winemaker’s blog: soil - hazy mountain
Our Vineyard at Hazy Mountain in Afton is a truly dynamic site with soils, elevations and aspects ranging wildly. A lone mountain top, Hazy Mountain peaks at 1140ft elevation, roughly 450ft above the winding valley floor. With 4 distinctive vineyard blocks comprising 36 total acres under vine, we see the soil at Hazy Mountain as a buried treasure chest for making great wine.
Covered in steep rocky slopes, the bulk of what lies under the surface here is granite gneiss, a metamorphic rock with a coarse texture and beautiful bands that are its signature look. The banding comes from the layers of minerals such as Iron, Magnesium, Quartz and feldspar being smashed together by tremendous pressure and extreme temperatures. Now in the life cycle of the rock it is decomposing and has become brittle, easily chipping and breaking away. The brittle nature of a decomposing stone allows vine roots to find and break their way through it, pushing deeper and deeper below the surface.
The decomposing granite is at the core of each block but the soil surrounding it changes everywhere you look. A variety of rocky rich loam soil in many spots, dark rocky decaying clay and even light colored loose textured soil with an almost sandy appearance. We find this variety of earth we have planted our vines in so exciting because we expect it will lead to a wide array of characteristics in the wines pulled from this ground. The steep hillsides and high rock content of the site lend itself well to having great drainage and not soaking in the rain during the wettest months of the growing season, even in the areas that are heavy in clay. The southern exposure takes in full sun nearly all day, giving the vines plenty of light for growing a healthy canopy. The elevation above our surroundings sends the wind rushing through the vines, keeping the canopy and clusters dry and healthy.
Nearly every varietal on the site is planted in all three of the major soil types found here, giving us what will hopefully represent a full range of styles to isolate and also piece together to create the perfect representation of what Hazy Mountain is and carving out a new chapter in Virginia Wine. We truly cannot wait to see what the mountain has to show us over the next decades.