On July 30th, we had the opportunity to meet some new faces and show them around New Kent Winery's vineyards and production spaces. Our guests were able to learn all about the grapes that we grow here and all of the equipment needed to care for them from Jake Dombroski, Vice President of Winery Operations.

Our group then ventured to our crush pad behind the winery where they admired our additional equipment like our press and crusher destemmer. We bring all of our grapes back here and this is where they are crushed before they are barreled or put into tanks. Next, we moved inside our Production Hall where our barrels and tanks are stored and the wine is aged. The temperature in the Production Hall is a cool 65 degrees and felt lovely on a warm summer day. While in production, Jake pulled out a wine thief (pictured below) and offered everyone in the group a tasting of our aging Chardonnay straight out of the barrel.

Our tour finished with a delicious pairing from our in-house Chef, Lisa. We enjoyed a pairing with 7 different wines and learned more about how to pair wines with different foods from owners of New Kent Winery, Joe and Jo Anna Dombroski. The delicious parings pictured below were as follows: