Seyval Blanc

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

I was pleasantly surprised by Applewood’s wine list.  Between the name and the extensive apple and pear orchards lining the long driveway, I admit I expected fruit wines and cider.  Instead, I found a rather extensive menu of both grape and fruit wines as well as hard cider.  It made it very tough to pick only five, and I probably spent more time over that menu than any other in quite some time.  But in the end, I settled on my five, making sure to include the cider, and began with the

Seyval Chardonnay The lightest and driest of the Applewood whites, the Seyval Chardonnay is crisp and clean, with a lightly floral nose.  In the mouth, the wine has notes of green pepper with a light pop of acid on the end which helps provide the crispness.  A nice wine that would pair well with lighter foods, salads, grilled chicken or shrimp; it would also stand well on its own as a light sipping wine.

Traminette It’s funny how one good experience with a wine can flip you into a fascination with it.  Because I so enjoyed the Traminette at Northwinds, as soon as I saw it on Applewoods menu I knew it would be one of my five choices that afternoon.  Labeled as an off-dry wine, Applewood’s Traminette has a soft nose with lush notes of apricot.  In the mouth, the wine is soft and rich with strong notes of apricot and a very smooth finish.  While not a sweet wine, the strong notes of apricot do provide a sweetness that earns it the “off-dry” label.    There’s very low acid on the finish, and I found myself missing that – I wanted a bit more of a bite to balance out the smooth sweetness on the front.  That being said, I imagine this would be a really popular wine, particularly with those who tend to shy away from really dry wines, but want something that’s not too sweet.

I evenly split my tasting between two whites and two reds and in between took a quick detour with the Stone Fence Cider.   Hard cider is one of the pleasures of Fall – crisp and tangy, it just pairs perfectly with the cooler evenings and heartier foods of Autumn.  Applewood’s is a nice cider, but it didn’t win me over.  The nose is soft and very subtle, and in the mouth what really hit me was the effervescence.  It almost felt too strong.  The cider has both notes of apple and honey, and while the honey provides a nice touch of smooth sweetness, I felt that it toned down the apple too much.  I was really looking for that crisp apple tang that, to me, is the hallmark of a great cider.  Overall, it’s quite pleasant, just not quite what I was expecting.

OBR After the cider I rinsed my glass and moved on to the reds.  First up was the OBR, which unfortunately I didn’t think to ask what the initials stood for until after I left.  A red blend, the color is a medium purply garnet color.  The nose is rich and deep with strong notes of both smoke and earth.  I expected the earthiness to continue in the mouth, but instead found very bright cherry notes, which were almost too bright for my taste.  The wine also has light tannins and smoother finish than I had anticipated; I found myself wishing for a bit more on the finish, perhaps pepper or leather, something to provide a bit of heat or depth to contrast with the brightness of the fruit on the front.  The Tasting Notes indicate this pairs well with food, particularly recommending lamb.

Now that I’m a few weeks removed from my visit to Applewood, I find myself wondering the extent to which the cider influenced my experience with the OBR.  I always cleanse my palate with wine crackers in between tastings, but it may not have been enough and may have factored into my tasting.  I’ll definitely have to try the OBR next time I’m in the area, and if the experience is different, it may be worth buying a bottle, since there’s only so much one can experience from a 1oz tasting.

Cabernet Franc To no one’s surprise, I’m sure, I concluded my tasting with the Cabernet Franc.  One of Applewood’s award winners, this is a very nice wine, and my favorite among the five I sampled that afternoon.  A lovely purply ruby color, the nose has a lovely dusky fruitiness.   In the mouth, this was what I had been looking for in the OBR.  Rich and lush, with light sweet notes of blackberry and black cherry and a warm spice finish with a flash of pepper for heat that settles into the softer, earthier warmth of cumin.  Medium-bodied the wine opens up with each subsequent sip and will do better if allowed to breathe for a good 20-30 minutes before serving.  This should pair well with a variety of meats and heartier foods.

I headed out that afternoon with a bottle of the Cabernet Franc under my arm and a lifetime pass for free wine tastings in my hand.  I also looked into the Wino Club, but Applewood doesn’t ship to Connecticut.  They do ship outside New York, it just depends on the particular state and its distribution laws.  For more on that, check out Gretchen’s posts on the subject, or the Illinois Wine Consumer Coalition website (link on the right of this page).

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

I first visited Savino Vineyards in Woodbridge, Connecticut late in the season last year by which time they had already sold out of the Cabernet Franc and the Frontenac.  I made a mental note to return in 2010 to sample the latest vintages of the two wines I missed in 2009.

So, as I left Northwinds Winery, I decided to detour south and stop by Savino to see what they had on the menu this season.  Unfortunately, neither Cabernet Franc or Frontenac are included in this season’s wine list, but I did have the chance to revisit the 2008 Seyval Blanc and the 2007 Merlot as well as sample two new wines, the 2008 St. Croix and the 2008 Merlot.

