local wines

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

My New Year’s Resolution should have been “don’t procrastinate on filing your Vino Verve posts!”   Although given that it’s not even the end of January and I’m already behind, at least I don’t now feel the guilt of having resoundingly failed at my resolution before the year truly got underway.

So, to catch us up ~ I kicked off the New Year on the Litchfield Winter Wine Trail; first stop Jerram Winery in New Hartford, Connecticut.  Having sampled the available whites, next up were the reds, which I was particularly looking forward to.  My first visit to Jerram was fairly early into my Connecticut Wine Trail adventures.  Jerram was one of the first wineries at which I tried a Marechal Foch wine (as opposed to encountering Marechal Foch as a blending grape), and the Highland Reserve, a Cabernet Franc/Marechal Foch blend was one of my favorites of that visit.  Not having been back in almost two years, I was looking forward to the new vintages.

Before either the Highland Reserve or the Marechal Foch, however, the first red presented was Sil Vous Plait, a 100% Cabernet Franc.  The nose has bright notes of cherry and that flinty, salt-tanginess of the Northeastern Reds.  Medium-bodied, the wine is slightly tart with cherry notes on the front and a lightly smoky finish.  The mouth-feel is soft, and there’s a slight bite towards the back of the tongue that makes the wine feel a bit young.  With Connecticut Cabernet Francs, I’ve found cellaring them for six to nine months and then letting them breathe a bit really mellows them and makes for a much richer wine.

Next up was the Highland Reserve, the Marechal Foch/Cabernet Franc blend.   The nose is softer and more subtle than the Sil Vous Plait, although the cherry notes are still the predominant note.  In the mouth the wine is lightly sweet and fruit forward with bright notes of cherry, which carry through from the front to the back of the tongue.  There are light notes of smoke and leather on the finish, enough to provide a nice balance but not so much that they overwhelm the wine.  Overall a lovely wine.

And last, and certainly not least, my favorite the Marechal Foch. The nose is earthy with notes of grass; a definite surprise after the more strongly cherry noses of the first two wines.  Medium-bodied, in the mouth the wine, like the Highland Reserve, is fruit-forward with notes of cherry, but there are earthy notes as well which keep the wine from the sweeter notes found in the Highland Reserve.  The tanginess and “bite” that is a characteristic of the Marechal Foch grape (or to be more precise the Marechal Foch wines I’ve encountered) is present but not distracting.  The wine is quite smooth and feels more robust and mature than other Marechal Foch wines I’ve tasted.

If anything could be considered Jerram’s “signature” wine, it would be the Marechal Foch.  These are the first vines Jim Jerram planted when he established the vineyards in 1982, and the first wine he produced in 1986.  Over the years he’s expanded to other grapes and wines, but the Marechal Foch maintains a place of prominence in the Jerram Winery lineup.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

I managed to start the New Year as planned, spending New Year’s Day re-visiting a couple wineries that I hadn’t visited in almost a year.  The weather certainly helped; after a Boxing Day snowstorm dumped 12″ of snow on most of Connecticut, New Year’s Day dawned bright and sunny and hit the 50s by early afternoon.  The sun glistening off the snow in the hills was beautiful as I made my way over to my first stop of the day, Jerram Winery in New Hartford, Connecticut.

It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to Jerram, despite my liking their wines enough to have brought home one of everything the last time I was there.  So I was looking forward to tasting the latest vintages of some of my favorites and seeing if they had any new wines on the menu.

It was pretty quiet when I arrived; owner and winemaker Jim Jerram was at the Tasting Bar engaged in a lively conversation with a gentleman who, it appears, has recently bought a place – or is considering buying a place in New Hartford.   The interior is bright and cheery – just as I remembered it – and both the ambience and the company welcomed me warmly.

There are 11 wines on Jerram’s current wine list, six of which are available for tasting, three whites and three reds.  First up was the

White Frost, a 100% Chardonnay lightly oaked.  This is a very dry Chardonnay, and those who dislike the fruity, buttery, sweeter Chardonnays should really like this wine.  In some respects it reminded me more of a Sauvignon Blanc than a Chardonnay – crisp, with light notes of lemon and a nice bite of acid on the finish.

