Spring 2024 Wine-share
And just like that: it’s time for the Spring 2024 wine-share. Which happens to be the fifth Spring share we’ve released, which happens to be unbelievable!
We spent some words thanking you in our last letter, but since we started selling our wines in the fall of 2019, if it hadn’t been for the wine share and our members, we don’t know that Midland would have worked. The trials of 2020 were one thing, but to be a small, thoughtful Shenandoah Valley producer, swimming against the current in a sea of charmless, dirt cheap wine made in industrial facilities, to be a small producer is to be passionate and pain tolerant and to love what you do. Otherwise, you simply cease to be. We love the hard work, we love the wine that represents that work, and we are grateful you are following along.
The wines for this share all feature red grapes, but they will all work with the food and feelings of Spring, and with a chill will keep you refreshed into the summer.
We have a sort of return of our Blaufränkisch, a red blend that puts the Blau front and center, but features the support of Cabernet Franc and Noiret. We may or may not have called it “Blau-franc-ish” and somehow received federal approval of that name on a label.
Now that our sparkling wines have aged on their lees for a number of years, we continue to add a bottle to each share; this time we debut the 2019 sparkling rosé, which sports an extra year on the bottle lees compared to the release of the 2018.
Our fifth Midland x Domestique collaboration continues the mixed fruit fermentation project we embarked on in 2019 with the DC wine shop. It is the first time we made a true red, albeit fresh, chillable and crunchy, and it’s the first time we made wine from the hybrid blocks that Tim planted at Mount Airy. We gave you three bottles because it’s affordable and versatile.
As our vines get older, we now look to the future, and we think about what we’re going to plant that will give our children grapes to make wine from (if they choose to), and we note how much the wine world has changed since our dad and grandparents first started testing grapevines at the farm in 2007. It’s hard to be patient for the future, but at least we have the wine share to keep us company until the fall!
The Jordan Family
NOTES2023 “Tangled Fruit” grapes co-fermented with seedling apples
This collaboration with the DC wine shop Domestique allows us to experiment and push boundaries. After last year’s attempt at light red ended up more on the orange side, we used all red grapes and scaled back the addition of seedling crab apples. It’s definitely red now! But also aromatic, lively and the one to chill on warm days. The apple tannins provide a pleasant, food friendly, mouth watering bite that cleanses the palate. This wine shows our evolution in progressive farming technique. Tim has been experimenting with hybrids to explore a low treatment management program, and it’s working. Made with a minimalist approach, this mixed fermentation wine brings unexpected flavor and texture. Label by Rebekah Pineda.
What should I use this wine for? Like last year’s collab this one is the nerdiest wine in the share, but it is also charming and friendly. While there is enjoyment to be found sitting with a wine like this and “thinking it through”, it’s also perfectly fine to chill it down and picnic in the shade, grill what you grill, or escape the heat in front of the basement TV. We included three bottles, so you can do all those things!
2022 Blau-fränc-ish, Mount Airy, Shenandoah Valley
Yes. Yes, we did make up a name that looks like we spelled the grape wrong. But what would you call a wine that tastes like Blaufränkisch but in reality is only 52% Blau, 31% Cabernet Franc, and 17% Noiret (aka the “ish”)? We bet you would. Somehow the addition of CF and Noiret makes this taste even more like Blaufränkisch. Doesn’t make sense, but plenty of things don’t, and wine blending is regularly counterintuitive.
What should I use this wine for? This wine has more acidity than most Virginia reds, giving it added precision. That said, the medium body veers away from the heartiest foods, making it perfect for the table as we move away from heavy winter foods into the freshness of Spring.
2019 Brut “Zero” Rosé, Mount Airy, Shenandoah Valley
For sparkling wines, we love long lees aging, so we exercised patience, leaving the wine for longer in barrel (18 months) and in bottle (36 months). This deepens the flavor and texture and allows us to finish it without the addition of dosage/sweetness. As in 2022, we’re saving a bottle of this to be included in the fall share.
What should I use this wine for? Sparkling wine is for celebrations, right? Well, let’s celebrate Saturday night, or your next meal with your parents, or your favorite take out. Let’s take the pressure off the holidays and momentous events and celebrate the smaller occasions in life.
