How big is your vineyard and winery?

How long have you been around?

Why grow grapes in Georgia?

What makes your “Reserve” a reserve?

How do you make “White Merlot”?

What about screw-caps vs. corks?

Where did the Blackstock name come from?

Blackstock is an old winegrowing name in Georgia with an historical thread dating back to the 1880’s and through the 20th Century with the 40-year span of Tom Blackstock’s famed vineyard in Talmo. Starting with the 1880’s thread, an old mill known as Heards and Healens Mill, named for various past owners, sits on the north fork of the Oconee River in Hall County. It is now on the National Historical Register, and the principal testimony of record about the origin and history of the property was given by a (then) 89-year-old woman named Corinne Blackstock. She had direct knowledge of the origin of the mill and the reason for a cement-floored barn structure adjacent to the mill. A descendent of one of the original owners of the mill, Ms. Blackstock explained that all of the adjacent hillsides around the mill were covered in vineyards (now planted in lodge-pole pine), and the mill was designed to power the cement-floored barn, or press house, where the grapes were gathered, crushed, and pressed. This information is further validated by the known historical presence of a wine producer located in the nearby railroad town of Lula. The town, then Bellton, had one principal businessman, Matt Buice, who vied for importance with another rival who established Lula just adjacent to Bellton. Buice operated the winery during this period and enjoyed vigorous wine sales on the rail line that connected Athens with Tallulah Falls. This period boasted thousands of acres of winegrapes grown in North Georgia, to such an extent that Georgia ranked as the 6th leading state in wine production at the turn of the century. Mostly grown by politically unwelcome characters and immigrants (including General Longstreet), it all came to an abrupt end when the Georgia legislature ushered in full state-wide Prohibition in 1907. And then it was all over.

The name also has historical significance in that Tom Blackstock, also of Hall County, was the first and the last grower in a boom of vineyard plantings numbering in the thousands of acres that peaked in the 50’s and 60’s. These growers, focused on the native “clustered” varieties such as Niagra, Catawba, and Concord, but not muscadine, which does not thrive commercially at this northern latitude. While they struggled with an insect infestation of grape root borers, they’re greatest liability was only having one customer, the huge Monarch Winery in Atlanta, which was located near the Riedsville State Penitentiary. This pre-dates the 1982 Farm Winery Act in Georgia which created a more favorable business climate for small wineries to develop, sometimes despite being in a “dry” county. (“Dry” areas persist in this region even to present day, believe it or not. You don’t have to look far, Blackstock Winery operates in, an otherwise, dry White County.) Monarch Winery, which operated in the millions of gallons, was owned by a Jewish man who made a line of Kosher wines, and lines of, shall we say—urban wines—by brand names such as King Cotton and Foxy Lady. But little by little, Monarch began to evolve away from crushing local grapes into these sweet, fruity, sometimes fortified wines, and gradually began to phase out its contracts with North Georgia growers. With no other customer, the vineyards were abandoned.

I remember as a student in the early 80’s studying wine in California, wondering why Monarch in Atlanta was always listed among the biggest wineries in the Wines and Vines journal annual list. It turns out their ultimate niche surprised even an enology graduate, which was neither kosher, nor urban wine. Monarch had begun to make industrial wine. By the early 80’s, Monarch had evolved away from crushing local grapes, although Tom Blackstock’s fruit was among some of the last he utilized, purportedly being the best grower in both consistency and quality. Monarch was receiving tanker and rail loads of bulk base product, flavoring and salting the wines to certain standards, and selling these wines as additives to flavor and stabilize other food products such as canned soups, which was said to utilize millions of gallons of this special wine product.

