The Hague Winery, Inc.

Über das Weingut und die Weine

In 2000 Stephen and Cynthia Madey purchased historic “Buena Vista” farm in Westmoreland County on the Northern Neck and proceeded to spend the next eight years renovating the main house and farm buildings, some dating back to the 1700s. Framed with chestnut logs taken from local trees, Buena Vista was solidly built by Colonel Thomas Brown in the 1830s for his wife, Sarah Lee Cox, second cousin to Robert E. Lee. In the intervening 170 years or so, Buena Vista had been handed down from generation to generation until the Madeys bought it the spring of 2000. The farm consists of 139 acres, a cottage, tenant house, main home, office and barn–all of which have been painstakingly renovated in keeping with their historic nature. When Steve read that Colonel Brown’s farm diary made mention of growing peaches at the farm, he began to think seriously about planting a vineyard. Peaches, like wine grapes, require a fairly long growing season, and are susceptible to spring frosts. Armed with that knowledge, he completed a grape suitability project provided by Virginia’s State viticulturist, and studied soil maps provided by their local extension agent, before taking soil samples and making plans.

In 2004 the Madeys planted a vineyard at their Buena Vista Farm in Hague, Virginia. Varieties include Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Muscat, and Chardonel. The soil at the farm is well-drained and sandy loam, ideally suited for grape growing. Each vine is hand-tended throughout the growing season. The vineyard is situated on a rise–the first high ground south of the Potomac so that it remains a bit warmer in the winter from North winds and somewhat breezy year round. Vine rows are oriented North and South to ensure maximum sunlight on their canopies during the growing season. With the advice of French-trained viticulturist Lucy Morton, 6,000 vines were cane-pruned and trained using the vertical shoot positioning (VSP) method. The vineyard is planted at 42 inch intervals between vines with nine foot spacing between the rows, following common practice in Europe’s higher quality vineyards. To provide high-quality fruit there must be balanced vine growth, and so a great deal of time and effort has been spent in the vineyard to provide the best grapes possible at the farm. It has been said that one can make bad wine from good grapes, and conversely, impossible to make good wine from bad grapes.