The Ins and Outs of WillowCroft Clare Brown

The Ins and Outs Of

WillowCroft

By Clare Brown

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The Ins and Outs Of

WillowCroft

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Dedication

This book is decipated to the WillowCroft winery.

Thank you for helping me with my seinor project and making my father happy.

-Clare Brown

Dedication

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Foreword

Foreword

As someone who has just recently moved into the Loudoun County area, I was thrilled to hear about a historic winery located close to my house, and Clare Brown’s extensive book told me everything I needed to know about its history and founding.

This book is also great for those who are getting into the wine community, going into specifics about how wine is cultivated in a place like Virginia, where the weather can be very uncooperative.

I highly recommend this book to any and all wine enthusiasts in Loudoun County, especially those who are new to wine tasting and need a crash course on how it is made.

-Josh Place

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents Author’s Notes

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Foreword 7

Chapter 1 What is WillowCroft?

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Who is Lew Parker?

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Chapter 2 Growing Grapes

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Making Wine

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Wine 32

Table Of Contents

Chapter 3 More about WillowCroft

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WineClub 36 Flint the Cat

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Glossary 51 Contributions

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References

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Chapter One

Chapter One

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Chapter One

Chapter One

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Chapter One

What is WillowCroft?

WillowCroft is one of the oldest northern Virginia wineries, getting its federal winery license in 1983. It is located in Leesburg, Virginia, close to the Blue Ridge Mountains, which you can see when you visit WillowCroft.

WillowCroft is a large farm with its wine tasting room in a small red barn, serving wine all year long. It has a beautiful view of the BlueRidge mountains and an easy-to-see view of its vinery.

Chapter One

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Chapter One

Chapter One

Who is Lew Parker?

Lew Parker is the owner of WillowCroft and has owned the land for WillowCroft since October 4th, 1979. He bought WillowCroft because his young daughters had joined 4H, a youth devolvement organization still active today, and had developed an interest in raising farm animals.

The farm had gotten the name “WillowCroft” because of the two willow trees near the residence.

Lew Parker was a successful financial officer before growing wine at WillowCroft, having worked for many different countries. He worked for the large oil and gas business, AMAX, from 1965 to 1974. At AMAX, he served as the assistant to the Chairman of the Board. He also worked as an internal auditor and as the subsidiary of the Vice President of the company.

Between 1970 and 1974, he was the Vice President of Reblic Coal and Coke Company, a subsidiary of AMAX.

After Lew Parker moved from AMAX, he started working as the Vice President of Finance and Administration for American Instrument Company, where he worked from 1974-1976.

This background in finance allowed Lew Parker to successfully set up and run his business and gave him the resources he needed to find out if growing grapevines would be successful in Virginia.

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Chapter One

Chapter One

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Chapter One

Chapter One

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Chapter Two

Growing Grapes Growing grapes in Virginia is a long and tedious process. Grapes prefer dry climates with a lack of water in the soil. Virginia is the opposite of that, as its humid and soil can hold water for a long time. This has caused issues for people trying to grow wine in Virginia for a long time, as most vines grew molds due to too much water, and if the vine did survive, the flavor of the grapes was too watered down to be any good for wine. It wasn’t until around the 1980s that the modern process for growing grapevines in Virginia was created, and around then when the WillowCroft owner, Lew Parker, took an interest in them.

Lew bought 40 vines from a reluctant seller, and by the end of that year, all the vines were dead. In addition, the spot Lew had planted his vines was too rich in nutrients, causing the vines to

grow too quickly. Lew Parker decided to try again in 1981, having learned his lesson, and this time, it worked, and the vines survived the year.

How WillowCroft keeps its vines alive is a complicated process of watering, not watering, and antifungal sprays.

Grapevines are picky, and a lot of what it takes to get a successful harvest is up to the weather. Too much water, grapes are too watered down, or the vines grow mildew and die; not enough water doesn’t produce enough grapes to keep the leaves alive. So WillowCroft schedules when they water their vines and keeps an eye on the weather.

To deal with the issue of mold, WillowCrofts makes a spray to cover their vines. This spray is a mix of water, sulfur, and antifungal solutions.

WillowCroft makes sure to change what antifungal solutions they use to ensure that the mildew doesn’t grow immunity to the solution they use.

WillowCroft also prunes its vines,

Chapter Two

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Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Growing Grapes so there aren’t too many leaves. By pruning their vines, they allow for most grapes to be grown. Though, cutting too many leaves will cause the vine to focus on creating more leaves instead of growing grapes, which hurts the amount of wine that will be produced that year. It is quite a balancing act to ensure that the vines are healthy but producing enough grapes. Weather is a massive issue in the Virginia wine industry. Too much rain means flavorless grapes, and it is impossible to fix that. Dry weather means using more water but better controlling how much water each grapevine gets.

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Chapter Two

Chapter Two

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Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Making Wine Harvesting the grapes is just as tricky.

Around August, the grapevines start adding sweetness to their grapes.

Grapes usually do this to attract birds to their vines to eat the grapes to spread their seeds, like most types of fruits. At this point, WillowCroft starts testing their grapes for a balance of acidity and sugar content. With too much acidity, the wine will be too bitter. If the grapes have too much sugar, the wine will be too sweet and be more like a dessert wine and not what WillowCroft wants. WillowCroft attempts to wait until the acidity and sugar content are at the balance they want. This is, of course, if the weather doesn’t cooperate. If heavy rain is on the weather forecast, WillowCroft will harvest the grapes early to make sure they get the best flavor.

Winemaking is part luck, part science, and part artistry. The winemaker

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Chapter Two

Making Wine knows how to pick the grapes correctly, what type of yeast to use, and what kind of enzymes to use to make the yeast work properly. WillowCroft first crushes up the grapes and presses them to get the juices out of them to make the wine. The grapes for red wine are left in with their skin, as this helps create the red coloring in red wine. The grape juice is then put in large steel vates where the yeast is added. The yeast consumes the sugar in the grape juice and helps it fermate to create the alcohol and wine taste. WillowCroft also handpicks enzymes to help the yeast work and enhance flavor. Each type of wine is different for how long it is meant to ferment with the yeast.

For example, white wine tends to have a more extended fermentation time than red wine. The wine is then left to sit for a few months to increase its flavoring. Then it is bottled with no air

inside. If air is left inside the bottle, it causes the wine to go sour and stale.

Wine has no expiration date and can stay in the bottle as long as the bottle is not opened. The longer wine remains in the bottle, the more it will taste different, as wine still changes even if left alone. Not opening a bottle of wine for a few years is said to make it taste better, but that is not always true.

Chapter Two

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Chapter Two

Wine Willowcroft primarily sells non-blend wines or wine with a majority of one type of grape. This is how wine was made in the past, and they are sticking to that. This doesn’t mean they don’t have blends, but most of the time, Willowcroft sells non-blended wines.

The wine that hasn’t been made into a blend can be named after the grape.

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Chapter Three

Chapter Three

More about WillowCroft Willowcroft is a small vineyard in Leesburg, Virginia, and is a great place to visit on the weekend. When you visit, you can go to the tasting room and talk to the staff about the Willowcroft winery, or have a flight or tasting of the various wines Willowcroft sells. If you find a wine that you like, you can buy a bottle and sit outside to enjoy it at the tables they have set up outside their barn. You can also explore the winery and look at the growing grapevines. However, you can not approach the grapevines as they are fenced off to prevent them from being damaged. Willowcroft is also petfriendly, so you can bring your pet to the vineyard, and smaller animals come into the wine tasting room as long as they are well behaved.

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Chapter Three

WineClub If you like Willowcroft, you can join WillowCroft’s wine club, one of the oldest Wine clubs in Northern Virginia. Being in the wine club comes with perks. When you come to the winery, you can go to the wine club tasting room, which is less crowded on weekends. Wine club members also get two bottles of wine chosen by the owner, which you can pick up once every two months on pick-up weekends. Wine club members also get 15% off on wine purchases made at WillowCroft and 20% off on wine cases. When you become a wine club member, you will get four coupons that you can use at Willowcroft. One voucher is suitable for a free flight, a tasting, a free glass of wine, or a party of 4, all getting a free tasting. Club members also get discounts for special events thrown by Willowcroft and special events for just wine members.

Chapter Three

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Chapter Three

Chapter Three

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Chapter Three

Chapter Three

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Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Flinr the Cat A few years ago, WillowCroft had a barn cat that wandered around the property named Flint. Flint was a very friendly polydactyl cat and was friendly to patrons. Unfortunately, Flint passed away in 2019, and Willowcroft has a small memorial to him in the tasting room. There is talk about trying to get another barn cat in the future.

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Chapter One

Chapter One

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Chapter One

Chapter One

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Glossary

Glossary

Glossary Albariño - a variety of green

Tasting - a tasting of six

grape originating from Spain and Galicia

different kinds of wines with one ounce pours

Blend - a mix of wine from

Red wine - wine made from a

different grapes

dark-colored grape variety

Chardonnay - a variety of

White wine - wine fermented

green grape originating from France and Burgundy

without grape skin contact different grapes

Dessert Wine - Also known as

Yeast - Single-celled

Pudding Wine, wine usually served with dessert and extra sweet

Flight - A tasting of three different types of wine in two-ounce pours

microorganisms in the fungus kingdom

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Contributors

Contributors

Contributors Thank you to: Josh Place Woods Brown Brian Stromeyer Kim Bradish

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References

References

R eferences Bradish, Kim. Personal Interview. 12 Feb 2022 Major, Lara, and Cox, Andrea. WillowCroft History & Heritage. Willowcroft, 2021 Stromeyer, Brian. Personal Interview. 12 Feb 2022

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Chapter One

The Ins and Outs Of

WillowCroft

By Clare Brown

I choose to make a book about this topic due to how much wine has been a part of my family. WillowCroft is a winery close to my family for the past few years as it is a place my father works part time and it makes him very happy. If you go, ask about when the next wine class is.