I also was lucky enough to meet owner and winemaker, Gennaio Savino.  Savino grew up in Italy making wine and returned to the business after he retired.  He planted his first vines about 10 years ago, and today his vineyard encompasses 8 acres and includes Seyval Blanc, St. Croix, Merlot and Cabernet Franc grapes.  All of his wines are produced from estate-grown grapes, although he does bring in a small amount of Merlot from California to blend with his locally-grown Merlot.

2008 Seyval Blanc I first tried the 2008 Seyval Blanc, the only white Savino produces, on my visit last Fall.  At the time I noted that the predominant notes were citrus, particularly grapefruit and were a bit strong.  Over the ensuing 8 months, the wine has mellowed.  Still crisp and tangy with a nice burst of acid on the finish, the citrus notes are softer and a bit lighter.  I still picked up the grapefruit, but it wasn’t as pronounced as before.   On second tasting, I found myself taking to the wine even more than I had previously, and I had enjoyed it on first tasting.   It’s not that often that I take the chance to go back and try the same wine, same vintage, only months later.   Often when I return to a winery, I either want to sample wines I wasn’t able to taste during my previous visit, or try the new vintages.  However, now I’m rethinking that strategy, and will definitely peruse the wine lists with an eye for the chance to revisit a wine I’ve previously tried.

2008 St. Croix The 2007 St. Croix was my favorite of the Savino wines on my first visit.  At the time I had bought a bottle and drank it a few months later, finding it to be a lovely, complex wine that paired very well with the beef I had for dinner that evening.   The 2008, while it didn’t disappoint, didn’t quite live up to my memories of the 2007.  Dark purple in color, with a tangy, fruity nose, the wine is lighter-bodied with an earthy fruitiness and notes of cherry that linger on the lips.    In my notes I likened it to eating just-ripe, just picked cherries.   What made the wine interesting though were the earthy notes, up front I detected notes of soil and grass, and it wasn’t until the finish that I got the cherries.  Again, not a bad wine, but not as strong as the 2007.

2007 Merlot The tasting concluded with back-to-back Merlots, 2007 vs. 2008.  I had sampled the 2007 Merlot on my previous visit, and given my reaction to the Seyval Blanc was very interested to see if I found a similar change in the 2007 Merlot.  Unfortunately not.  The nose is a bit richer, more jammier than I remembered, but in the mouth the strong peppery, slightly bitter notes that I picked up on my previous visit were still present.   It’s not bad for a Connecticut Merlot, which tend to be lighter-bodied and not as smooth as their California or Oregon counterparts, but it still didn’t win me over.

2008 Merlot The 2008, however, was a completely different story.  The difference between the two begins on sight: the color, which in the 2007 is a dark purple, is more of a bright ruby in the 2008.  The nose is much more subtle, duskier and while there are still notes of cherry, it is less jammy than the 2007.  In the mouth the wine is stronger bodied, richer, more lush, with soft deep notes of cherry, warm soft spice rather than the sharp bite of pepper, and a nice light smoke from the oaking.  It’s smooth and opens up nicely in the mouth.  This one could, just possibly, win me over to Connecticut Merlots.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

The tasting kicked off that afternoon with the Traminette, altogether a very lovely wine and my favorite of the afternoon.  The nose is very aromatic, with strong floral notes – very pretty.   The wine is crisp and refreshing, with very light notes of sweetness from subtle fruit flavors, maybe a hint of peach, that blend well with the floral notes in the nose.  The finish is crisp with a nice balance of acid.  This is a great sipping wine as well as a wine that should pair well with a wide range of foods.  I liked it so much I actually went home with two bottles – unusual for me.

Next up was the Zephyr.  Because this is the one Northwinds wine that uses non-estate grown grapes, this wine must be labeled differently from the others.  What I loved about Northwinds is that they really embraced that regulation, producing a bottle and label that was not only distinct from their other wines, but distinctive in and of itself.  The wine is a blend of their estate-grown Traminette and Sauvignon Blanc brought in from off-site.  The nose still has the pretty, floral characteristics of the Traminette, but it’s tempered by the Sauvignon Blanc, and as a result is not quite as aromatic as the Traminette.  In the mouth the wine is smooth and refreshing, although not as crisp as the Traminette.  There are also some grassy notes in this one which temper the floral notes.  It’s not a bad wine, and a lot of people, including many around me that afternoon who will like this wine very much.  But I found myself definitely preferring the crisper, more aromatic Traminette.

