Alcohol: 13.1%
Grape(s): 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Cabernet Franc, 16% Merlot
Localization: Virginia, USA
Tasting Notes: Floral, red currant, dried herbs de Provence, and wood smoke. Elegant and juicy with fine-grained, silky, lingering tannins.
Notes: The wine was aged in new (70%) and slightly-used French oak barrels for 22 months.
Food Pairing: Lamb shanks, wild mushroom pasta, beef Burgundy.
The Domain: Our job as winegrowers is to express the forces of earth, weather, and vine in the glass. We farm three distinct vineyard sites with the goal of patiently unveiling their individual personalities. Agriculture as art. Our cellar practices are simple and traditional so as to allow the vineyard to speak. Linden’s wines are restrained, intuitive, and harmonious. This is also who we are.
One of Virginia’s premier wineries, Linden Vineyards is located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, 60 miles west of Washington DC. The entire wine production of 4,000 cases comes exclusively from three distinct vineyard sites. Linden is best known for single-vineyard bottlings of Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, and Bordeaux variety red blends.
The land that was to become Linden Vineyards was a long-abandoned apple orchard. Jim Law and his family purchased the 76 acres in 1983 after several years of looking for vineyard land with high elevations and east-facing slopes. After clearing trees, they planted the first eight acres in 1985. The original vines were mostly grafted and propagated in-house from budwood obtained from the few local vineyards in the surrounding area. The first planting consisted of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Vidal, and Seyval. Heirloom apples and blueberries were also planted for a pick-your-own operation that was eventually phased out in the early 2000s. The winery building was finished in time for the harvest of 1987, Linden’s first commercial vintage.
Hardscrabble is the estate vineyard of twenty acres surrounding the winery building. It includes some of the original vines planted in 1985.