As a young student home on break from California, fresh big-clustered grapes at a roadside fruit stand caught my eye on the highway between Athens and Gainesville. It was there that I happened upon Tom Blackstock one afternoon. He was a tall strapping man, sporting overalls and a straw hat. I asked him where he’d gotten these big beautiful clusters of grapes. He told me they came from his vineyard. “Where’s your vineyard” I asked. “Just up the road”, he replied. “How many vines do you have” I said. “Well, I started out with 20 acres, but now its down to about eight”, he continued. Well, this wasn’t a great revelation to a Georgia kid who’d gone to California to study winegrowing to bring it back home. “How old is your vineyard”, I queried. “Over 30 years” he responded. I was considerably more relieved. He then went on with a very technical and informative account about the Grape root borer and its two-year subterranean life cycle as larvae feed exclusively on grape roots, then emerge as grubs, hatch into moths, mate, lay eggs in the shady grass which hatch into pupae and re-enter the ground near the grape roots. He spoke fluently about cultural and pesticidal controls, and how all this was learned through his cooperative work with Clemson University because he couldn’t get much help from UGA (teetotaler over at the Hort dept.). I was impressed by his knowledge and how technically articulate he was, quickly realizing there was much more to this man than his straw hat and overalls portrayed.

Two people have since provided more enlightenment on Tom through visiting the winery. Tom’s daughter, who now resides in Grapevine, Texas (of all places), seemed very touched that we had honored the name in such a way. She was moved by the breadth of our vineyards and the fruit quality. She said she had a special closeness with her father and his vineyard because her father loved it so much. She related to us how she was the 1962 North Georgia Grape Queen. Another visitor was a gentleman whose father also grew grapes in this area for Monarch. He said he’d go with his dad to the winery on deliveries with one or two flat-bed truck-loads of grapes, but, he said with a grin, “We were always jealous because Tom would have six or eight truck loads of the most beautiful fruit you’d ever seen.” When I mentioned that his daughter had visited the winery, the first thing he said about her was that he remembered her being “the Grape Queen”.

Tom Blackstock was the last of the growers to supply Monarch and hung on long enough to see the fruition of the Georgia Farm Winery Act. He was the only grower to bridge this history into our modern era by suppling a fledgling Habersham Winery with grapes in its early years. Granny’s Arbor is a name of one of Habersham’s original wines and it was said that the blend is “whatever is growing on Granny’s arbor”. In reality, it was made from whatever was delivered from Tom Blackstock’s little Talmo vineyard. Although I was later the winemaker for Habersham, I regret to say that I never had the privilege of making wine from Tom’s grapes.

The more information that comes forth about this era, indeed because we named our vineyard Blackstock, the more pride we feel in having adopted this name and been put in a fortunate position of adding information to this historical legacy. | Back to top |

How big is your vineyard and winery?

Our property is on approximately 90 acres, with 40 planted in vineyards. It is a high-density planting requiring special narrow equipment that optimizes efficiency. We also utilize a wide trellis cross-arm that divides each plant into two distinct canopies. This “divided” canopy enables us to harness the high vigor of our region yet achieve “balanced” growth, that is, canes that are not too thick (about as thick as your pinky finger is considered optimum). This also provides the greatest number of leaves (sugar factories) per shoot and per cluster, thus optimizing both our productivity and our quality. The high density and divided canopy provides high yields “per acre” yet enables us to bear an exceptionally low amount of fruit “per linear foot of canopy”, thus optimizing quality. The result makes us the biggest, most productive winegrape vineyard in Georgia.

The winery utilizes a relatively small percentage of our total vineyard production—only about 30-40%, depending on the year. We produced about 3,300 cases in out first year, with 5,000 cases being the optimum amount for the size of our cellar. That equates to about 12,000 gallons of wine. | Back to top |

How long have you been around?

Blackstock Vineyards was planted in 1997, establishing as the first of the current Dahlonega-area vineyards. Although it was the first vineyard, it became the fourth winery in the Dahlonega area opening, appropriately, on April 1, 2006. What happy fools we were!

Prior to opening the winery, Blackstock provided over eleven hundred tons of winegrapes to other wineries in helping the development of a southeastern wine industry. Through these early years, Blackstock has fresh-delivered wine-grapes to wineries in Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama.

