Claymier Vineyard
Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
We have planted two small vineyards here at the Desert Rose Ranch, totaling about an acre, and we picked our first experimental crop in 2006. The first vines planted in 2004 are called “Norton” and were the original Virginia wine grape. These grapes are being reintroduced back into the state after becoming nearly extinct as a result of Prohibition. The Norton is a very powerful grape that is nearly impervious to the normal diseases prevalent on the east coast related to molds and mildews. Because of its strong character, we are considering making Port from this grape and we produced a small batch this year as an initial trial. Our second vineyard planted in 2006 is Cabernet Franc and is a grape fast becoming Virginia’s signature red variety. We have yet to determine whether we will expand the vineyard into a larger family operation but we do expect to have a small marketable product perhaps in 2008. Stay tuned for future updates on this part of our operation.
