Journal | February 11, 2025
Hardscrabble
Hardscrabble is the name of the vineyards that surround Linden’s winery. Hardscrabble is a regional name for this area. There is a road, a ridge and an abandoned cemetery that go by the name. We simply adapted it.
The Hardscrabble name has deep roots in rural, agrarian America where one’s economic place was determined by the productivity of the soil. Both the Shenandoah Valley to the west and the lower Piedmont to our east (Middleburg) were prosperous as a result of soils that were fertile and easily tillable (flat and no rocks). Farms were large. Stately barns and houses were built of stone and brick.
The poor, rocky, steep eroded soils of the Blue Ridge did not afford early settlers the same opportunities. They lived a hardscrabble subsistence life in log cabins and patched together flimsy outbuildings. However, these hardscrabble soils are ideal for grapes. Vines produce the best wines if soils are restrictive in both nutrient and water availability. Poor, thin, steep, rocky soils fit that bill.
Linden Vineyards / Learn More / Latest at Linden | Hardscrabble Journal: February 11, 2025