Capstone Vineyards

May 25, 2024.  For National Wine Day 2024, we continued our short drive crossing the county line into Warren County.  Next Stop: Capstone Vineyards, minutes away from the town of Linden and just a few yards away from Fauquier County, so close that Capstone is affiliated with “FauquierWine.”  From Crimson Lane, you ascend steeply through the vines onto an open hillside with the winery at the top. 

First vines were planted on the site in 2013 under a previous owner.  Theo Smith, the winemaker, bought the pre-existing vineyard in December 2022 with two lawyer friends: Douglas McCarthy and Matthew Akers.  The vineyard is now at 12.5 acres of south-facing vines with elevation between 1,000 and 1,500 feet. And a mix of soil types  Theo plans to begin planting additional acreage, including Albariño and Grüner Veltliner, in 2025.  This small winery produces around 2,100 cases annually.  With one exception noted below, all Capstone wines are made using the fruit grown on site. Capstone wines are made at Fox Meadow Winery where Capstone leases cellar space.  The longer-term plan is to build winemaking facilities at Capstone and bring all production under in-house control.

When you get to the winery facility, you can stay on the lower patio under the shade of the main deck or you can go up a long flight of stairs to the main deck and main tasting room.  Not much accommodation for people with disabilities.  The deck has a few chairs and a couple of umbrellas for shade.  The main tasting room has three small seating areas and a stand-up bar.  It doesn’t take many people to fill the room with noise.   Look for Lucy McInerny who manages the tasting room.

 

We elected to remain on the lower patio, in the shade with that gentle breeze, the great view, and the comfy seating.  

Reservations are encouraged due to the size of the place.  But children are welcome, as are the family pets.  There is a small field below the facility with picnic tables and some shade.  You are also encouraged to bring your own food as there’s not much to eat on site besides the ubiquitous charcuterie board.  Except for some wine club events, Capstone generally does not host special events or celebrations due to its size.  

Whether upstairs or down, the view from the winery of rolling hills with other vineyards in the valley is a wonderful sight.  A gentle breeze stirs most of the time, bringing cooler air from the valley up the hill.  So, it is pleasant in the Summer and draped with color in the Fall.

We are grateful to Theo Smith for shuttling between the floors to serve us our wine tasting downstairs.  Theo is a pleasant young man with short tousled hair, his face  already showing the character lines around his eyes that you see from working in the fields.  He clearly knows his trade: a degree in viticulture and oenology from Brock University in Ontario, working with Jim Law at Linden, and serving as winemaker at Rappahannock Cellars.  It was Theo’s oenology professor who advised him that Virginia was the place to be, wine-wise.  Theo enjoys the collaboration he has with neighboring wineries like Linden, Fox Meadow, Crimson Lane, and the soon-appearing Silver Dog Vineyard.  Certainly, the vagaries of weather in our Commonwealth make going it alone like sailing blind.

Here are the wines we walked through with Theo’s help:

2021 Sparkling Chardonnay.  B+.  Very light and ephemeral Blanc de Blanc.  Very dry and crisp 100% Chardonnay with apple and lemon.  This is the only Capstone wine that is not estate grown; the grapes are from the Charlottesville area. 

2023 Roussanne.  B.  Roussanne is not a grape you see often in Virginia.  Capstone’s product has a little fruit and layers of flavor.  Some minerality and floral nose. 

2023 Sauvignon Blanc.  B.  All of Captsone’s whites are stainless steel-fermented and aged.  The Sauvignon Blanc is aged on the lees.  Good acidity and crispness and balance.  More depth than you might expect from a Sauvignon Blanc.

2023 Chardonnay.  B-.  Another wine aged on the lees.  Lots of melon like a Mâconnais Chardonnay.  Some minerality on the nose. 

2022 C².  This is a Silver Medal winner at the 2024 Virginia Governor’s Cup.  It is a blend of Chenin Banc (63%) and Chardonnay (37%).  Grapes were separately fermented, the Chenin using clay amphora to control high acidity, then blended.  The amphora add some mineral to a succulent fruit mouth.   

2016 Vintner’s Blend.  B+.  We sampled two vintages of Capstone’s Vintner’s Blend red.  The 2016 Vintner’s Blend is from Capstone’s first vintage, and right out of the blocks garnered a Silver Medal at the 2024 Virginia Governor’s Cup.  Aged 10 months in French oak, it is a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Petit Verdot.  It expresses lighter and tarter fruit than the 2022 Blend and lighter tannin. 

2022 Vintner’s Blend.  B+.  By comparison, the 2022 edition includes Merlot (42% Cabernet Franc, 31% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 6% Petit Verdot) and is blended to be more approachable at a younger age.  It was a Gold Medal winner at the 2024 Virginia Governor’s Cup.  It has a great balance of dark fruit and coffee with a nice complex astringency.  Theo told us she removed seed tannin from the Cabernet Franc grapes in this blend.  (Seed tannin is generally more astringent, producing more biting tannin, than skin tannin.)  Removing seed tannin brought more fruit to the fore and produced a milder wine of balance and finesse.  We bought a bottle. 

Truth be told: we included Capstone on our itinerary anticipating that we would not be allowed to linger at another nearby winery.  But don’t consider Capstone as a consolation venue.  It is already strong enough and deserving to be a destination on its own.