Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

Once you have an AVA designation for your region there seems to be something that happens that makes you want to make yourself more and more distinguishable. We see it all the time with California AVAs that have been subdivided into smaller and smaller sub-regions. I am beginning to think we will end up have an AVA for each individual vineyard.

That being said, some areas make more sense than others. Such is the case with Seneca Lake. Like the other Finger Lakes, Seneca Lakes was carved by glaciers as they retreated from Upstate New York. It is, however, one of the longest and deepest of the lakes, averaging about 290 feet and up to 600 feet deep. During the winters, the lake does not freeze which allows it to be a heat sink that protects the surrounding lands from frost, extending the growing season. As a result, vitis vinifera grapes are able to be grown as well as hybrids.

Vineyards have existed around Seneca Lake since 1829 when Rev. William Boswick establish one in his rectory garden.  Cuttings of those Catawba and Isabella vines helped establish vineyards all over the region.  The first commercial winery was established in 1866.  Today, there are 36 member wineries on the Seneca Lake Wine Trail.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Each year since moving to Connecticut, I’ve made the trek down to New Jersey to spend Thanksgiving with my cousins, the Garlicks. Under normal circumstances (i.e. the drive home in the evening), the trip takes just over two hours.  Driving down on Thanksgiving morning, though, is like “traveling through another dimension… you’ve just entered the Twilight Zone.”

The first year, 2007, my friend and occasional wine trail buddy, Maree Prendergast, also joined us for Thanksgiving, so my first stop was Jersey City where she lives. The drive down the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut was both lovely and a breeze, until I hit the Bronx and the parkway became a parking lot. After 45 minutes of almost total inertia, I decided it was time to move – and by this point didn’t really care which direction I headed in.  So I hopped off the parkway and made my way over to the Queensboro Bridge, figuring crosstown traffic on Thanksgiving afternoon couldn’t be that bad. Whoops – forgot there was that little thing called the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade (which in my defense had finished hours before), forcing me and everyone else in Manhattan to head downtown and cut across the impossibly narrow streets of the Village and Soho to that traffic nightmare more commonly known as the Holland Tunnel.

Needless to say, we were several hours late…

Last year, 2008, Maree skipped Thanksgiving at the Garlicks in favor of spending the holiday with her parents who were visiting from Sydney, Australia, so I decided to cut across Connecticut and drop down into New Jersey from the north – thus avoiding Manhattan altogether. Great plan until I hit a 15-mile backup caused by an accident on the Tappan Zee Bridge, forcing me to detour down to I95 and that traffic nightmare more commonly known as the George Washington Bridge.

Needless to say, I was several hours late…

This year, I informed my cousin Andrew before Easter not to expect me for Thanksgiving.   Instead, I’m spending the day close to home with my friends David & Deirdre, their three kids, and the various and sundry people that come for the weekend or just wander in off the street. In some ways David & Deirdre remind me of my own family – they collect people, all kinds of people, and have the most interesting dinner table conversations.  I anticipate a lively Thanksgiving and a 20 minute commute.

I called Deirdre several weeks ago to ask her what I could bring.  We actually have a bit of a routine: if one is hosting dinner the other calls and says “what can I bring,” only to be answered with “nothing…  except maybe a bottle of wine.”  But this being Thanksgiving, and Deirdre now having three children (the youngest born a scant 2 1/2 months ago), I figured if I nagged her every few days like one of her children (what can I bring, what can I bring, what can I bring…) she would break down and tell me something – anything – to get me to stop calling her.

It appears her children broke her first, because I had barely gotten the words out of my mouth when she laughed and said “I was just going to ask if you’d mind bringing dessert?”  I just about fell off my chair.  Good thing I wasn’t asking just to be polite.  :)  We settled on my bringing a Cranberry Upside Down Cake and a Chocolate-Espresso Volcano Cake, which when joined by the Deirdre’s pumpkin bread pudding and David’s childhood favorite strawberry and pretzel dessert will make a nice dessert buffet for the roughly 20 people coming for Thanksgiving.

And what better to go with a dessert buffet than a selection of local dessert wines, especially if they are seasonal wines that evoke that lusciousness of Thanksgiving?  So along with the desserts, I’m pulling a few bottles of Connecticut wines from the cellar:
Digrazia Autumn Spice I can only describe this as “pumpkin pie in a glass.”  White wine fermented with sugar pumpkins, honey and spices (including nutmeg and cinnamon).  Yum!
Land of Nod Chocolate-Raspberry Wine I first tasted this in August of ‘07, just before it was released and loved it so much I went back and bought a case last Thanksgiving to share with friends (and hoard for myself).  Not too sweet and the chocolate and the raspberry are perfectly balanced.
And to round out the mix, I’ll bring a more traditional dessert wine, but am still trying to choose between Hopkins Vineyard’s Night Owl, a lovely late-harvest Vidal Blanc, and their Ice Wine, one of the best non-Niagara region/non-German Ice Wines I’ve found.  Decisions, decisions…
Of course I can always have the one I didn’t choose chilling at home for a late-night Thanksgiving toast in front of the fire…

