Mark Terry of Westbend Vineyards

By: Daniel Hoey

Sur lie Aging of Chardonnay in Oak Barrels

On a return trip to the Yadkin Valley wine region in North Carolina I spent a delightful afternoon at Westbend Vineyards with owner Lillian Kroustalis and winemaker Mark Terry.

Prior to coming to Westbend, Mark had been in the wine industry in Long Island for 19 years. During the last few years of his tenure at one of the pioneers of the Long Island wine region, Mark developed a side career selling oak wine barrels.

“Anytime a winemaker says they’ve learned everything, you know they don’t know anything,” said Mark. “I had been a winemaker for a long time, but when I deepened my knowledge about barrels it enhanced my ability to create different flavor profiles.”

We had a Chardonnay barrel tasting, and Mark explained that he was aging the Chardonnay “sur lie”, which is a French term meaning “on the lees.”

The primary reasons for sur lie ageing are usually based on stylistic goals: to enhance the structure and mouthfeel of a wine, give it extra body, and to increase the complexity of the nose. Stirring the lees is called batonnage. Mark explained that different winemakers stir the lees more or less often depending
on their philosophy; he prefers stirring only monthly because, as he said “I like to let the wine sleep – I don’t like to touch it any more than I have to.”