Pollak Vineyards

Winemaking & Vineyards

"With a commitment to making the best wines possible, every aspect of our operation, from where to plant and how to tend the vines, to the types of barrels and length of aging, is given equal attention." - David Pollak

Virginia viticulturist Chris Hill helped find a farm well suited to grape growing. He not only provided his enthusiastic endorsement but had the initial rows laid out before the property was even purchased. Using his "ballerina" style of trellising, he planted our first 10 acre block. Today, Turtle Zwadlo works with Jake Busching to produce quality fruit for winemaking. This involves meticulously managing the more than 16,000 European vinifera vines, each hand-tended throughout the growing season. They are planted on five distinct sites scattered across the 98 acres, each arrayed and pruned to take advantage of characteristics on their particular parcel.

Our oldest vines are in their seventh leaf (year) and a newly designed winery enables us to control all aspects of the winemaking. We utilize a large cold room to stabilize fruit temperatures before crush and fermentation and make many wines by hand in small batches. The layout also enables efficient and tender treatment of wines by permitting the gravity flow of wines from the crush pad to the production area below and into our barrel aging room built into a hill. With the assistance of Michael Shaps, we are realizing styles of wines compatible with food and a pleasure to savor.

Our logo speaks to our committment to the vineyard. It represents our vines where two trunks rise to the cordon where they separate, best seen in the winter and early spring without foliage.