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Shortly after I heard about the New Jersey Thanksgiving Wine Trail weekend, I received an email from Haight-Brown Winery in Connecticut announcing their participation in the
1st Annual Litchfield Hills Winter Wine Trail
The winter wine trail is comprised of six participating wineries all clustered around Litchfield, Connecticut.  Visit any of the wineries between December 1st and March 15th and pick up a Winter Wine Trail registration card.  Get your card stamped at all six wineries by March 15th, and you’ll be eligible for the grand prize drawing of an overnight stay at a Litchfield County Bed & Breakfast with second and third prizes being a a family 4-pack of passes for Ski Sundown and dinner at a Litchfield County Restaurant.

The participating wineries include:
CT Valley Winery ~ New Hartford, CT
Jerram Winery ~ New Hartford, CT       **Vino Verve Visited**
Haight-Brown Vineyard ~ Litchfield, CT     **Vino Verve Visited**
Hopkins Vineyard ~ New Preston, CT     **Vino Verve Visited**
Miranda Vineyard ~ Goshen, CT       **Vino Verve Visited**
Sunset Meadow Vineyards ~ Goshen, CT      **Vino Verve Visited**

The Litchfield Hills are lovely any time of the year and the towns scattered throughout the region often feature charming 18th and 19th century farmhouses and Queen Annes (or newer houses styled like more historic buildings), local farms and vineyards with a wide area of fresh produce and wines  and picturesque town squares (particularly in the town of Litchfied).  Decked out for Christmas, especially if there’s snow on the ground, the area is practically a Currier & Ives lithograph come to life.

Combine all that with the chance to win some great prizes, and you’ve got a new Locapour Holiday Tradition.

I’ll be hitting the trail on Saturday December 5th with three of my newest wine-trail buddies, Cheryl Grayson and sisters Deb Shaw-Esteves and Melissa Shaw.   It will also give me the chance to check off one more winery in my quest to complete the entire Connecticut Wine Trail.   Hope to see you there!

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

With Thanksgiving looming before us this week (Please keep your Christmas references at bay, please… I can only handle one holiday at a time), many people are trying to decide what to have for the big feast.

Turkey is the obvious choice (though venison would be traditionally correct as well, as the local Wamponoag people brought five deer to the feast)

One thing that we can be sure of? Those people celebrating their first feast of thanksgiving in Plymouth (or Virginia) dined on local food. There was no Beajolais Nouveau or Beaujolais Vieux for that matter…

What seems totally appropriate?  Drinking local.  During the colonial period, the Pilgrims would have had beer from home grown barley, or cider from home grown apples or even wine from from native grapes (fox grapes named for their flavor… think Concord and tell me if you can avoid thinking of grape jelly!) or other local fruit.

So my plan?

To drink as much local wine as possible…  The thing holding me back?  Well… my parents are hosting our feast.. and Dad does have all of those wine clubs that he is a member of…  I will do my best to bring more wine than Lionstone International can send my father.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

November is New Jersey Wine Month, and the local wineries are capping off the month with the Holiday Wine Trail Weekend!  Friday, Saturday, Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend (November 27-29), local wineries across the state will be offering tastings, tours, and in many cases special events.  Many of the wineries offer gift baskets and gift certificates so you could also get a lot of your holiday shopping done at the same time.    Who knows?  Maybe it’ll be the start of a new “Win(e)ding Road” holiday tradition…

Personally, I’m liking the idea of winery gift certificates; knock out most of my holiday shopping in one fell swoop!

Holiday Wine Trail Weekend Participating Wineries include:

Alba Vineyard, Milford, NJ     **VINO VERVE VISITED**

Bellview Winery. Landisville, NJ

Brook Hollow Winery, Columbia, NJ

Cape May Winery, Cape May, NJ

Cava Winery & Vineyard, Columbia, NJ

Cream Ridge Winery, Cream Ridge, NJ

Hawk Haven Vineyard and Winery, Rio Grande, New Jersey

Hopewell Valley Vineyards, Pennington Vineyards

Laurita Winery,  New Egypt, NJ

Natali Vineyards, Cape May Courthouse, NJ

Plagido’s Winery, Hammonton, NJ

Sharrott Winery, Blue Anchor, NJ

Swansea Vineyards, Shiloh, NJ

Ventimiglia Vineyards, Wantage, NJ       **VINO VERVE VISITED**

Villa Milagro Vineyards, Finesville, NJ   **VINO VERVE VISITED**

Westfall Winery, Montague, NJ

The wineries listed are within a day trip from New York or Philadelphia.  Check out the Garden State Wine Growers’ Association website for wine trail “cluster” suggestions – mini-trails of 4-5 wineries.