After the Chardonnay, I had my choice of Seyval Blanc.  Jerram produces two Seyval Blancs each year, one sweeter and one drier.  I opted for the drier, but in hindsight I realized not only had I sampled the dry Seyval before but had a bottle at home.  I would have done better to choose the sweeter Seyval Blanc BC for the contrast.  Live and learn… and an excuse to return soon.  Despite the oversight I very much enjoyed the Seyval Blanc.  Crisp with light notes of lemon and grapefruit, particularly on the finish, this is my favorite of the Jerram whites.

When I returned home, I looked back over my notes from my first visit to Jerram Winery - almost two years ago.  I had no idea it had been that long!  Turns out the Seyval Blanc BC is one of Jerram’s newest wines, having bottled the first vintage not long before my visit.  Man, I definitely should have opted for the BC!

The whites concluded with the sweetest of Jerram’s whites, the Aurora, a Villard Blanc/Aurore blend.  This is a really nice wine, and one of Jerram’s most popular.  The wine has a soft, sweet nose with notes of apricot and honey both of which blend nicely in the mouth.  Semi-dry, the Aurora is fruit forward with lovely notes of apricot immediately apparent.  The honey is more subtle and really comes through with subsequent sips, providing the wine with a nice depth and complexity over time.

Not on the tasting menu that day, but a wine which I recently enjoyed at home is Jerram’s Gentle Shepherd, a blend of Cayuga, Chardonnay and Aurore grapes.  This was the bottle I opened two weeks ago to launch my vacation – and the holidays.  Nice point/counterpoint to the holidays.

Having finished the whites, it’s time to clear the palate and rinse the glass before proceeding to the reds…

Jerram Winery
535 Town Hill Road
New Hartford, CT 06047
860-379-8749

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

For the second year in a row, Litchfield area wineries have joined together to sponsor the Litchfield Hills Winter Wine Trail.  Hosted by six local wineries, the Winter Wine Trail kicked off on January 1st and runs through the end of February.   Pick up a Wine Trail Card at any of the six wineries, get it signed at each winery, and drop it off at the last winery you visit to be entered in the drawing.

This year’s Grand Prize is a package of 2 free wine tastings at each participating winery.  Second Place Prize is an overnight stay at a historic New England Inn, the Toll Gate Hill Inn in the heart of Litchfield County wine country, and Third Place Prize is dinner at a Litchfield County restaurant.

The 2011 Winter Wine Trail wineries include:

DiGrazia Vineyards, 131 Tower Road, Brookfield, CT
Haight-Brown Vineyard, 29 Chestnut Hill Road, Litchfield, CT
Hopkins Vineyard, 25 Hopkins Road, New Preston, CT
Jerram Winery, 535 Town Hill Road Rt. 219, New Hartford, CT
Miranda Vineyard, 42 Ives Road, Goshen, CT
Sunset Meadow Vineyards, 599 Old Middle Street Rt. 63, Goshen, CT
You can find a list of our posts about each winery on the Connecticut page under “Win(e)ding Roads”

If you’re new to win(e)ding roads adventures, winter wine trails are one of the best ways to start.  With the exception, perhaps, of the Valentine’s Day weekend, the wineries are much quieter in the winter, the setting more relaxed.  You’re in little danger of being overwhelmed by the crowds one can often find on busy summer weekends.  And because these are local farm wineries, the winemakers themselves are often on hand and more than willing to kick back and chat about their wines, winemaking, and pretty much anything else you want to discuss.   All six participating wineries also have very welcoming and comfortable Tasting Rooms where you can sit, often by a fire, with a glass (or bottle) of wine after you finish your tasting.

Hopefully I’ll see you on the trail one weekend soon.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

You might think that the winter would bring a lull in my win(e)ding road adventures, but there are quite a few wineries that remain open year-round, particularly here in Connecticut.   Some may take a short break for the month of January, but many are open again by February for Valentine’s Day if nothing else.

