3 Style Choices that Make Unionville’s Wines Unique
Unionville’s winemaker Cameron Stark is dedicated to creating wines that highlight varietal flavors and terroir. Driven to showcase the fruit character and food-friendly acidity of wines from our estate vineyards, Stark forgoes the “butter” and sweet oak by limiting malolactic fermentation, using neutral French oak barrels, and using pure fruit.
1. Limited Malolactic Fermentation
Malolactic fermentation occurs in the wine making process after primary fermentation (sugar → alcohol) has finished. Oenococcus oeni, one of the key players in malolactic fermentation, is responsible for imparting the buttery notes found in some Chardonnays.
At Unionville Vineyards, we limit malolactic fermentation in our Chardonnays. The result: fruit-forward wine that has a higher acidity, which imparts a crisp clean finish on the palate and makes it perfect for pairing with food.
2. Neutral Oak Barrels
Stacy Brody, our Operations Coordinator, likes to compare oak barrels to tea bags. “Neutral oak barrels are tea bags that have been used a few times. The essence is still there, but it is muted.”
By using neutral oak barrels, we allow the unique flavors of each varietal to be prominent in the final wines. New oak, particularly American, can impart strong wood and vanilla notes, which often dominate the delicate flavors of the grape. At Unionville, we use all French oak, mostly neutral.
3. Pure Fruit that Produces Fruit Forward Wine
Varietal and site typicity are our main focus at Unionville Vineyards. Managing five estate vineyards, totaling 54 acres under vine, we know that each site is unique.
We continually showcase each vineyard and its unique characters. We have Pinot Noir Clone 115 on four different sites, and each one tastes different. In order to express the grape in its truest form, we are very diligent about harvest time and yeast selection. This diligence creates a balanced fruit-forward wine with depth.
Unionville’s goal is to make the best wine on the east coast. Period. Cameron pays homage to the grape’s varietal expression by using fresh hand-picked berries. Neutral French oak barrels and limited malolactic fermentation allow the pure expression of a grape’s typicity as well as the vineyard’s terroir. A recipe sure to create a yummy wine.Leave a comment
Comments will be approved before showing up.
Also in Unionville Grapevine
The Best Wines are the Ones You Fight For
We picked from 5am that day until a little past midnight, almost 19 hours of harvesting. The pick was only interrupted for bathroom breaks, pizza, and eventually some beers to keep morale high. I think the high morale beer was Miller High Life, although the details are fuzzy and it would only have been selected ironically. It was the most tenacious day I can recall in the field here. We picked nearly 10 tons from three different vineyards, finishing with the Pheasant Hill Chardonnay. We saran wrapped the bins during transport and weighing back at the winery as Ophelia's first raindrops splashed down just after midnight.
Too Frigid For May: How Unionville Reacted to Destructive Frost
© 2025 Unionville Vineyards.
