Holmes Wine a micro-wine project owned by Jackie Moriarty, who’s currently selling her trio of wines at the Ashburn Wine Shop. I had the chance to catch up with her when she was pouring her label this Saturday.

Jackie described herself as a “Traveling Winemaker”, although for now she’s staying put in Virginia. The term sounds cliché, but it’s actually very common.

Jackie explained how she started her winemaking career working at Bluemont Vineyard, then traveled the world. Like many winemakers, she would work a harvest in the southern hemisphere at the beginning of the year (where it’s summer/fall), then travel back to the USA for another harvest at the end of the year.

This strategy gave her exposure to different regions and winemaking styles. It also allowed her to meet her future husband Gonçalo while they were both working in New Zealand. Now that they have a baby on the way, they decided to (at least temporarily) settle in Virginia.

The brand includes three wines; a cabernet franc and two red blends. The fruit is purchased from Williams Gap and October One, while the wines are made at Lost Creek. Meanwhile, Gonçalo makes a separate set of wines at a winery he’s associated in the Douro Valley, Portugal.

Jackie’s wines tend to be fairly low-intervention, with a restrained use of oak and a focus on natural yeast fermentation. We started with her 2020 cabernet franc, made from Williams Gap fruit. It was on the lighter side, with some peppery notes.

Next up was the first of her 2021 reds, a 58%/42% blend of merlot and cabernet franc. She explained she made it with a ‘hard press’ to extract a different set of phenolics from the fruit.

Last was her 2^nd 2021 red, a blend of 50% merlot/40% cabernet franc/10% petit verdot. Her she took the opposite direction than the first blend, with this being a much lighter press, almost to the verge of using free run juice. This was my favorite of the day, with notes of dark cherry and some earthy notes. I got a bottle to go.

Since they plan to eventually move back to Portugal, Jackie isn’t planning on opening a tasting room. But her wines will be in local distribution, and can be found at the Ashburn Wine Shop.