1st Organic Harvest Season: A Transformation

Transformational:  This is the best way to describe 2025 for Arterra.

We’ve converted the entire Estate Vineyard to 100% Organic farming, partnering with Baystate Organic Certifiers.  Overall it is has been successful.  Our estate vineyard has 7 grape varietals, and including the various clonal selections of some varietals, the vineyard is divided up into eleven distinct blocks.  This allowed for the ability to trial various approaches to the organic systems, and fortunately only one block suffered notable losses, and fortunately that correlated with testing the lowest application rates of the organic disease management materials, so it makes sense.  To say 10 blocks fared well, while early in the learning curve, can be viewed as a very high rate of success.  This is all the more impressive considering April through July had some of the most challenging disease pressure that we’ve experienced in 23 vintages of growing winegrapes in the mid-atlantic region.  Yes we’ve had other difficult seasons – 2011 &  2018, but neither of those was as front loaded on challenges as 2025 proved to be.  As such, for bringing the European vinifera grapes into organic production in Virginia, this was absolutely a “trial by fire” situation.  More than a few improvements became evident to implement in 2026, and we’re excited to lead the advancement of the potential for Virginia Viticulture.

In addition to this “intentional” transformation – the season itself followed suit, and has swung dramatically from persistent saturation, to ongoing moisture deficit since the start of August.  These dry conditions, plus a light crop load, are leading to a fast ripening season.  While the Organic program suffered negligible crop loss overall, we did start the season with a low crop due to extreme drought stress at a critical time during the 2024 season, and some winter injury.  In terms of 2024, the June-ish time frame is when the vines initiate their buds and fruitfullness for the following growing year; that time frame in 2024 suffered extreme drought conditions and left the vines nutritionally unable to properly prepare for future crops, due to the vines simple need to prioritize its own survival.  This led us to a more focused effort to elevate vine health via nutritional status, and the silver lining of the extreme wet in the first half half of 2025 was getting the vines uptake of nutrients way up, growth back on track, and preparedness for a good crop in the 2026 season.

The winter issues cannot be avoided, occasionally.  We choose to grow more sensitive varietals, simply due to our passion for the wines they produce, and our more “moderated site” in terms of temperatures. While our site allows us to grow varietals such as Roussanne, Tannat, and Petite Sirah in terms of survival, it does not mean that sometimes we won’t suffer bud damage that reduces the crop.  I’m of the understanding that in those varietals we lost many of the primary fruitful buds during an early cold snap in late November & early December 2024, and then lost additional secondary buds during a cold snap just before bud break in 2025 when the vines were at a vulnerable stage.  Fortunately the vines have recovered over this growing season, but in those varietals the yields range from moderate to low.  This is the risk of farming practices that push limits in pursuit of exceptional quality.  Sometimes nature is going to give us hits, sometimes we get rewards.  Yes there are “safer” options, but how often does “safe” correlate with “great” ?   We accept this risk on the journey towards reward.

As of 9-15-25 we have brought in Albariño, Chenin Blanc, and Rosé. All are of spectacular quality. We do need a bit of rain as some vines on the driest soils are starting to show signs of stress, but otherwise with light-ish crop loads, the reds are fast paced towards picking. We are seeing exceptional quality potential considering the overall dry weather pattern for each of the remaining varietals – Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Sirah, Petit Verdot, and Tannat. As of right now – 2025 for Arterra is a “less-is-more” transformational vintage, and while that may seem to have its downside, we are feeling optomistic that the universe is supporting our refocusing, and that all of the energetics are aligned positively. This is a journey, it is a process that must unfold and play out. Instant gratification is not really an aspect of vines and wines. Patient persistence is virtuous.

Cheers !!!
Jason