Edible Blue Ridge Spring 2023

Great Valley Farm Brewery & Winery

Jesse Feldberg

WORDS & PHOTOS

As we start the long-awaited transition into warmer months, the pace of life will inevitably pick up. Perhaps you’re not quite ready to get back to that pace yet, or you feel like the hustle never really let up in the first place. Thankfully, near the middle of EBR’s territory, one of the region’s gems sits upon a quiet hilltop overlooking the valley. Unpretentious small batches of beer and wine meet an unbeatable view at Great Valley Farm Brewery and Winery, where one can go to catch their breath, sit for a while, and take in the fruits of our region. Nathan and Irma Bailey, owners of Great Valley Farm, began their foray into the Virginia wine and beer scene in 2008 when they purchased the property just a couple of miles off of I-81, though, once there, you may never guess you were that close to the interstate. In 2012, they planted the first grapes in the six-acre vineyard — which today provides about half of the grapes used in their wines — and started selling them to other local wineries. 2016 saw the opening of the brewery side and tasting room, and in 2019, the in-house winemaking began in earnest. Four years later, the Baileys have earned multiple Governor’s Cup medals* for their wines and built a dedicated local following. The mood in the tasting room is always laid-back and friendly, and the quality is on full display in every glass.

We took an afternoon to sit down with Nathan, brewmaster and winemaker, and ask him a few questions about Great Valley Farm. Edible Blue Ridge : What does it mean to be a farm brewery and winery? Great Valley Farm : From Virginia’s definition, you have to be on a farm, zoned agricultural, and have to use some products from the farm in your beer. We don’t grow wheat and barley or hops, but we include specialty ingredients like grapes in a lot of our beers. We have one on tap — the white grape saison — which utilizes our grüner veltliner and vidal blanc juice during fermentation. So in the fall when we’re pressing [the grapes] we take a portion of that, make a beer with it; I always like the addition of the grape juice. [We] also have things like our lemongrass and basil saison — we pick those the day of brewing and throw them in the kettle fresh so you get a super clean and fresh pop of herbal goodness. As far as a farm winery, we do have to grow at least 50% of our own fruit. Right now in Virginia I think they realize that growing your own wheat, grain, hops is really difficult. EBR: What varietals of grapes are grown on the property? GVF: We have vidal blanc, cabernet franc, and a couple of Austrian varietals: grüner veltliner and lemberger, which is also called blaufränkisch. Cab franc and vidal [blanc] are tried and true in Virginia, you see them a lot; not so much with the grüner and lemberger, those are more experimental. We did about a quarter acre each of those and have gone on to plant another acre of grüner and one and a half of lemberger. EBR: How did you select those [Austrian varietals]? GVF: We did contact a few people growing — Ox-Eye grows both varietals; they were really positive about it. A few others [grow them] along the East Coast. We also looked at

*Gold - Petit Verdot. Silver - Shenandoah Red, Red Blend, Gruner Veltliner, White Blend, Panoramic, Vin Gris Rose.

18 | edible blue ridge SPRING 2023

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