Drink (and think) like a somm
Fifty-Third Winery
Two Springs
Virginia
Cabernet Franc 73%
Merlot 22%
Cabernet Sauvignon 3%
Petit Verdot 2%
Plum, Violets, Strawberry Jam, Black Raspberries.
21 Months
Neutral French Oak
50%
Neutral American Oak
50%
ABOUT
Fifty-Third 2023 Two Springs
“Medium-bodied red wine with suede-like tannins and a fresh acidity characterized by notes of black plums, strawberry jam, dried violets, black raspberries, and cherries with a strawberry finish.”
-Fifty-Third Winery
PAIRINGS
IN A PINCH
Red meats, tomato-based sauces, salty cheeses.
DEEPER DIVE
This wine pairs beautifully with flank steak or a grilled ribeye, red-sauce Italian pasta dishes, grilled peppers/mushrooms/eggplant, rack of lamb, as well as cheeses such as pecorino romano or parmesan.
STANDOUT FEATURES: Dark fruit, rich texture, smooth tannins.
PAIRING SCALE
STEER CLEAR
Anything too light like white fish or too heavy like rich sauces might not work well with this wine.
CHEESE OPTIONS
Pecorino Romano
Pecorino Romano
Country: Italy
Animal: Sheep
Type: Hard
Texture: Crumbly, grainy.
Style: Salty, sharp, strong.
Parmigiano Reggiano
Parmigiano Reggiano
Country: Italy
Animal: Cow
Type: Hard
Texture: Grainy
Style: Nutty, Savory, Salty.
Roquefort
Roquefort
Country: France
Animal: Sheep
Type: Semi-hard
Texture: Crumbly
Style: Creamy, rich, tangy
RECIPE IDEAS
SERVICE
WHICH GLASSES?
All-purpose glasses would be best for this medium-bodied wine.
BORDEAUX
BURGUNDY
FLUTE
COUPE
ALL-PURPOSE
WHITE
DESSERT
SHOULD I DECANT THIS?
WHY “Couldn’t hurt“?
There’s enough complexity in this wine to justify breaking out the decanter, but most of the fruit flavors are present right out of the bottle.
How long?
Generally you would want to decant a younger wine for longer to help it open up and be cautious of exposing older wines to oxygen for too long. There are always exceptions of course, but this is a pretty good rule to follow.
Minutes to decant this wine:
Year opened
SERVING TEMP
The correct serving temperature is important to show a wine’s true potential, but don’t stress over getting the temp exactly right. Use the chart below to try to get in the right ballpark.
AGING
WHEN SHOULD I OPEN THIS?
If a wine has been released by the producer, it means it is ready to drink. Wines don’t necessarily get “better” with age, they just change. Typically, this change involves things like losing fresh fruit flavors in exchange for more savory notes.
The moment you should open the bottle depends on your preference, so it’s more important to understand the evolution and the life span of the bottle than it is to try to time its opening perfectly. (It’s far better to open a bottle too early than too late.)
This bottle should probably be opened between:
2026 – 2030
Development
NERD STUFF
TECHNICAL NOTE
pH: 3.56
Alc: 13.85%
RS: 0%
Bottled: July 21, 2025
Cases Produced: 202
FERMENTATION
This fruit was harvested from the Monticello AVA in September 2023 cooled down over night and destemmed into T-bins the following morning. The fruit was inoculated, then macerated on skins for ~18 days and was then pressed off to tank. We inoculated for malolactic, barreled it all down and finished MLF (malolactic fermentation) about a month later. We aged this wine in a combination of French and American Oak for 21 months with the barrels being predominately neutral. This wine was bottled on July 11, 2025 and is now bottle aging until release.
PRODUCER
ABOUT US
Our Philosophy
One can summarize our philosophy in a few simple words…always challenging ourselves to do better. Being a boutique Farm Winery is tough work and we are passionate about what we do. From the winegrowing, to the winemaking, to the tasting room, we are committed to providing the best wine experience possible in each given vintage. It’s exciting being part of the Virginia Wine Industry and we want our wines to express the best the season had to offer. We can’t become complacent because Mother Nature won’t let us. See how good Virginia wines can be!
Our Place
You can get away from it all, if only for a few hours. Close to Lake Anna and centered between Richmond, Fredericksburg and Charlottesville in rural Louisa County (or if you prefer, between France and California). The winery was the 53rd licensed Farm Winery in July of 1999 and began its existence as Cooper Vineyards. Nestled among rolling hills in a traditional farming community, the winery consists of 103 acres with over 20 acres dedicated to vineyard production.
OUR WINEGROWING
We have two vineyards, one in Louisa County and the other on the border of Albemarle and Greene Counties. The Louisa county vineyard sits at a ridge top level providing 50-100 feet of relative elevation over the valley floor level. The soil is classified as Nason silt loam and is a product of the original volcanic ridge line. It has excellent air drainage to a pond that serves as a cold air sink for frost protection. The white wine varieties grown there are Albarino, Chardonel, Viognier and Vidal Blanc. The red wine varieties are Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chambourcin, Petit Verdot and Norton. Extensive replantings have occurred over the past five years to match the varieties best suited to the site. It encompasses over 20 acres of plantable vineyard space.
OUR WINEMAKING
Our new winemaking facility is in Louisa County and became operational in December 2017. It replaced the old facility which was in use since 1999. Our winemaking efforts center around getting the best possible grapes from our vineyards watching both Brix and PH levels. We then treat them gently through the fermentation process that includes slower fermentation cycles, gentle grape punchdowns and minimizing touch points to produce wines of balance. An emphasis on a “clean” facility keeps potential problems to the wine at a minimum. We also compost all skins and stems from the press and destemmer for fertilizing our vineyards adding back most of what the plants took from the soil during the prior season.
OUR WINEMAKER
Virginia native Chelsey Blevins is a first generation winemaker that has been diligently crafting in the Virginia Piedmont since 2014.
“My role in this world is to make wine, not just any wine, but Virginia Wine. The same minerals and water that flows through our soils, and the xylem/phloem of our vines are the same that have been flowing through my veins my entire life. I feel as connected to Virginia’s unique terroir as the vines are, our roots are intertwined into one. Every year we assiduously grow the best grapes we can, bring in our harvest and it is my duty to transform those grapes into a tangible art form.”