In addition to wineries January is the month for wine expos with both the Boston Wine Expo and the Mohegan Sun Winefest at the end of the month.   And February brings both the New York Wine Expo and Open That Bottle Night.  Given this bounty of wine activity, New Year’s day generally finds me on the computer planning my winter adventures, which for 2011 include:

Litchfield Hills Winter Wine Trail

For the second year, six Connecticut wineries have joined together to form the Litchfield Hills Winter Wine Trail.  For more information about the wine trail and participating wineries, check back here at the end of the week.

What better way to kick off the New Year than stopping by a few local wineries I haven’t visited in a while?

Completing A State

I have two wineries left in Connecticut before I can say I’ve completed the state; unfortunately, both are seasonal wineries only open in the summer, and one is only open the first weekend of each month.  That doesn’t mean there won’t be stops at local wineries between now and then sampling the newest Connecticut vintages across the state, but my goal of completing the Connecticut “wine trail” is another six months away.

In the meantime, though, I have only one winery left in Rhode Island, Diamond Hill Vineyards in Cumberland just north of Providence.  They are open year-round, so one weekend this winter will find me heading over to Rhode Island (perhaps with my fellow SOTS in tow?) to visit the fifth and final Rhode Island winery.  A sixth winery, Shelalara Vineyards & Winery doesn’t appear to be open to the public, but their wines are readily available in package stores across the state.  I’ve asked via email if they have a tasting room, but even if not, I will certainly pick up a few bottles to sample at home.   The trip to Diamond Hill will also mark a first for us here at Vino Verve – we will now be able to say we have visited and/or tasted wines from every winery in a single state!  You’ll definitely see a virtual celebration here when we hit that milestone.

Boston Wine Expo

January 22nd will find me heading north to the Boston Wine Expo to explore French wines from Burgundy and Bordeaux.  Not a big fan of the overcrowded Grand Tastings, I tend to spend my wine expo time in the seminars.  I also tend to select seminars that offer me the opportunity to taste wines that I would not normally experience – such as last year’s Boston Wine Expo seminars on the 2007 Chateauneuf-de-Papes and the two vertical flights from Maison Louis Latour and the Frescobaldi Crus seminar at the Mohegan Sun Winefest in 2009.

The seminar selection this year was particularly good, and it was a bit tough to choose.  But I ultimately settled on two:

Taste the Terroir of Burgundy with Laurent Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin.  I’m fascinated by the concept of terroir and what better way to learn more about it than through a tasting of great wines from Burgundy.  This seminar features two flights of four wines each, one white (different villages and different vineyards) and one red (different vineyards) from the same house.

2009 Bourdeaux with Jean-Christophe Calvet, President of the Aquitaline Wine Company. The Bordeaux seminar has sold out at the previous two expos, but this year I ordered tickets early enough that I snagged a seat!

Mohegan Sun Winefest

I’m still deciding about the Mohegan Sun Winefest, which is the weekend of January 29th and 30th.   There are two seminars that look interesting, Charles Krug’s Sesquicentennial and Duckhorn’s Taste of Terroir.  The Duckhorn would certainly be interesting as a counterpoint to the Burgundy seminar the weekend before, but it’s also late Sunday afternoon.  Of course I could also take a 1/2 day the following Monday…   Decisions… Decisions…

Completely up in the air is the New York Wine Expo the last weekend in February which also happens to be Open That Bottle Night.  I’ve been contemplating hosting an OTBN party, but the final seminar list hasn’t been released yet.  If there’s a “too good to pass up” seminar, I may have to bag the party, nab my friend Maree and head over to the Wine Expo.  It’s nice to have choices.

Finally, interwoven through all of this activity are, hopefully, one or two trips with my fellow SOTS members, Deb, Cheryl and Jean.  Since we first headed out last year, all three have become big wine trail fans and have converted husbands and friends to wine trail aficionados as well.  Cheryl has even ventured as far afield as Brotherhood Winery in the Hudson River Valley after sharing a bottle of their Riesling with me one lazy Sunday afternoon.