Last up for the whites was the Vidal Blanc.  Darker in color than the previous two which were more of a pale yellow, the Vidal Blanc is more of a light gold color.  The nose is lovely with sweet floral notes of orange blossom and peach.  In the mouth, the Vidal Blanc, like the previous two, tends more towards the floral rather than the fruity, although the flavors are more subtle in the mouth than in the nose.  I definitely picked up the orange of the orange blossom as well as some light grassiness which provided a bit of depth and kept the wine from being sweet.  The finish is fairly smooth with just a light touch of acid.  Not as crisp as the Traminette, I’d be more likely to drink this wine with food rather than on it’s own.  Still, overall a nice wine, and for those who like their whites tending toward the sweet rather than the dry, this is a nice find.

With that we moved on to the single Rosé.  The most distinctive thing about the Rosé is its color, a beautiful amber gold color.  A color one associates more often with late harvest dessert wines, not Rosés, a comment which I blurted out as soon as I saw the wine.  The Rosé is a blend of three table grapes, the Himrod, Vanessa and Jupiter grapes.  The result is not your typical Rosé, and for those, like me, who often shy away from Rosés finding them too light-bodied and, often, too sweet, this one is definitely worth a try.  the nose is soft and fruity, almost like a late harvest nose.   That combined with the unconsciously led me to expect a much sweeter wine than the one I found.  In the mouth, the wine is much drier than I expected, although until I noted my surprise I hadn’t realized the extent to which I was expecting a sweet wine.  There is a light sweetness, but as with the other Northwinds wines, the overall notes are floral rather than fruity, including a hint of peach blossom.  The finish has a pleasant bite of acid, although overall the wine is smooth and rich in the mouth.  Definitely not what I was expecting from a Rosé.

From the Rosê the tasting proceeded to the first of Northwinds two reds, Boreas a blend of Cabernet Franc (85%) and St. Croix (15%), both estate-grown.   Garnet colored, with a dry, dusky nose with subtle notes of black cherry.  In the mouth, the wine echoes the subtle notes of black cherry found in the nose, with a slight smoke from the Hungarian and American oak barrels.  On the lighter side of medium-bodied, I found the wine didn’t really open up in the mouth, although subsequent sips did provide some layering of flavors and smoke.  The wine should pair well with chicken and lighter meats, such as grilled pork, but I don’t feel it’s robust enough to stand up to the heavier meats such as beef, lamb or veal.  I was somewhat disappointed with this wine, really wanting it to open up more in the mouth.

And last, but not least, the tasting concluded with the St. Croix. Dark garnet, with a really nice soft, rich dusky nose with the faintest hints of fruit.  The wine is medium-bodied, smooth and richer than the Boreas, with interesting notes of grass and earth as well as leather from the oaking.  As with the nose, there are  faint notes of dar berries, but the predominant notes are grass and earth.  I definitely preferred this over the Boreas.  This should pair well with a variety of foods.

I went home that afternoon with two bottles of the Traminette – unusual for me to go home only with whites, and with two bottles of anything.  A 1oz sip, while giving you a sense of the wine, isn’t really enough to truly understand the wine.   I really don’t know if I am going to love something until I have the opportunity to linger over a whole glass as well as pair the wine with food.   Therefore, my standard practice is to bring home a single bottle of wines that intrigued me during the tasting.  Depending on the wine, I’ll either put in the cellar (makes that dark back corner of my basement sound so grand to call it a cellar) to sit for a few months up to a year, or put it in the rack to be opened soon.   This gives me the opportunity to better explore the wine before deciding it’s something I want to invest in having on hand.  It’s this practice that turned me into a Cabernet Franc lover.  The first couple times I tried Cab Franc here in Connecticut, I really wasn’t sure, often feeling upon first sip that the wines were pale versions of their more robust Cabernet Sauvignon cousins.   But there was something there that intrigued me, so I brought home a bottle from one or two wineries.  Let them breathe for a good 20-30 minutes after opening, paired them with food, and found a whole new wine to love.  So to go home with two bottles was a definite departure from routine for me, but I really liked that Traminette.

I’ll have to make a mental note to head back in late September to try the Riesling.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

One of the great things about writing for Vino Verve, other than hitting the road and exploring new wineries, is that I find I’m inspiring others to do the same.  Often it starts with friends joining me on the wine trail and enjoying it so much that they then take others.  Less often, I’ll hear from someone who read one of the posts and said, “you know, I thought I’d give it a try.”  One of my SOTS (Sisters of the Connecticut Wine Trail) buddies, Jean Levesque, dragged her husband out on Memorial Day weekend as well, spending the afternoon at Sharpe Hill.  Tom, her husband, enjoyed himself so much that Jean should have no trouble dragging him out again – in between SOTS excursions, of course.

Taylor Brooke was first discovered by another wine trail buddy, Christy Mangle (formerly Christy Sherard), who with her husband, Jeff, headed over there late last Fall. Their reviews were so glowing that I immediately moved Taylor Brooke to the top of the list of remaining wineries.  Unfortunately, by the time I was able to get there (New Year’s weekend), they were closing down for the season and were really open only for wine sales.  Upon hearing that I had driven over from Hartford, in the snow no less, Linda Augur kindly offered to pour an abbreviated tasting menu for me that afternoon, and I promised to come back for the full experience once they opened again in the Spring.

