Ashley Vineyards is a new vineyard and wine company located in the foothills of the Wassuk Range in Northern Nevada, just South of Hawthorne, NV.  We will post our progress, share our successes and failures, and share our wine with the world!  Join us for our journey.

Picture of the area soon to come.

The site for the vineyard, (a modest 4 acres to start) was purchased in April 2018 in the foothills of the Wassuk Range in Northern Nevada, just South of Hawthorne, NV.  The land is a 40 acre plot with plenty of room to expand the vineyards in the future.  It has soils composed of well-drained calcareous types.  Specifically, marble, limestone and schist, with some gypsum, clay and humus.  In other words, the perfect soil profile for a bordeaux style wine.

Picture of the vineyard site soon to come.

The well is coming on-line in May thanks to Parson’s Drilling out of Yerington NV.  A plant purchase is being made through Inland Desert Nursery out of Eastern Washington for delivery beginning in early 2019.

The initial planting will consist mainly of Cabernet Sauvignon, with smaller amounts of Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc for blending when desired.  A small plot of Chardonnay will also be planted.

We plan to vint and sell a Bordeaux style Cabernet Sauvignon, a nicely oaked fruity Pinot Noir, a buttery Chardonnay with mild oak as well as a bright non-malo Chardonnay if fruit loads permit, and a straight Cabernet Franc and Merlot each with mild oak.

The wine will be oaked and racked frequently in barrels from a Hungarian cooperage.  Due to the pruning methods, constant racking and oak aging we expect to get a modest 500 cases for our initial run, potentially ramping up to 800-1000 at full maturity.