From Farm To Fermentory

Oh, the joys of harvest—when all life grows exuberant and expressive, and stoic starches transform into sensuous sugars.  Both a culmination and a commencment, harvest is a sacred act of ushering Nature into the winery via the “ vessels”  we call fruit.  Coherently structured water contained within the fruit’s cell walls,  serves as a repository for minerals and medicinal compounds -  liquified through  maceration, then fortified and made bio-available by fermentation. 

We gather our apples from our farm, local fields, forests, backyards, and orchards, pressing cider from September through December to align with each variety’s ripening arc. Our grape wines have a tighter harvest window—a push-and-pull of letting the grapes fully ripen while staying a step ahead of our feathered friends. Regardless of the fruit source, we approach fermentation similarly, drawing inspiration from our ancestors and the timeless tradition of making wine. Simplifying the process, our role is more of a shepherd then a maker as we consciously steward microbial life and observe the phenomenon of fermentation unfolding. Through tasting, smelling experiencing and record keeping, we refine our process with each passing season.

As farmer-alchemists, we  embrace the  local ecology in its entirety- from flora to microbes to minerals - in creating our living elixirs. We’re committed to native yeast fermentation, which we believe allows the wine to best reflect the place from which it rose. From pressing to bottling  we choose to maintain the integrity of the microbial-molecular matrix that has formed by the intelligence of Nature by not filtering, or adding laboratory yeasts or sulfites. After our wines ferment completely dry, we move them to the cave to cure and mature, undergoing a successive bacterial dance in both barrel and bottle. Our supply is intentionally limited by the phenomenon of Nature’s unfolding,  resulting in wines that uniquely express our farm’s character.

WHEN WINE IS BORN

That moment of pause, when fruit has been freshly pressed into juice, is sacred—a potent-liminal space that sets the stage for the wine to take form, as a portal opens for the great mystery of microbes to emerge.  In ancient cultures around the world, this phase was often referred to as a boiling, a rekindling of fire or a spiritual birth. Populations of yeast begin to fortify and expand as the wine is vortexed from within, exchanging energies with the ambient air, as an influx of  oxygen brings health and vitality  to the system as a Whole.  We ferment and age our wines primarily in neutral oak barrels, glass, and stainless steel, with a future vision of incorporating egg-shaped masonry vessels.

CELLAR

As the wine completes fermentation, it settles into a period of stillness—now exchanging more within itself and less with the outside environment. Still very much alive, the more subtle ecology of bacteria take the reins as the  once exuberant yeast fall dormant.  Air exchange becomes more of a micro matter as a new equilibrium of electron transfer is established. 

The cellar is a place of alchemy and repose. Beneath  the roots of our farm and  away from the sun’s light, it remains  calm, cool and composed -  a realm of Yin, where Earth energies infuse our wines. Here, wine is allowed to age and transform by a succession of yeasts and bacteria. Aging wine in a cellar is a process of healing, where chemistry, ecology and subtle life-force energy converge. 

Over the years, Fable Farm Fermentory’s cellar has evolved from a village farmhouse to an underground cave dug against a bedrock shelf, just downslope from a centuries-old apple orchard and attached to a historic timber-frame barn. This bunker-like setting offers stability and serenity, shielding our wines from the fluctuations of the outside world.  It is here that we both barrel- and bottle-age most of our wines before sending them to market.

BOTTLE

A bottle serves as a bridge from cellar to table—a vessel of transport, our modern amphora. Within its glass walls, the body and spirit of wine are held, brimming with potential energy, ready to traverse landscapes and deliver vitality and joy to those who please.

After completing its alchemical transformation in maturation vessels—a process spanning anywhere from six months to three years—the wine is gently awakened, carefully blended, hermetically sealed, and left to cure within the amorphous curves of glass. Here, the wine and its microbial life integrate and stabilize in the cool embrace of the Earth. From this reservoir of tranquility, our bottled wines emerge poised to animate conversations, inspire conviviality, and deepen intimacy among fellow human beings.