It all sounds very busy, and we’ll see how much I actually get done.  It always sounds great as I sit on my couch planning my weekends on the computer.  However, somehow by the time the weekends arrive too many other things get in the way.  At the very least, there are the two seminars in Boston to look forward to.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

It was pretty much the end of the season by the time Jean, Katie and I made our way over to Rosedale (although Katie, who lives down the street is something of a regular, I understand), and Rosedale’s Serendipity and Summer Blush were already sold out, which left us with four wines, two whites and two reds and a bonus wine, a new Sauvignon Blanc that the winemakers had been testing all summer.

The Tasting Bar is at the back of the farmstand, a two-sided bar that could hold perhaps 10-12 people comfortably.  The walls are decorated with posters of both current wine labels and labels of wines that have been retired, providing both art and a sense of history and continuity.  Being so late in the season it was fairly quiet that day, and we were able to find spots and begin our tasting right away.  We kicked off with the

Simsbury White, an estate-grown Seyval Blanc.  The nose was soft and floral with citrus blossom notes.  The mouthfeel was also soft, and in the mouth the wine is dry with light citrus notes and subtle notes of acid on the finish.  The predominant note was grapefruit, although it was light and somewhat delicate, and I appreciated the subtleness of the acid – anything stronger could have brought out the bitterness of the grapefruit.  As it was the wine has a light sweet/tart bite that was rather interesting.

Three Sisters.  Next up was Rosedale’s Three Sisters, named for the owner’s three daughters.  This is an estate-grown Cayuga and is described in the tasting notes as “a classic summer wine.”  The nose is brighter than the Simsbury White and has some spiciness to it.  In the mouth, the wine is bright and tangy with much stronger notes of grapefruit and a nicely balanced finish.  A very nice wine, and yes, a classic summer wine, but this will pair well with a wide variety of foods and should carry through nicely all year round.  I could see this working well with casseroles and heartier fall soups.

From the two whites, we moved on to the two reds; first up…

Lou’s Red, named for the late owner of Rosedale Farms; the current owners are his children and grandchildren.  Lou’s Red is a blend of four grapes: 20% Marechal Foch and 20% St. Croix, both estate-grown, and 10% Sangiovese and 50% Merlot, both brought in from California.   In previous years, the wine was a blend of just three grapes, Marechal Foch, St. Crois and Merlot; the winemaker added the Sangiovese last year and found it  really helped round out the wine.   I really liked the nose on this wine, finding it spicy with warm notes of cumin and pepper.  Undoubtedly the influence of the California grapes, as Northeastern grown reds tends to produce fruity rather than spicy noses.

The wine was lighter-bodied than I had anticipated, but I wasn’t disappointed.  Soft and spicy with notes of dark stones fruits, plum in particular, and pepper, this is a really nice table wine.  There are notes of leather on the finish giving it a somewhat soft finish that really balances the fruit and spice.  This would pair well with heartier pasta dishes as well as lamb or veal.

Farmington River Red.  The second of the reds is an ever-changing wine; each year the winemaker selects different grapes.  For 2010 the Farmington River Red is a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from California grapes.  The 2011 vintage will be a Shiraz.  Also in 2011, Rosedale Farms is considering adding a Pinot Noir from Chilean grapes to their wine list.  But that’s next year.

This year, the Farmington River Red is a medium-bodied very pleasant Cabernet Sauvignon  The nose is lightly fruity with notes of pepper.  In the mouth the fruitiness continues with notes of blackberry and a smoky finish with a hint of peppery heat.  Another very nice table wine, very drinkable with a wide variety of dishes.

The tasting finished with a bonus wine, a Kiwi/Pear Sauvignon Blanc that the winemakers had been taste-testing with visitors all summer long.  The nose is soft and fruity with very strong notes of pear.  In the mouth the wine is sweet, falling somewhere between a sweet table wine and a dessert wine.  The mouth feel is soft, light and very smooth.  The lightness is actually quite refreshing, and this wine would be great as an aperitif or with a light fruit and cheese tray.  It would be heavenly with some of the softer cheeses such as brie or goat cheese, and might work paired with a blue.  It would also pair well with lighter desserts such as fruit tarts or ice cream and berries.   An interesting wine and one I hope the winemakers have on their wine list next year.

