Winemaker Notes
Rise exemplifies our winemaking philosophy at Early Mountain. It reflects vintage, selection from exceptional mountainside vineyards, and consistent evolution of wine growing to best display how these intersect. 2019 was an ideal grape growing vintage; we experienced warm and dry days, with cool nights. While similar to 2017, the 2019 season built on those learnings and even more precisely hone our farming to reflect the inherent power of these sites, and capture an optimal balance of tannin development, aromatic complexity, and depth. Rise takes the very best of these mountainsides sites and offers a wine that distinctively showcases Virginia.
– Maya Hood White, Winemaker
As I reflect on Early Mountain’s 10 year anniversary, RISE encapsulates the goal I set to create wines that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the great wines of the world, highlighting the potential we saw in the vineyards of Virginia. With the 2019 vintage, we celebrate the third season in which the vintage was remarkable, offering pristine fruit of power and complexity and the reminder that patience and dedication to quality is rewarded. Using hand selected grapes from our best mountainside vineyard blocks, our talented winemaking team has crafted a unique and extraordinary wine. This superior wine highlights the best Early Mountain has to offer and reinforces our commitment to world class quality in the wines we craft. We have been humbled by the feedback of so many of you as you have opened prior vintages to mark special meals and moments and hope you love 2019 RISE as much as we do.
– Jean Case, Owner
Vineyard Notes
Our acquisition of the Quaker Run vineyard on the southern side of Doubletop mountain changed our winemaking in a number of ways, but in the creation of this wine, Rise, we see the most profound influence. The steep, rocky slopes of the eastern Blue Ridge produce a wine of power and focus that stands with the structured and age worthy wines from leading regions of the world. 2019 RISE welcomed the addition of another mountainside Merlot vineyard, Russ Mountain, to join Quaker Run in the blend. The Russ Mountain Vineyard is a 100% Merlot vineyard located on a Southeast-facing slope of the Blue Ridge mountain range, just south of the town of Bluemont.
Russ Mountain produces wines that have a quality of “mountain fruit,” particularly brambly and spicy uber-ripeness, as well as a quality of lush tannin that is often quite difficult to achieve in Virginia and offers another layer of complexity adding power to the elegance of Quaker Run Merlot. In 2019, the meet in almost equal amounts creating what we believe is our best RISE to date.
