TECHNICAL SPOTLIGHT WINEMAKING
December 2015 WINES&VINES 51
while the delivery trucks continue past a mod-
erate-sized tasting room on the left and a simi-
lar size office building on the right to reach the
open-air crush pad.
The original Montdomaine building, topped
with a green roof, is now the barrel room, and
the small room that had served as the winery
office was converted into a laboratory. The
former crush pad was enclosed to become the
wine-production area, and a cold-storage room
was added to replace the refrigerated trucks
that had been used to chill grapes and wine.
A new, covered and much larger crush pad was
built, along with room for equipment storage
and tables and chairs overlooking the vineyard.
Some new winemaking equipment was added,
including an additional Europress (more on
this later).
The vineyards
While Wineworks does not own any vineyards,
Shaps manages a total of about 80 acres. His
Chardonnay comes from the 5-acre Wild
Meadow Vineyard in northern Virginia's Lou-
doun County; another 7-acre vineyard, Moun-
tain View Vineyard near Roanoke, Va., is at an
elevation of 1,300 feet and produces Viognier,
Merlot and Cabernet Franc for Wineworks.
Honah Lee Vineyard in Gordonsville, Va., is
planted with Petit Manseng, Petit Verdot and
Tannat as well as other varieties that Shaps
uses for his clients. Most of the remainder of
the Wineworks grapes are grown in Albemarle
County, including Chardonnay, Cabernet
Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon at a
site high on Carter's Mountain, just south of
Charlottesville.
The winemaking
Because the Wineworks makes wine under
contract for clients, the specific processes used
during winemaking vary somewhat according
A truck loaded with grapes drives between a tasting room (left) and office on the way to the crush pad.