With the wine tasting concluded, Jean, Katie and I wandered through the farmstand and then headed over to a local restaurant to relax and chat over a glass of wine and a late lunch.  Little did I know at the time that that afternoon was my last win(e)ding roads adventure for 2010.  I had every intention of heading down to southeastern Connecticut to check out one of the last two remaining Connecticut wineries on my list before they closed for the season – but didn’t make it.  And planned to head back over to the Shawangunk Wine Trail to visit a few more wineries on that list – yeah, didn’t make that either.  Looking back, I can’t figure out what I was doing all those weekends, but as I get ready for 2011, one of my resolutions is to do a better job of hitting the trail this year.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

I’m finishing out 2011 with my last win(e)ding road adventure of 2011 – Rosedale Farms.  When I stopped there with fellow SOTS member, Jean Levesque and a mutual friend, Katie O’Flaherty in mid-September, I certainly didn’t think it would be my last winery visit of the year.  But somehow I just never made it back to the trails.

About 30 minutes from home, Rosedale Farms is a full working farm in addition to growing grapes and producing wine.  A 5th-generation family farm, Rosedale has been in operation since the 1920s.  They grow a wide variety of produce which are available through their farmstand or through a farm membership.

Their most recent venture has been an expansion into winemaking and currently have three acres of grapes under cultivation growing Seyval Blanc, Vignoles, Cayuga, Marechal Foch and St. Croix.   The first vintage was released in 2005, and Rosedale has been producing award winning wines ever since.   They currently produce six wines: three whites, one blush and two reds, although the 2010 whites are currently sold out.

While Rosedale Farms is open pretty much all year for sales of seasonal produce and bottles of wine, their Tasting Room is only open July through October on Saturdays and Sundays from 12 – 5 pm.   Tastings are $6 and the menu includes all six wines.  If you visit towards the end of the season, as we did, some of the wines may be sold out and the tasting menu will be adjusted to reflect that.  In October 2010, Rosedale introduced a seventh wine, a pinot noir, Winter’s Red.  I’ll have to stop by one of these days to pick up a bottle to sample.

Rosedale also offers a Wine Membership – members receive four bottles of Rosedale Farms wines in July, August and September and a 13th bottle in October.  In addition to the wine, members also receive two complimentary wine tastings and two tickets to Farm Fest, Rosedale’s fall festival which runs on select Sundays in September and October.  For full details, check the website.

Rosedale Farms & Vineyards
25 East Weatogue Street
Simsbury, CT 06070
860-651-3926
www.rosedale1920.com

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

I have the luxury of being on holiday for the next two weeks – heaven!  Of course achieving that was a direct result of not using more of my PTO during the year.  I’m also forgoing the stress of holiday travel this year – the thought of NOT worrying about dealing with busy airports full of people who travel infrequently, overbooked flights and the expense – double heaven!  Not that I won’t miss spending the holiday with family and friends, but I am looking forward to a quiet, relaxing holiday at home.

So after spending Saturday and a good portion of Sunday finishing the decorating, wrapping and Christmas Cards, I headed down to the basement to select a bottle of wine I could kick back and relax with, something light which would be a good sipping wine.  As I scanned through the whites, my eye it upon Jerram’s Gentle Shepherd, a bottle I picked up about 18 months ago.

A blend of Cayuga, Chardonnay and Aurore grapes, Gentle Shepherd was an inspired choice.  The wine is made for sipping and relaxing.  The nose was more subdued than I originally remembered, but that my be a result of my leaving the wine so long before drinking.  In the mouth, the fruity sweetness of the Cayuga and Aurore grapes is balanced by the buttery smoothness of the Chardonnay.  Light citrus notes combine with the softer sweetness of apricot.   It’s a deceptively simple combination with a silky mouth feel that makes the wine stand well on its own.