Owner David Harris, a Georgia native, has a degree in Enology and Viticulture from Fresno State in California. Having worked as a winemaker the first decade of his career, Harris made wines from grapes that came from as far south as Oconee County near Athens to as far west as Cartersville, gradually zeroing in on the Dahlonega Mountains region. After conducting an extensive year-long analysis of the property and its climatic influences before purchasing the property, another year was dedicated to land preparation and more specific analysis to determine what varieties to plant where. Finally, Harris planted 24,000 vines in April of 1997 in just over six planting days. Other significant vineyard projects followed suite in ’98, ’99, and ’00 in such close proximity that three wineries are now, literally, in the same neighborhood. Dahlonega now represents the highest concentration of wineries in the state. | Back to top |

Why grow grapes in Georgia?

One of the most important concepts in growing wine is best-described by the French term Terroir. Not only limited to discussions of wine (the term has been used in writings about a wide variety of foods including artisanal cheesemaking), it is the “somewhere-ness” concept of all of the regional influences that collaborate and conspire to give the product of that region its unique character and flavor. In winegrowing, the totality of these influences are debated, but are, generally, widely held to include influences such as soil type including its depth and fertility, topography including aspect and slope, absolute and relative elevation, all climatic influences especially in the growing season, and cultural & management techniques. The “marriage” or interplay of all these influences conspire not only to define the viability of vines in the region, but the quality and consistency of the finished wine. The final influence, for which we hold the greatest hope, is that our wines will have a uniqueness that will give them a regional identity. We do not hope to grow a wine that tastes “Californian” or “Italian” in style. We hope to evolve an identity that will be consistent and recognizable and only duplicable with grapes grown in our own region.

To that end, a consumer interested in authenticity should demand wines that have a specific regional identity such as “Georgia” appearing on the label in direct conjuction with the varietal or fanciful name such as Georgia Merlot or Georgia Red Wine. The nomenclature “American” would mean “not legally required to be from Georgia”. Estate grown, also defined by “grown, produced, and bottled by…” on the label or carrying a “vineyard designation” has the highest degree of guaranteed authenticity, having to be 95% from that designation.

The Terroir that we have found in the Dahlonega Mountians area is most notably defined by our elevation and steep red-clay hillside slopes. We are in the 1,600 to 1,800 foot elevation range. We are bounded to the North by a dramatic range of the Blue Ridge Mountains, beyond which, cold from these higher elevations seriously compromise the viability of Vinifera grapes—the Merlots, Chardonnays, Cabernets, and classic European varietals for which we are most familiar. These mountains, not only provide a 4-6 degree buffer from cold blasts out of the mid-west, but often prevent rainstorms encroaching from that direction.

To the South, our elevation also provides a great degree of relief from humidity, dramatically so compared to Atlanta, only an hour away, but 700 feet lower in elevation. A drop in elevation also exposes vines to a much greater risk to diseases causing great mortality, especially Pierce’s Disease, a bacteria infected by a leafhopper, found to be in much greater abundance at lower elevations. Our mountainous terrain, ridgetops and exposed hills provide shaded valley areas of cool air that mix and invert with the warmer hillsides giving excellent air airflows which translate into great breezes throughout the growing season and cooler nighttime temperatures, which greatly benefit fruit-growing.

Our steep slopes are also blessed with a very important soil type—sandy red clay. The Piedmont of Italy grows the most expensive red wines of Italy. Here, the most sought after and famous winegrowing soil is called Terra Rossa, or “red earth”. These well-drained red hillside clays that support Barolo vines are the same source of “terra cotta” pottery and brick-making, a great example of another classic red-clay wine region. That’s right, good old Georgia red clay is good for something. The “red” color is important too, because it indicates good oxygenation. Even around here, poorly drained soils can be gray, brown or “mottled” looking—low lying land good for corn, not grapes. The same way metal oxidizes into a red rust, so too the high iron content in our soils turn red when well-oxygenated. Good aeration to the roots is important and grapevines do not like ‘wet feet’.

