Galer Estate Winemaker Virginia Mitchell
This July 4th weekend, Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery of Kennett Square will introduce their first sparkling wine on Sunday July 7th from 12-7pm in their Red Lion Room and Red Lion Deck. The winery will offer a curated tasting board of sparkling wine food pairings from Talula’s Table in Kennett Square for the special occasion.
The Red Lion Vineyard Sparkling Wine is made from Chardonnay grapes which were hand-picked in early September of 2018 from their Red Lion Vineyard grapes grown at the Galer Estate Winery property at 700 Folly Hill Road in Kennett Square. Primary fermentation was completed in stainless steel and the secondary fermentation occurred in the bottle, by Galer Estate Winemaker Virginia Mitchell and Assistant Winemaker Miles Basilia. When sparkling wine is made outside the Champagne region in France, even if it is of the same grape varietal and methodology, must be called “Sparkling Wine”, not Champagne.
Galer Estate Owners Brad and Lele Galer are very excited to release this new sparkling wine,
“This is absolutely delicious! I love dry sparkling wines, and we are so proud to be making this quality wine in Chester County.” And Lele adds, “Making sparkling wine in the Champenoise style is an enormous amount of work, and I never would have asked them to do all this, but Virginia insisted…and we are so happy that she did!”
Every step of the journey from grape to wine was labor-intensive, done with great care and attention. The grapes were tended all year and then hand-picked in the beginning of by Vineyard Manager Jan Grimes and her BrandywineVines team. The grapes were picked and pressed during the cooler temperatures of the morning, and then the juice was immediately fermented to dryness in stainless steel.
The wine was then put into clear bottles, re-inoculated with yeast, sugar and nutrient (a process called tirage), and capped under a crown cap. During secondary fermentation (in the bottle), the yeast produce more alcohol, flavors and the characteristic carbon dioxide that produce the carbonation. This is a “bottle conditioned” sparkling, so all the sediment from secondary fermentation is still visible in the bottle. Some visitors might be surprised to see yeast particles still evident in the bottle, but this is a popular trend in winemaking to draw attention to the process and art of making sparkling wine.
Virginia Mitchell, who recently won awards for her Galer Estate Rosé and Cabernet Franc wines, said, “I think this wine is very unique and soon to be a favorite wine at Galer Estate. It feels cheerful, modern and tropical, and I can’t wait for everyone to try it!” This is Virginia Mitchell’s 5th year at Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery, where she is now General Manager as well as Winemaker.
Since it opened to the public 8 years ago, Galer Estate has won over 150 national and international awards for their estate grown wines, which include Cabernet Franc, Albariño, Gruner Veltliner, Rosé, Chardonnay, Vidal Blanc, as well as the Huntress series of white and red blends.
Galer Estate Vineyard and Winery is located just behind Longwood Gardens at 700 Folly Hill Road in Kennett Square Pennsylvania. They are a boutique winery, making only 2500 cases per year. Open every weekend, the winery offers wine tastings and wine bottle sales, a popular wine club as well as live music, food and art events throughout the year. For more information go to www.galerestate.com.