Which is where I found myself on that beautiful Sunday afternoon over Memorial Day weekend.   Taylor Brooke produces 10 table and dessert wines and five seasonal wines.    The table wines include 4 whites, including one of their fruit-infused Rieslings; 3 reds, and 3 dessert wines.  Guests are invited to taste two wines on the house, and then can select either another six wines (for a total of 8 ) for $4 or the entire menu, including any of the available seasonal wines, for $6.  A logo glass may be purchased for an additional $3.  Never one to pass up an opportunity to sample new wines, I immediately opted for the full tasting menu for $6.

Woodstock Hill White The tasting kicks off with a lovely blend of estate grown Vignoles and Riesling and Connecticut-grown Cayuga White.  Although the Augurs have recently planted Cayuga White themselves, it will be another few years before those grapes are ready for production.  In the meantime, they partner with a nearby vineyard to obtain their Cayuga White grapes.  A pale straw color, the wine has a delicate floral nose with notes of orange blossom.  In the mouth, the wine is crisp but delicate, lightly sweet with floral notes, and just a touch of acid on the finish to provide balance.    This would pair nicely with seafood and summer pasta dishes.

Riesling Next up was the Riesling.  One of Taylor Brooke’s specialties is their Rieslings, producing a number that are infused with fruit essences.  This is a dry Riesling, and one of my favorites among the Taylor Brooke whites, second only to the Green Apple Riesling.  The color is a very light yellow. The nose is light and delicate with notes of grass, in particular that light, fresh early spring grassy smell when the grass is really starting to come up again after the winter.  In the mouth, the wine is soft and smooth with light notes of grass and maybe green pepper.  There’s a slight buttery finish, nothing overwhelming just enough to provide a touch of sweetness and a soft lingering finish.  Overall a very nice wine, and a nice change from the fruitier wines found elsewhere throughout Connecticut.

Traminette Taylor Brooke led by owner and winemaker Richard Augur were among the first to grow Traminette in Connecticut.  The grape is a hybrid of Gewurztraminer and Seyval Blanc, created by Cornell University in 1996.  While it has many of the characteristics of a Gewurztraminer, the Traminette is particularly suited for the shorter growing seasons and colder climates of the northeast and upper Midwest, and you’ll find Traminette grown in New York, Illinois, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, as well as New England.   Taylor Brooke’s Traminette is 100% estate grown.  A pale straw color, with a lovely, slightly earthy nose, the wine is very similar to a Gewurztraminer.  Sweeter than the previous two wines, with floral notes on the palate as well as light touches of peach and honey.  The peach notes really come through at the end and the wine finishes beautifully.  This would pair well with spicier, but not overly heavy food: Thai, for example, or even sushi.

Green Apple Riesling My favorite of the Taylor Brooke whites, this is one of their fruit-infused Rieslings.   Not a blend, the fruit-infused Rieslings are the result of incorporating natural fruit essence (similar in concept to vanilla extract) into 100% Riesling.  The results are very impressive producing wines with deeper, more distinctive fruit notes without creating overly sweet fruit wines.   The notes of Green Apple are distinct in the nose, but gentle – I expected the green apple to be much stronger than it actually was.  The earthy, slightly grassy notes of the Riesling were still present and blended beautifully with the slightly floral tart smell of green apple blossoms.  In the mouth, the wine has many of the hallmarks of the Riesling, drier with lightly grassy notes.  As with the nose, the green apple is distinct but not overwhelming, providing both a light sweetness and a crisp tartness reminiscent of that first bite into a crisp green apple.  The mouth feel is soft and silky and the wine has just enough acid on the finish to provide a nice balance and contrast.  Overall, a very nice wine.

Summer Peach The whites concluded with the first of Taylor Brooke’s seasonal wines, the Summer Peach.  Available May 1st each year, the Summer Peach is one of their more popular wines.  Like all the Rieslings, the color is a pale straw.  The nose is stronger than either the Riesling or the Green Apple Riesling, with very distinct notes of peach.  In the mouth the peach notes are strong, but not too sweet.  Like the Green Apple Riesling, the mouth feel is soft and silky, with a satisfying finish.  The acid provides a very slightly bitter finish which I found to be a bit off-putting; it’s almost as if the strength of the peach notes were leading me to expect more of a dessert wine with a smoother, richer finish.   Still, overall a very nice wine and one that will pair well with a wide variety of late spring/summer dishes, particularly grilled food, seafood and summer pastas.

As that finished the whites, I took a short break, rinsed my glass and prepared for the Reds…

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

In addition to being voted Best Connecticut Small Winery at the Big E competition, Connecticut Valley also won the distinction of being the Sisters of the Connecticut Wine Trail’s favorite winery.  The whole group loved both the winery and the wines – and trust me, they are not an easy group to please!

