WINE & FINE THINGS
SLACK WINERY
Slack Winery 2002-2020
Starting our vineyard twenty years ago seems like a full lifetime past. We didn’t know much about agriculture back then, but we had my brother Mark with us to create meticulously tended young vines which I would walk with joy. Early on the challenge was to learn which vines would adapt best to the punishing humidity of the mid-Atlantic. Cabernet Franc was a winner for us, and from other vineyards we were impressed with Chardonnel, an American hybrid, and Petit Manseng, a lesser known French vinifera. We learned a lot about wine making from our old vineyard. The Montepulciano was arguably our best wine ever, but the vines didn’t take to this climate. So we moved on. — Maggie O’Brien
Mark O’Brien
preparing the lugs for the first harvest in 2008. Still today we all agree, he’s the best vineyard manager Slack’s ever had.
Slack Winery 2020—2023
Vineyards are laboratories, and the research chemist in me can’t resist the challenge to go with the good, forget the failed, and keep the fermentation fervor alive. If Monty was our best red ever, then White Shoals was hands down the best white ever. Made in the classic méthode champenoise, we double dosed the yeast in 2010 and released an extraordinary wine in 2012.
A few years ago we began to replant the vineyard and now we’re ready to release our new White Shoals in 2023. In our second generation of sparkling wines we have three old standbys from the Shoals series: White Shoals, Rocky Shoals, and In the Flowers.
We’re also releasing a newbie: In the Pink! This has special meaning for me and my siblings, as my father used this expression freely whenever he was feeling a need to express how great life was. “In the Pink, honeys! In the Pink!” he’d say. — Maggie O’Brien
White Shoals 2012
Slack Farms on-line store is Wine & Fine Things. All wines can be reserved for pick up through the website. And since we believe Fine Wines go with Fine Things, we are offering fine things: Art, Antiques and Vintage Wallpapers in addition to our fine wines. Our first two releases for 2023 wines, 2023 White Shoals and 2023 Black Drum Red, make their much anticipated return to the shelves. In addition to wine and fine things (art, antiques & vintage) we will begin after the holidays with teas and our long anticipated release of Slack Farms Press materials. First up is The Barn & Farm Wedding Book, written by owner Jane Margaret O’Brien.
