Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/210765
WineEast in the hierarchy. He noted, "We would create ad-hoc label designs as we developed new products, and our branding was both inconsistent and confusing." Kidd divided Boordy's wines into three distinct groups to reflect different segments of the market. The "Landmark Series" wines, produced in limited quantities, are made from 100% Marylandgrown grapes and primarily from Boordy's estate vineyards in the Long Green Valley of Baltimore County and South Mountain Vineyard in Frederick County. The labels for the "Icons of Maryland" wines feature engravings of Maryland wildlife such as the blue crab and the Baltimore Oriole, and the wines are food-friendly, everyday drinking wines. The "Just for Fun" wines are sweet, party-style wines that can be served over ice, and the labels have brightly colored images that suggest modern painters like Picasso or Modigliani. The new labels were first put on Boordy wine bottles in spring 2004. "Ian Kidd had asked me if we were ready for this," Deford told Wines & Vines. "The results were dramatic: We had a five-fold increase in volume and went from 25,000 gallons a year to 120,000 gallons." Phase two: the vineyards The next step in the Landmark Project was to determine what needed to be done to improve the vineyards, both at the winery location in Long Green Valley and at the South Mountain vineyard site. Deford and his team tasted numerous wines from 1 H&W_Dec10.qxp 10/12/10 10:59 AM Page Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and gradually he realized that the wines he TECHNICAL REVIEW liked best had one thing in common: All the wineries were clients of Lucie T. Morton, an internationally recognized viticultural consultant based in Charlottesville, Va., and also one of Deford's long-time friends. Morton became Boordy's viticultural consultant in 2006, the same year the winery took another critical step in improving their vineyard management. They hired Ron Wates, who has a degree in horticulture from Virginia Tech, as vineyard manager. "We were fighting apical dominance and uneven ripeness," Deford explained. "Lucie guided the replanting of our vineyards at both locations— at Long Green Valley and at South Mountain." Morton chose clones and rootstocks to match site characteristics of the vineyards and planted vines with close inter-vine spacing of 1 meter to help achieve balanced growth and more flavorful wines. The vines were purchased from Herrick Grapevines Nursery in St. Helena, Calif., and from NovaVine Nursery in Santa Rosa, Calif. According to Deford, replanting the vineyards was not without challenges. Vines, trellis wires and posts were pulled out. Then, according to Morton's protocol, each block had to sit for a year before it was replanted. In one case, a vineyard block that had suffered from leaf roll was removed, lay fallow for a year and was replanted. As it turned out, the vines were infected with red blotch, a disease that was unknown at the time, and consequently escaped detection. That vineyard block is now slated to be removed1for the AlainFouquet_Aug06 5/17/06 10:57 AM Page second time. www.alainfouquet.com alainfouquet@aol.com 76 W in e s & V i ne s DEC E M b e r 20 13