The tasting menu starts off with the

Chardonnel A hybrid grape, the result of grafting Chardonnay and Seyval Blanc grapes together, the result is a lovely, crisp, refreshing white wine – one of my favorites across the Connecticut wine trail.  Like all of the Connecticut Valley wines, the Chardonnel has only a light touch of oak.  A pale yellow color with a soft, lightly fruity nose with notes of apricot and peach, the wine is soft and silky in the mouth with light notes of peach and bright citrus and a soft buttery finish.  The Chardonnel would pair well with a wide variety of foods, but I prefer it on it’s own – lightly chilled, it’s a perfect wine to relax with at the end of the day.

Dolce Vita An estate-grown Cayuga White, Dolce Vita is proprietor Tony Ferraro’s favorite wine, according to his son, Jason, who was my host for my third and most recent tasting.   The color is an extremely pale straw.  The nose is soft and both fruity and floral with lovely notes of orange blossom.  In the mouth the wine has subtle notes of pineapple and touches of melon.  On my most recent visit, the gentleman next to me during the tasting said he was picking up watermelon.  I took another sip and thought about it and could get just the barest hint of the watermelon he was experiencing, but for me the overall impression was that of pineapple.  Regardless, it is a lovely wine.

The next three wines, the Specialty Wines, are all fruit-infused wines, and as Jason Ferraro described them “the dangerous wines.”  First up is the

Just Peachy 75% Chardonnay and 25% Seyval Blanc infused with a peach essence, the result is a delightful, soft, eminently drinkable table wine.  The color is a soft gold.  The nose is soft and peachy, but not overpoweringly so.  In the mouth, you realize at once this is not a fruit wine – the Chardonnay/Seyval base produces a dry, lightly oaked table wine and the peach essence provides a depth of fruit that blends beautifully with the notes already present in the grapes.  The result is a delightful, not-sticky-sweet, wine that would pair well with spicy dishes, chinese and even pork.

Raspberry Delight Like the Just Peachy, the Raspberry Delight is a white table wine infused with raspberry essence.  The result produces a very pink wine.  The nose is soft raspberry; a more subtle nose than I had anticipated.  In the mouth, the wine is also more subtle than I anticipated.  There are strong raspberry notes, but rather than overpowering the wine, they produce a bright, crisp, tanginess at the start that smooths out to a lightly sweet finish.   I definitely preferred the Just Peachy to the Raspberry Delight, but the Raspberry Delight has it’s charms.

Orange Delight This is vintner Jason Ferraro’s favorite wine, as well as one of my favorites, to my great surprise.  I did not anticipate liking this as much as I did.  As it was being poured and described, I expected the orange to be too strong a flavor, overpowering the wine altogether.  I have never been so pleased to be proved wrong.  A 50/50 combination of Orange Muscat and Vidal Blanc grapes, this is a semi-dry wine.  Like the Dolce Vita, the color is a very pale straw.  The nose is soft with strong notes of orange floral.  In the mouth the orange, rather than being too sweet, has a slightly bitter/tart edge that balances the fruity sweetness and creates some depth and complexity in the wine that is really interesting.  Overall it’s a very different wine, and not the kind of wine people will be on the fence about – you’ll either like or you won’t.  Regional wine judges and critics do like it, and it’s won multiple medals in competitions, including a perfect score at the Fingerlakes Wine Competition.  One judge liked it so much that after the competition, he called the Ferraros directly to tell them how much he loved the wine – now that’s a fan!

Connecticut Valley also produces two sparkling whites:  the first a blend of chardonnel and cayuga and the second a spumanti produced from the orange muscat grapes.  Like all sparkling wines, neither is included on the tasting menu, but I’ve promised myself I’d stop back and pick up a bottle of each.

Next up: The Reds, including the only wine in the Northeast allowed to bill itself as a Chianti.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Continued from Tuesday, December 1st.

The winery is housed in a ranch-style house with the tasting room located in a large open room in the back of the house.  As we made our way back, we discovered that despite it being close to the end of the day, the tasting room was fairly busy and all the spots at the bar were taken.  So Maree and I hung out for a bit, browsing the gift shop and admiring the extensive and very creative samples of custom labels that Four Sisters offers for people who would like to order custom labels for their wine.

The folks ahead of us at the bar had seemingly settled in for the afternoon, and the staff didn’t seem inclined to move them along despite the fact that there were now another 4-6 people waiting with us for spots at the bar.  But finally after about 15-20 minutes a couple spaces cleared, and Maree and I were able to start our tasting.  We had each purchased the 10 tastings for $5 package and decided 10 wines was more than enough for each of us to get a full sampling of the Four Sisters range of wines, so we skipped our usual “let’s coordinate our selections” and just focused on our own choices.