Generally I’d have said this was a great summer wine – served chilled on a hot summer afternoon – but turns out it is also the perfect accompaniment to a cozy afternoon in front of the fire.   The wine holds up well on the second day – although I recommend sealing it well.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

On the day I stopped by, Adair Winery was featuring tastings of five wines: three whites, a rosé and a dessert wine.  In general, all of the wines were delicate with stronger earth notes as opposed to fruit – somewhat unusual for the Northeast based on my experiences, where I’ve found either because of the hardier hybrid grapes grown here, or the terroir, or both, the wines definitely tend toward the fruitier with a preponderance of citrus in the whites and cherry and plum in the reds.

My tasting kicked off with the 2009 Seyval, a nice delicate wine with a musty earth nose.  The light in the Tasting Room was somewhat dim and yellow-y, so I wasn’t able to get a true sense of the color, but it’s close to a pale straw. In the mouth the wine is light and delicate, with earthy notes of light grass and a hint of green pepper.  Low acid on the finish gives the wine a much smoother finish than I had anticipated.   The tasting notes indicate it is structured along the lines of a Muscadet Sur Lie, and sur lie aged for 7 months.   I found that the wine’s delicateness prohibited me from fully appreciating it during a 1 oz sip – although truth is you can’t fully appreciate any wine from just a 1 oz sip – but in this case I very definitely felt that I wasn’t getting the full impact of the wine.

Solitary Oak Aged for 8 months in a combination of French and American Oak barrels, this was a stronger, less delicate wine.  A blend of 40% Seyval, 50% Vidal and 10% Vignoles, all primarily estate grown grapes, this was my favorite of the five Adair wines I tried that afternoon.  The nose is floral with notes of apple blossom.  In the mouth, the wine is crisper than the Seyval, while still being somewhat light.  There’s a tangy/tart sweetness of green apples on the palate and a nice balance of acid on the finish with a light note of grapefruit.  As I describe it, I know it sounds like that might be a strange, and perhaps too tart, combination, green apples in the front, grapefruit on the back, but it creates a really interesting contrast which gives the wine additional character.  The oaking is light, providing just a hint of smoke, rather than the butter or cream one often finds with oaked whites.

The last of the three whites on the menu was the 2009 Cayuga White, a semi-dry wine that is stronger and fruitier than either of the previous two.  The nose is quite strong with lush notes of nectarine and apricot.  In the mouth, the wine is soft and sweet with notes of nectarine and orange.  The finish is very smooth, and people who prefer their wines sweeter should really like the Cayuga.

From there we moved on to the 2009 Rosalis, a 50/50 blend of Frontenac and Dechaunac grapes.  The nose is earthy and lightly floral with faint notes of strawberry.  The wine is made in a beaujolais style, light and smooth.  Strawberry is the predominant note, and the tannins are very light making this a very smooth wine overall.   The lighter-bodied, more delicate nature of the wine helps keep the strawberry notes from becoming overpowering.  This would be a great sipping wine for a spring or summer afternoon.

And then finally, the tasting concluded with the 2009 Blackberry Kir a blend of 95% Cayuga and 5% Blackberry Wine.   Not surprisingly the dominant notes in both the nose and mouth are blackberry, but it’s not overpowering or too sweet.  In the mouth, the wine is smooth and clean and the rich sweetness of the blackberries, while present, don’t overwhelm the wine.  Personally I found it a bit too sweet for my tastes, but it is an interesting wine, and one I would encourage any visitor to Adair to try.

With that, I picked up a bottle of the Solitary Oak to sample more leisurely at home, said farewell to my hosts and headed back across the river to Connecticut.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Well I’m finally back on the win(e)ding roads…   Once again life has a way of interfering with fun, although to be fair it is life – or more strictly work – that pays for all of these wonderful jaunts.  So I suppose I can’t complain too much.

Truth be told, though, I haven’t actually hit the wine trail in almost two months; a fact I was bemoaning to Jean, one of my fellow SOTS, just yesterday.  But we hope to rectify that soon.  In the meantime, I still have notes, pictures and wine from the last two wineries I visited this past summer.

I finished up the month of August with a second visit over to the Hudson River Valley and the Shawangunk Wine Trail.   My first, and unfortunately only, stop of the day – Adair Vineyards in New Paltz, New York.