The combination of steep slope and clay is important too, because clay does not take water very fast (witness the days of standing mud puddles in Georgia bottoms after a big rain), but on a slope the water is run-off. During the growing season, we tend to get our rains in high intensity and short duration, mainly in the form of intense thunder storms. We have often seen our hillside clays in a soil-water deficit, remain that way after a big rain because it came too hard and too fast. Intense run-off is also why we maintain grassy middles between vine rows to prevent soil erosion and further compete with the vines to utilize any potential excess soil moisture. This is why Georgia’s steeply sloped vineyards can produce quality and consistency with a plant whose fruit can suffer from excessive soil moisture. Our “terroir” provides its own form of water limitation. However, while clay will only take “so much” water, it has a good moisture-holding capacity, so we rarely suffer from drought problems. The sandy component in our clays also provide a balanced texture to the soil giving it enhanced drainage and aeration. In our area, after about 9-12 inches of topsoil and 24-30 inches of clay, we hit pure sand, very granitic in nature, mostly from eons of eroded sedimentation of the original parent material.

In California, their “terroir” of little or no rain throughout the growing season requires deep loamy soils that soak up and retain winter rainwater like a sponge and supports deep root systems to tap into those winter reserves throughout the growing season. A shallow clay-based hillside in Napa would be disastrous for un-watered vines, just as a rich loamy bottom with Georgia’s potential for frequent summer showers yield equally unrewarding results.

Lastly, our part of Georgia experiences the lowest average rainfall of the year in August, September, and October. This is when the fruit is ripest and most susceptible to breakdown from rot and mildew, which means that, on average, we have good harvest conditions under which to ripen and mature quality fruit. The Dahlonega area generally harvests throughout September and October, the same harvest window of other classic winegrowing regions (many hot, high volume “jug wine” regions can begin in late-July and be finished by mid-September).

Without exception, we see our best quality fruit come from our steepest slopes, even within our own property. In Georgia, and the Southeast, a vineyard that does not enjoy excellent drainage conditions, would be highly suspect of producing wines of marginal quality and consistency.

To summarize, it is the high intensity-short duration nature of our summer rains and the unique ability of our steep slopes and red-clay soils to shed the rain. The elevation and terrain provide good cooling and drying breezes on our exposed hillsides along with drier harvest conditions in the Fall. These prevailing conditions form the basis for a viable terroir upon which to begin sculpting regional wines of unique character and quality. | Back to top |

What makes your “Reserve” a reserve?

We find that, without exception, the steeper the slope, the higher the quality the grapes—so that is the first factor that influences our selection of “reserve” fruit. The steep slopes provide excellent drainage or runoff, therefore yielding more concentrated or less diluted (with rainwater) fruit. But that is only the beginning of growing a “reserve” wine. The rest depends on our management techniques in the vineyard—how much we pamper the vines—pulling leaves around the clusters for more sunlight penetration, thinning crop, managing the canopy, and especially allowing extended ripening time (another option that’s extended with excellent drainage). The dynamics of our mountain and valley terrain as explained in the above question acts to significantly reduce the relative humidity compared to the lower elevations further south. Good natural air-flow and moderate humidity on well-exposed hillsides does more to limit rot and mildew in the grapes than the most comprehensive spray program ever could. Visitors who have enjoyed our covered deck in the middle of summer can attest first-hand to this great natural asset of our site.

As one becomes more knowledgeable about wine, a consistent theme throughout the world of wine is a focus on “where” the grape is grown. It matters not where the Chateau is located, its all about which vineyards make up the wine. European labels often have a great deal of detail that relate to the specific vineyard location. “Estate grown” and “vineyard designated” wines are also among the highest quality domestic wines made in the U.S.

We treat our wines virtually the same in our cellar, that is, the reds go through the same regime, the whites are handled in their own way, and so on. In fact, we always say our most important task in the cellar is “don’t screw up the grapes”. For us, the quality differences and the real challenge to the winemaker, is how the grapes are grown in the vineyard. Of course, the real boss out there is Mother Nature, which is why the vintage date on the wine probably has the greatest influence on the taste, no matter the region. However, the grower has many options in reacting to the variations of the vintage, and it is the quality of that response that has the greatest influence on maintaining consistency from one year to the next.