I kicked off my tasting with the

Seyval Reserve Like most of the whites I’ve tried here in the Northeast, the Seyval Reserve is a very pale yellow color.  The nose has lovely light floral notes, and in the mouth the wine is light, crisp and fruity with soft notes of melon and almost no citrus.  The finish is light and crisp, and this wine would pair well with seafood or grilled chicken.

Vidal Blanc Next up for me was the Vidal Blanc.  As anticipated this was a little sweeter than the Seyval although it is still a pleasant, dry table wine.  The color is very pale, almost straw, and the nose is grassy with subtle notes of green pepper.  In the mouth the wine is lightly tart with citrus notes, particularly lemon.  The finish is smooth with a slight smokiness from the oaking.

Cayuga Over the past year I have become a real fan of Cayuga whites.  When I first started on the Connecticut Wine Trail in October 2008, I wasn’t really sure what I thought of the Cayuga; interesting certainly, particularly given I hadn’t really encountered Cayuga before, but not something I found overly impressive.  Over time, though, as I’ve tried more local Cayuga wines and blends, I’ve found myself really liking this grape, and the Four Sisters’ Cayuga is no exception.  Also a pale yellow, almost straw color, the nose is extremely clean – in fact there’s almost no nose.  Clean is also the best word to describe the experience in the mouth: light, crisp, smooth, the wine has light citrus notes, low acid, a pleasantly smooth finish and just a hint of sweetness.  This would make a good “lunch” wine, pairing well with salads or light pasta dishes.

Niagara The last of the whites I sampled was the Niagara, made from Niagara grapes.  The tasting notes describe it as “spark childhood memories of eating grapes off the vine.”  I don’t know why that didn’t clue me in that it was going to be a sweet wine, but I found myself surprised by the sweetness when I tasted it.  The nose is light with nice floral notes, and in the mouth the wine has notes of melon and a touch of honey.  It’s a very nice wine, but as I definitely prefer drier table wines, this was not one of my overall preferences of the afternoon.

I had also selected one of the Blushes, the

Merrill Blush I admit I tried this because I was intrigued by the tasting notes which read “enjoyed by traditional wine lovers,” and found myself wondering what on earth that meant.  Is the implication that traditional wine lovers don’t like blushes?  And what is a traditional wine lover anyway?  On tasting I discovered a fairly complex wine with an interesting spicy nose (unexpected after the predominant floral notes among the whites), notes of melon and a touch of lemon on the palate which produces a semi-sweet blush with tart notes at the end that give the wine some bite.  As someone who definitely prefers dry wines, I often don’t buy or serve blushes finding them too sweet for my tastes. But the tartness at the end gave this wine some kick and, for me, made it more interesting than other blushes I’ve tried.  Perhaps that’s what Four Sisters is getting at with their tasting notes for “traditional wine lovers” read “people who prefer drier wines.”

That concluded the first half of the tasting, next on to the Reds…

Continued on Thursday, December 10th.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Continued from Tuesday, November 10th.

To our surprise, the tastings weren’t presented according to the printed tasting menu, and we actually began with the two sweeter whites before moving on to to the lighter, drier whites.  It was an interesting choice, explained to some degree, by our server’s announcing that the first two she was pouring for us were her favorites among the Heritage Trail wines.  Unfortunately, they weren’t ours.  The first selection was the

Winthrop White.  100% Cayuga estate grapes, the tasting notes indicate that this is Heritage Trail’s “Estate Boutique label.”   It’s a sweeter wine, almost too sweet, but is completely overpowered by the nose which is very earthy and bordering on unpleasant.  As this was our first wine of the tasting, both Christy and I thought the odors were from the glass – as if it had been washed in extremely hard water.  But after surreptitiously sniffing our water glasses, we realized it was the wine.  The nose has a strong, pungent, mustiness which Christy said reminded her of the smell of a manure.  Interestingly, you don’t taste the earthiness; the wine itself is light and sweet.  With a softer – or fruitier – nose, the wine would have been quite pleasant, but we just couldn’t get past the nose.

We quickly moved on to the

Sweet Reserve A blend of 70% Cayuga and 30% Seyval grapes, this, as the name implies, is another sweet wine.  The tasting notes indicate this is a semi-sweet wine, but it more closely resembles a sweet dessert wine.  In the mouth, there are lovely notes of citrus and apricot, although there is a strong citrus/acid bite at the end which was a bit startling.  But as with the Winthrop White, what we tasted was overshadowed by what we smelled: another strong, musty, earthy nose.  Not as pungent as the Winthrop White, we still found the nose unpleasant and had a hard time getting past it to enjoy the wine.

