Introducing Stonehold
Wine Grown in Resilience
2021 STONEHOLD
Last week brought one of the hardest vineyard moments we’ve experienced in sixteen years of farming. After weeks of spring warmth and early budbreak, a hard frost moved through Burnt Hill just before sunrise on April 21, damaging the tender green shoots that carried the promise of the 2026 vintage.
We’re still waiting for a clearer picture as secondary buds continue to push, and there’s a quiet sense of hope in seeing life return to the vineyard. The crop will likely be small. It may also become something rare, concentrated, and beautiful. That’s farming. Heartbreak and promise often live side by side.
This weekend, we’re looking forward with a new estate reserve release that feels especially meaningful: 2021 Stonehold.
Stonehold is a structured, mineral driven estate red grown on the rocky slopes of Burnt Hill. Built around Cabernet Franc, with Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon woven in for texture and depth, the final blend is 55% Cabernet Franc, 32% Merlot, and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon. Only 100 cases were produced.
These vines were planted in 2019 with a purpose: to explore how classic Bordeaux varieties would express themselves in the thin, stony, well drained soils of Burnt Hill. The Cabernet Franc, clone 214 on 101--14 rootstock, brings the spine of the wine. It’s lifted, structured, and deeply mineral. The Merlot, clone 181 on 101-14, brings roundness, dark fruit, and supple texture. The Cabernet Sauvignon, clones 412 and 8 on Riparia Gloire, adds depth, firmness, and power.
These blocks grow on rock laced slopes with limited plant available water and nutrients, where vines have to root deeply and work for everything they take from the ground. That struggle is part of the wine. It’s part of the name.
Stonehold reflects both place and philosophy. It speaks to vines rooted in stone. It speaks to the way this hill holds tension, beauty, and hardship all at once. It speaks to what we’re learning vintage by vintage: that the best wines from Burnt Hill will come from resilience, restraint, and the honest expression of our soils.
The 2021 growing season was long and relatively even, allowing each variety to mature at its own pace. The Cabernet Franc and Merlot were hand picked on October 4. The Cabernet Sauvignon followed on October 15. Each lot was handled with intention. The Cabernet Franc was destemmed and fermented with native yeast in ashwood foeders crafted from trees grown here on the farm, completing a steady 17-day fermentation. The Merlot was fermented whole berry in foeder, slowly building flavor, texture, and supple tannin. The Cabernet Sauvignon was destemmed and fermented in stainless steel, then moved to neutral oak barriques after pressing.
The wines were aged separately in a combination of ashwood foeders and French oak barrels, then blended just before bottling. That final blending decision brought the wine into balance, preserving the voice of each variety while creating something more complete than any single component on its own.
The resulting wine is structured, elegant, and mineral driven, with notes of black cherry, plum skin, graphite, tobacco leaf, crushed stone, and fine spice. It’s serious without feeling heavy. It has the quiet confidence of a wine grown in a place with something real to say.
Releasing Stonehold now feels especially grounding. After a week spent reckoning with what may be lost in 2026, this bottle reminds us why we keep going. Wine asks us to think beyond one season, one setback, and one difficult morning in April. We planted these vines in 2019. We harvested this fruit in 2021. We raised the wine slowly and waited for the right moment to share it. Now it arrives when we need the reminder most: the future of Burnt Hill is still full of beauty.
Stonehold will be available this weekend in the Burnt Hill Tasting Room and Lounge.
Join us for A Taste of Burnt Hill, our relaxed three hour hilltop food and wine experience in Clarksburg, Maryland. Each visit begins with a welcome glass of our Champagne method Blanc de Blancs, followed by time to explore our à la carte menu of estate wines, seasonal food by Chef Partner Tae Strain, cocktails, coffee, and thoughtful nonalcoholic beverages.
Come taste Stonehold with us.
-Drew Baker, farmer / founding partner
2021 Stonehold. From the rocky slopes of Burnt Hill. Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Only 100 cases produced. Available this weekend at Burnt Hill Farm.