Historic, egg-shaped winemaking vessels are hatching intriguing wine and cider.
Concrete tanks at Stinson Vineyards.
Photo by Tom McGovern
Forget stately rows of barrels—Virginia wine and cider makers are rediscovering historic winemaking materials like kvevri and concrete.
Winemaker Rachel Stinson Vrooman of Stinson Vineyards in Keswick uses large, egg-shaped concrete tanks to add a textural component to her sauvignon blanc. Although the eggs are a relatively recent development, concrete tanks have been used in winemaking for a couple of centuries. “It’s always a balancing act,” she says of deciding how much concrete and how much stainless steel-aged sauvignon blanc to use in her blends, which change yearly.
Stuart Madany of Castle Hill Cider in Keswick uses terra cotta kvevri to ferment and age his Levity cider. Also an ovoid shape, kvevri have an 8,000-year-long history as the oldest wine-
making vessel in the Republic of Georgia. Kvevri are buried in the ground and can’t be hooked up to any kind of high-tech temperature control. The result is a complex cider that tastes deeply of apples.
This article originally appeared in our Drink 2019 issue.