This reality extends into wine pricing as well. Buying the highest priced barrels on the market and ageing all of our wines in them indiscriminately, would only equate to “pennies per bottle”. However, if we drop half of our crop on the ground in July to enhance the quality of what is left to ripen, you can quickly see how that doubles the price of the wine. If you add a labor intensive project like selectively pulling leaves around the clusters vine by vine to enhance ripening, deeper flavors and color development, you quickly see how the margins are not much greater on a “reserve” wine than they are on an inexpensive bottle. Too few winemakers today realize that when it comes to grapes, you get what you pay for. Another common goal is to often allow some portion of the crop to begin to shrivel like raisins before harvesting, losing tonnage to be sure, but assuring the least ripe portion of the harvest is pretty ripe. It is really all about making a wine to fit a certain market niche. Often, savvy consumers invest in well-made wines for the cellar, but will also commonly drink everyday dinner wines for a fraction of that price. | Back to top |

How do you make “White Merlot”?

The most common misconception is that White Merlot or White Zinfandel are grape varieties different from the red counterparts. In the U.S., we are allowed to name lighter versions of wines made from red grapes by modifying the name to infer the “lighter style”. This would include using a modification like “Cabernet Blanc” to mean a lighter style of wine made from red Cabernet grapes. So our White Merlot is made from our red Merlot grapes, they just come out of our vineyard and go directly to the press to remove the clear juice from the red skins. We always get a “blush” of color from the skins. The wine is also “cold fermented” for several weeks to emphasize the light fruity qualities of the grape and never aged in wood. One delightful reality that we have found is that the fan base for our reserve red wines are also unpretentiously fans of our White Merlot blush wine, which just goes to show you, there is an appropriate wine for every occasion—and, a little sweetness never killed anybody.

The grapes for White Merlot are grown differently as well. We usually drop none of the crop as we would with our red Merlots, and we do little or no leaf pulling. This saves money and keeps the cost down, but actually makes a better light wine since the leaves will protect a lot of the delicate fruit flavors from “cooking out” due to too much sun exposure. They are picked earlier with higher acid and lower pH’s to emphasize a light, crisp, refreshing wine style. Our Merlot is a great seller and a popular summer wine. It is fruitier than sweet, and as we like to say, the Sangiovese Rose’ is a nice patio-sipper, but the White Merlot is for after you jump in the pool! | Back to top |

What about screw-caps vs. corks?

Everyone by now knows something about the trend in the wine business of using alternative closures to traditional cork, whether it be “synthetic” plastic corks, cork derivatives, or screw-cap closures. First we should dispel a couple of myths circulating around the changes. The first myth is that cork is in short supply: Nothing could be further from the truth. Cork, at all price ranges, remains plentiful. In fact, the cork industry is somewhat reeling from the loss of market share due to the growing popularity of cork alternatives. The second myth is that you can eliminate cork taint through using more expensive corks: On the contrary, you cannot “buy” your way out of the problem. High grade cork shows the same propensity for chemical taint that low grade cork does (cork quality is graded on different criteria, not on screening for the random occurrence of taint). Another myth to dispel in favor of the cork is that it is a renewable resource and does not require the cutting down of trees—cork is harvested from the seven-year-old bark of the tree.

Everyone by now has opened a bottle to find a “synthetic” cork—and almost everyone, in my experience, professes to a distinct dislike of them for one reason or another (usually several). This shows just how desperately the industry would like to do something to reduce the level of cork taint in wines. The problem, which we have learned more about in recent years, is caused by a chemical we call TCA, which is short for 2,4,6 tri-chloroanisole and more recently, its cousin, TBA, a tri-bromo compound. A random percentage of cork contains some contamination from these chemicals and is randomly spread throughout the different quality levels of cork. What we have learned in recent history is that it is not just the occasional “corked” bottle that is resoundingly proclaimed “off” and returned to the Sommelier. It occurs in small amounts as a rule, measured in part per trillion (equivalent to one drop in a swimming pool), and it is not always abrasively bad. It sometimes just mutes the fruit or makes the wine a little dull, and this effect is considered to occur in anywhere from 7-10% of all cork-finished bottles, easily one bottle per case. Many consumers have experienced this by drinking several bottles of the same wine and realizing that one night, the wine doesn’t taste as good as it did on previous occasions. Some even blame their own palate. The frustrating reality for the winemaker is that sometimes that may be the only bottle you have of their brand and you don’t realize the wine is “corked”, you just think they are not very good winemakers!