Producing wines since 1987, Adair Vineyards is located a few minutes off the thruway just outside the small downtown area of New Paltz.  The vineyards encompass 10 acres, growing Seyval, Vignoles, Marechal Foch and Millot grapes, and the winery produces approximately 20,000 bottles a year.

The winery is housed in an historic old barn, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Dating back to 1800, the building is beautifully preserved both inside and out.  I fully admit I’m a sucker for red barns; there’s something about them that just calls to me.  Particularly if they feel like they’ve been there forever – a sense of connection to the past.

Outside, the barn, which sits just off the road, fits perfectly with the surrounding fields and vineyards and welcomes visitors to stop and linger at one of the several picnic tables that dot the yard.  Inside, the Adair has capitalized on both the charm and history of the barn.  Inside the main door a small foyer with whitewashed walls opens up onto a stairway leading to the converted hay loft which now serves as the winery’s Tasting Room.   3/4 of the way up the stairs a small landing houses an antique victrola, above which hangs a lovely tapestry.

As you reach the top of the stairs, the space opens up into a large open room flanked by alcoves on the left featuring wine-themed gifts and accessories and the tasting bar running along the back and right walls.  The A-line roof is supported by large exposed oak beams, likely original to the space.   Antique farm implements are positioned around the room and the back walls are lined with pictures and advertisements from the early part of the 20th century.   Centering the room, both literally and figuratively, is a lovely wagon wheel chandelier.  The overall effect is both roomy and cozy, and despite the lack of chairs, guests are made to feel comfortable, welcome and encouraged to linger.

On the afternoon I stopped by in late August, Adair’s menu included five wines, three whites, a beaujolais style rose and a dessert wine, a blackberry kir.  Tastings are $5 and include all five wines.  Adair is open from May through December, Friday-Sunday 11:00 – 6:00, with additional hours added during the harvest months of September and October.  A member of the Shawangunk Wine Trail, Adair participates in the trail’s special events, including the current Wreath Fineries Event, but restrict trail events to groups of 10 or fewer only.

Coming next Tuesday, the Wines of Adair Vineyards

Adair Vineyards
52 Allhusen Road
New Paltz, NY 12561
845.255.1377
www.adairwines.com

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Continuing my Michigan winery planning I move on to Lake Michigan Shore. Why? Well it contains the Fennville AVA and is the appellation listed on the bottles for the only winery in the Fennville AVA. And frankly, it is the Michigan appellation that is closest to home for me as it takes about 90 minutes (not counting traffic snarls) to enter into Michigan.

Why is this area significant? Well, unlike most northern wine regions, Michigan Shores produces a good number of vitis vinifera grapes, including Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Lemberger, Malbec, Marsanne, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Riesling, Roussanne, Syrah, and Viognier. The reason? Something we Midwesterners* call “Lake Effect”. The water in the Great Lakes (essentially small fresh water inland seas) moderate the temperatures and the precipitation on lands west of each lake. Temperatures never become as frigid as they would on the east coast of a lake as they do on the west coast. Anyone who has lived in Chicago and Buffalo or Detroit can tell you how they differ (and this blog has a couple of gals who have experienced the difference. Chicago is much colder). This gives the grapes a longer growing season than is experienced in say, Iowa and a couple of weeks makes a big difference. The soils are a relatively uniform throughout the region, consisting of glacial moraines.

In addition to being relative close to home, there are a good number of wineries in the AVA. How many? Well that depends on who you ask and what you count. Why who you ask? Well, the folks at the Lake Michigan Shore Wine Trail list count twelve wineries as members. Me? I count about seventeen. More is better right? Well, that leads to the what you count part, as several of the wineries have multiple tasting rooms. Tasting rooms are great in a pinch, but frankly I prefer going to the winery directly, at least if it is possible. Given the number of beachfront cottages, condos and other casual getaway places in the area, I would have been surprised if there weren’t tasting rooms trying to take advantage of the numbers of summer people.

I am planning to head out on Sunday (barring teen disasters) to visit a couple these wineries. If you have a favorite? Let me know… contact me at gretchen at vinoverve.com

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