We were thinking about saying something to our server when she returned, particularly given that she had been so enthusiastic about these wines when she poured them.  Perhaps we had gotten tastings from a couple of  bad bottles?  But then we overheard a different server saying to the people next to us who had openly commented on the smell, “oh yes, we get that a lot; people often say they find the nose to be very strong…”  and we realized, no we didn’t get a bad bottle.  But it did make me wonder why they didn’t mention the nose upfront and perhaps explain what it is we were smelling and why…

Christy suggested it might be the grapes – both were predominantely Cayuga.  Maybe the nose was a hallmark of the grapes?  But we’ve both had a number of Cayuga wines at other wineries, and didn’t have this reaction to the nose.  We then started to worry that perhaps this was a hallmark of all the Heritage Trail wines.   Luckily the next wine was much more to our liking…

Quinebaug White Another Cayuga blend, this time with Vidal, the Quinebaug is a light-bodied white wine, drier wine with a touch of sweetness.  The nose is pleasantly earthy, with grassy notes.  In the mouth, the wine has subtle notes of citrus and pear with a crisp finish.    We both liked this wine, although in all honesty, some of what we liked was that it didn’t have the nose of the first two wines.  Finally, we finished up the whites with the

Chardonnay This is an unoaked Chardonnay with a soft, fruity nose with notes of grapefruit.  In the mouth, the wine is smooth with lovely notes of grapefruit and a nice balance of acid at the finish.  Very nice Chardonnay, particularly for those who prefer their Chardonnays without oak.

With the whites behind us, we rinsed our glasses and awaited the Reds…

Continued on Tuesday, November 17th.

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

I have always wanted to go to Colonial Williamsburg. It calls a nerd like me. During the Bicentennial, we Miller’s got into the Tobin Packing Company car (Dad was a salesman for the company) that looked like a skunk (it was black and white with a Tobin’s decal on the doors) and drove down south… We didn’t stop at Williamsburg because there was an argument about whether we should stop at Kings Dominion. Plus we had already stopped at Mount Vernon.

When I am visiting Nanny and the cousins in Virginia Beach, I don’t get a chance to stop either. They keep me busy catching up. What I really need is to bring the girls with me so that I can use them as an excuse to go. Not that they are interested in Interpretive History. They might have had their fill of that in Salem.

What I was able to do while in Virginia was to make a stop at the grocery store. And there I found a decent selection of local wine (NOT an option at my local Jewel). So I picked up a couple of bottles.

Yesterday, we opened this one. Williamsburg Winery was created in 1985 by the Duffeler family and produced its first wine in 1988. The first wine produced was the Governor’s White. It is a medium-bodied semi-dry wine with grapefruit and Golden Delicious apple flavors (or maybe apple pear, I am undecided). The wine doesn’t list what varietals were blended to create it. But the winery grows Cayuga, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Traminette and Vidal Blanc in their vineyard. Judging from the flavors I would guess that Vidal Blanc was one of the primary grapes used for this wine.

Other wines produced by Williamsburg Winery include:

• James River White
• Plantation Blush
• Susan Constant Red
• Two Shilling Red
• John Adlum Chardonnay
• Andrewes Merlot
• Arundell Cabernet Sauvignon
• Acte 12 Chardonnay
• Burgesses’ Measure Merlot
• Henings Statute Cabernet Sauvignon
• Seyval Blanc
• Viognier
• Merlot Reserve
• Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
• Gabriel Archer Reserve
• Virginina Trianon (a Cabernet Franc)
• Vintage Reserve Chardonnay
• Late Harvest Vidal
• Blackberry Merlot
• Raspberry Merlot
• Spiced Wine

The wines range in price from $7.50 to $65.00 with the majority of selections in the $9.00 to $16.00 range. WIlliamsburg Winery can be ship to California, Florida, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Washington, DC, Texas, Virginia, Alaska, Colorado, Georgia, Wisconsin, Illinois and Ohio.

Williamsburg Winery is NOT in the confines of Colonial Williamsburg but rather a couple of miles outside of the town. Along with the winery, the property is home to a hotel, Wedmore Place and the Gabriel Archer Tavern. It is located at:

5800 Wessex Hundred
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185
757-229-0999
wine@wmbgwine.com

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

It seems these days I am always on the road and this is a good thing. I love meeting people all over the country who love wine so much that they have dedicated their lives to it. And naturally, I enjoy tasting as well. The best part of wine lovers is that they are everywhere and while it hasn’t been able to said as much about wine makers they are certainly becoming more widespread. In Iowa for instance, there are over 70 wineries.

One of the common complaints that I hear from those uninitiated in travelling to wineries outside of the west coast is that any wine produced in the rest of the company is sweet. This was certainly the case with the other winery that I visited in Iowa, the Ackermann Winery. Of course, the people of the Amana Colonies would have come by their love of sweet wine naturally given their German heritage and they continued to produce wines in that style when they arrived in Central Iowa 150 years ago.

As I drove down the country roads toward the Wallace Winery, I wondered what I would find. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw that this was part of a working farm. There were grapes growing as well as corn. I entered the tasting room to be greeted two young women who had clearly been enjoying the beautiful summer day as I arrived. I asked about tastings and was greeted with this warning, “Just so you know, we don’t have sweet wines”. Clearly the expectation of the region was for those kinds of wines and she wanted to head off any disappointment on my part. But you can’t disappoint me when I get to try a new wine!

