The November Allocation: 2022 Regent and 2022 Wildhearth
On September 6, 2022, our team hand-harvested Regent from the South Block at Burnt Hill. One week earlier, I had received my first stem cell transplant.
Four years later, we're sharing that wine alongside 2022 Wildhearth, a blend my sister Lisa crafted from four varieties grown on the hill. Their release coincides with the first anniversary of the Burnt Hill Wine Club. There was a time when I wasn't sure I'd live to see this place open. Being here to celebrate that milestone, with wines harvested during such an uncertain chapter of our lives, is something I don't take lightly.
My leukemia diagnosis came in the spring of 2022, just as the growing season was getting underway. Our family spent the following months navigating hospitals, treatments, and decisions we'd never imagined having to make. Meanwhile, the vineyards needed tending and harvest was approaching.
It's easy to say that the farm carried on. But the farm didn't carry itself.
Our vineyard and cellar teams kept doing the work. Our viticulturist, Lucie Morton, and neighboring winegrowers stepped in with their experience and encouragement. Lisa guided another vintage through the cellar while our family faced an uncertain future. When I think about the wines from that year, I think about the people who took responsibility for the work I couldn't be there to do myself.
That history makes these bottles deeply personal. What makes them exciting as wines is how differently they express the same farm.
Regent comes from our South Block, where shallow, schist-laced soils make for demanding growing conditions but yield fruit of remarkable character. Following that September harvest, the fruit underwent natural fermentation in an ashwood foeder before spending three years aging on its lees in neutral oak.
The resulting wine is wild and earthy, with fresh blackberry, plum skin, and graphite. There's an intensity to it that time has softened without diminishing its character. Lisa selected just two barrels to bottle individually, 25 cases each, preserving two distinct expressions of the same vineyard and vintage. I love that level of attention, and the opportunity to share the subtle differences that make each barrel unique.
Wildhearth takes a different approach. Led by 64% Petit Verdot, with 12% each of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot, it's powerful and deeply structured, yet alive with unexpected freshness. Each variety was harvested in its own time, fermented naturally, and aged separately for three years before Lisa brought them together.
The result is dark-fruited, floral, and savory, with a freshness that balances its depth. Where Regent preserves the individuality of two barrels, Wildhearth finds harmony among four varieties. Both reflect a philosophy of attentive, patient winemaking, allowing the character of the farm to guide our decisions.
While these wines matured in the cellar, our family was finding its way through treatment, recovery, and eventually the realization of a dream we'd spent years building. Burnt Hill became a place where people could gather around a table, experience the farm, and share in the wines that had been quietly developing all along.
Now, we're releasing these wines just as another challenging growing season comes to a close.
On April 21, a devastating frost destroyed nearly all the primary buds across our vineyards. Our team spent the summer caring for vines that would yield little fruit, knowing that their work remained essential to the health of the vineyard and future harvests. We ultimately brought in roughly 20% of last year's crop.
Remarkably, Regent was among the varieties that gave us reason for encouragement. Its secondary buds produced fruit after the primary crop was lost, demonstrating a resilience that has become increasingly important as we consider what to plant in the years ahead. The 2022 wine reveals what Regent can become in the cellar. This year's harvest gave us another reason to believe in its future on our hillside.
And somehow, amid one of the hardest growing seasons we've experienced, September brought one of our proudest moments. The New York Times named our 12-seat Chef's Counter one of the 50 best restaurants in America. For a family of Maryland farmers and winemakers, seeing the work of our chefs, farmers, and hospitality team recognized nationally was extraordinary.
The recognition and the difficult harvest belong to the same farm. Both are part of the story we're sharing with you.
Nearly a decade ago, our family purchased this 117-acre hillside with a vision that extended beyond growing grapes. We wanted to bring farming, livestock, winemaking, food, and hospitality together in a way that honored the land and connected people to it. For years, that meant planting, building, and believing in something long before we could welcome anyone to a table.
When we invited members into the Burnt Hill Wine Club last November, we were inviting you into that work. A year later, your support has helped us continue investing in our vineyards, our people, and wines that require years of patience before they're ready to share. It allows us to think beyond the next season.
I hope this November allocation offers something of that longer view: two wines from one hillside, shaped by an extraordinary vintage and the dedication of people who kept showing up.
Four years ago, our team brought in a harvest I couldn't be there for. This November, I get to share it with you.
That's worth celebrating.
With gratitude,
-Drew Baker, farmer & founding partner
2022 Regent and 2022 Wildhearth, two distinct expressions of Burnt Hill, shaped by an extraordinary vintage and three years of patient winemaking.