The problem with synthetic corks is that, while it preserves the ritual of “popping the cork”, it is only appropriate for wines intended to move quickly through the market and onto the dinner table, not appropriate for long-term cellaring of the wine. As you can imagine, the plastic doesn’t “swell” as real cork does when the bottle is laid on its side for extended cellaring. The subsequent oxidation, which eventually diminishes wine happens too rapidly with synthetic cork.

Enter the screw-cap. Over twenty year ago, my Enology professors in college were telling us that if the consumer would accept it, the hands-down all-around best closure for wine is the screw-cap. It is the best closure to ensure an untainted bottle of wine every time, and best preserves what the winemaker put in the bottle and intended for you to enjoy. For capturing and preserving the freshness of the fruit, it is unequalled. The fact that $150 bottles of domestic and international prestige wines are now found in screw caps has done much to erase the “Deuce Juice” stigma of screw caps.

What many do not know is that the “so-called” controversy about not knowing how well the wine ages compared to cork-finished bottles is only so much smoke and mirrors by those who are resisting the transition. University research in California, putting the same wine in screw-cap and cork-finished bottles, was conducted as far back as the 1930’s and they are still opening bottles from that period for comparison. The screw-cap is also unequalled in, not only preserving, but allowing the wine to age and evolve the complexities of age and extend the life of the wine. Light and heat still cause a wine to age, which is why one still needs a cool, dark cellar in which to age wine long-term. These kinetic influences are also why, all wine eventually dies. Removing the oxidation that occurs through the cork over time is simply extending the life potential of the wine, not preventing it from aging.

A long-term Bordeaux research project is now in its 17th year with first-growth Chateau wines aged in screw-caps for comparison (It wasn’t until 12 years into the study that the French even disclosed that they were conducting the study!). The current conclusion is that the wines are evolving with “no difference” between screw-cap finished bottles and un-tainted cork finished bottles, but the prediction of the researchers is that around the 25th year (based on prior studies of non-Bordeaux wine) the contest is expected to turn in favor of the screw-cap.

It has been interesting that there is now a trend among younger consumers that actually seek out screw-cap bistro-style wines in casual dining settings. Waiters seem to love serving these wines—it’s a twist of the wrist and two minutes saved—and when you think about it, the ritual of patiently pouring a small sample to the head of the table to ensure the wine is not corked is now rendered obsolete—never a corked bottle! Most interesting, a recent major trade publication surveyed the winemakers only, you know the technical guys, and 68% of them reported that if they could make the call without marketing considerations, they would prefer to finish their wines in a screw cap.

I know there are many traditionalists out there who don’t want to part with the romantic ritual of using the corkscrew (or as my wife jokingly points out in our tasting room: How romantic is it when your boyfriend can’t get the cork out?), but as an old wine-savvy traditionalist myself, I can tell you that, you will be surprised at how easy it is to lose your corkscrew (as they say, no tools required). As one of my favorite articles—Winemaker’s say screw-you to corks—on the subject points out, “there was a great deal of resistance in going from storing wine in ‘goat bladders’ to using glass bottles, but we eventually made the transition.” It is beyond us how anyone, no matter how romantic, can defend a packaging tradition with an average rate of product quality failure of one bottle in 12 (at a minimum). Which is why, as quality-driven winegrowers, we are proudly finishing our entire production of wines, including Reserve releases, in screw-caps. Blackstock Winery is the first winery in Georgia to bottle anything in a screw-cap, and the first winery in the Southeast to entrust our entire production in this closure.

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