Looking around I found 10 different wines mostly produced from estate grown grapes (only the Joan’s Cuvee was produced from grapes brought in from elsewhere). I started with the wines produced from locally grown grapes. The first was a Chardonel. This varietal is a cross between the Seyval Blanc and Chardonnay grapes and is often found in northern climates as it is hardier than Chardonnay. This wine was aged in stainless steel. The wine was fruity and pleasant but very light but would be lovely on a hot summer day.  The next white I tried was their Traminette.  Traminette is a varietal that was meant to be a table grape with the flavors of Gewurtztraminer, but was ultimately found to produce excellents wines. This wine was floral and citrus and like the Chardonel exceedingly light.  Nice for sipping by the pool on a summer day, but not quite what I would serve with dinner.

At this point, I tried tasting the red wines.  The Chambourcin, another hybrid is a varietal that I have come to taste often in the Midwest (and Tennessee as that is more southern) and have liked a lot.  This wine like the others was lighter than I would have liked, but still flavorful.  It was like tasting a very light Rhone.  The flavors were pleasant, just weaker than I expected.  This made me curious to taste the last wine on my list the Joan’s Cuvee.  The grapes for this wine were imported from California as whole fruit, not juice.  It is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and was aged in oak barrels.  Unlike the other wines, this was full bodied and I was a surprised with the richness.

Other wines produced by the winery include a Blanc de Blance made from the Chardonel, ‘Iowa Barn’ White, a blend of Chardonel, Vidal Blanc and Vignoles, ‘Iowa Barn’ Red a blend of Chambourcin and Chancellor grapes, a Vignoles, the Nouveau made from 2008 Chambourcin and the River City Port which is produced from Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon.  The prices of the wines range from $11.99 to $22.99.

The winemaker is Dr. Edward Wallace who has turned his love for wine from a hobby into a business.  (Dr. Wallace is a chiropractor in West Branch, Iowa ((Home of the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum)).  Dr. Wallace has been making wine for 15 years and opened his tasting room five years ago.  My conclusion after tasting his wines is that he can produce good flavors but that the quality of the local grapes must be improved to bring greater depth to the wines.  Overall, I was impressed with his desire to make dry wines in an area that seems populated with wineries producing sweeter varieties.  It appears to be a more difficult undertaking and I wish Dr. Wallace good luck in his winemaking quest.

Wallace Winery
5305 Herbert Hoover Highway
West Branch, Iowa 52358
319.643.3000

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Jones Winery currently has 12 wines available, 3 whites, 2 rosés/blushes, 3 reds, and 4 fruit/dessert wines.   The tasting menu, which is $6, includes 7 wines, three of which are pre-selected by the winery, the other four are your choice.

The tasting begins with one of the pre-selected whites, the

2008 Pinot Gris A dry, crisp wine, this is an estate wine, produced from grapes grown on Pumpinkseed Hill behind the main farmhouse and winery.  The driest of the Jones Winery whites, the Pinot Gris is a very pale yellow, almost straw color and has a dry grassy nose.  The wine is smooth and crisp, with light notes of citrus, and a slightly acidic tang at the end which gives the wine a bit of depth.  Overall an interesting wine, and a promising start to tasting.

For the next wine, I was presented with a choice, either the Stonewall White, a blend of Seyval Blanc and Cayuga grapes, or the Woodlands White, which is primarily a Cayuga white.  I opted for the Stonewall, partially because it was described as being a drier wine than the Woodlands, and partially because Connecticut produces a lot of Cayuga wines, so I thought the blend might be more interesting.

Stonewall White This wine didn’t disappoint.  Like the Pinot Gris, the color is a pale yellow, but the Stonewall White was slightly deeper in color.  The nose is fruity with notes of berries and light citrus notes, perhaps grapefruit.  In the mouth, the citrus and berries blend nicely together, with some light notes of tartness from the citrus and a touch of acid to help balance out the wine.  The finish is smooth and the wine has a pleasant lingering.  This would pair well with fruit and cheese, seafood, and light pasta dishes.

Next up was another wine pre-selected by the winery, the

Pure Rosé This is a drier Rosé than one usually finds, and I liked it the more because of it.  A light pink rose color, the nose is light with pretty floral notes.  The wine becomes more interesting in the mouth, with an earthiness and grassiness that I wasn’t expecting.  The wine is a blend of Seyval Blanc, Cayuga, and Cabernet Franc, and in addition to providing the color, the Cab Franc gives it that earthy depth that is both unexpected and intriguing.  This is the first year Jones has produced this wine, but I suspect it will not be the last.

With that, we rinsed glasses, cleansed the palate and moved on to the Reds and Sweet wines.

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