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve Editor

I don’t always go visit wineries… Sometimes I pick up wine at the liquor store, like I would if I were at home. That way, I can bring home more wine.

Such was the case with this wine that Kevin suggested that we open this bottle last night. It is from 5 Trails Winery in Nebraska, which I did not visit. I went to Feather River and tried to go to South Fork Winery instead. And to me, this is a shame as this was a GREAT wine. It tasted of pears and citrus and was full and fruity.

It is produced from the Frontenac Gris grape which came from one cane of Frontenac grapes grown at the University of Minnesota. This one cane produced gray fruit instead of black and is the source of all the existing stock of the Gris varietal. I had to look this up as I had never heard of it before.

I was once asked if I could claim that I wine from Southern Illinois (or any of the other places that I look for local wines) was as good as a wine produced in Italy or France. At the time, I argued that it was irrelevant because they were different wines and were meant to be so… This wine, however, I will put up against a Moscato anytime. It was excellent.

And this is what I love about VinoVerve and local wine.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Saturday morning did, indeed, find Christy and me heading north to Wilmington, Vermont and the 2nd Annual Vermont Life Wine & Harvest Festival.   We couldn’t have asked for a better day; the weather was absolutely perfect with the deep blue skies highlighting the trees which were beginning to paint the hills in the vibrant reds, golds and oranges of a New England Autumn.

After breakfasting on eggs, pancakes and fantastic bacon and sausages from Vermont Smoke & Cure, we headed over to the wine festival, which we found somewhat disappointing.  First, it was a lot smaller than I expected, with only six wineries and one distillery represented (there are approximately 20 wineries in the state).

Second, despite paying an admission fee for the festival, there were additional charges for tastings, which took us by surprise.  We anticipated fees for glasses of wine, but expected the tastings to be included with the price of admission as they have been at other festivals.  Granted the tastings were only $1 or $2 for a sampling of 3-5 wines, but it still struck a wrong note.  Later in the day Christy discovered that state law prohibits vendors from giving away alcohol, and so to get around that the festival requires wineries to charge a small tasting fee.  I gather the admission fee doesn’t “count” under Vermont state law.  I just wish that had been clearly advertised.

Despite being open for several hours by the time we arrived, the crowds were still manageable, and we were able to make our way through the wine and food tent without a lot of waiting in line.  Two of our favorite finds were the Eden Ice Cider (sublime) and the Sapling Vermont Maple Liqueur (very sweet, but quite interesting).

The rest of the day included  a visit to the local weekend flea market & antiques fair, a stroll through downtown Wilmington (and purchase of maple candies and cookies for Christy’s fiancée, Jeff), and a leisurely drive into the Green Mountain National Forest to see the foliage.   We ended the day at The Hermitage Inn with a wine and cheese reception featuring local artisanal cheeses and the wines of Boyden Valley Winery.  The event, hosted by winemaker David Boyden, was held in the Inn’s wine cellar and featured five Boyden Valley Wines (2 whites and 3 reds) and 7 local artisanal cheeses.  We enjoyed all the wines, with the Big Barn Red and Riverbend Red being the favorites.  Among the cheeses the Boucher Family Farm Gore Dawn Zola, Taylor Farm Smoked Maple Gouda, and Lakes End Champlain Chevre were my favorites.  All in all a relaxed and relaxing event, and a perfect end to the day.

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Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

Fall is a great time to be in New England: the crisp autumn days, the clear blue skies, and the trees decked out in those glorious reds, oranges and golds.  Despite moving here for all of those reasons, I, unlike the hundreds of people who trek north each Fall for long weekends in Vermont, New Hampshire or Maine, haven’t really taken advantage of all New England has to offer.  Until now.  I am officially declaring that this Fall I am turning over a new leaf  ~ preferably a red one ~ beginning next weekend with a trip to the Vermont Life Wine & Harvest Festival.

Saturday morning should find me heading two hours north to the Mount Snow Valley in southern Vermont for a day-long celebration of all things locavore and locapour, set amid the lush New England countryside.

First stop will be Jacksonville and the “Indigenous Vermonter Breakfast,” which is being served until 11; a plus, as leaf turning doesn’t include hitting the road at the crack of dawn.  I’m not exactly sure what is included in said breakfast, but given that it’s sponsored by Vermont Smoke & Cure, I anticipate an abundance of local hams and sausages, and, of course, the pièce de résistance, Vermont Maple Syrup.  Yum!  As Winnie the Pooh would say, “I have a rumbly in my tumbly” just thinking about it.

After breakfast it’s a short jaunt down the road to Wilmington to work off as many of those breakfast calories as possible touring the Festival grounds.  Sponsored by Vermont Life magazine, the festival is billed as the state’s “Official Wine and Food Festival.”  Now in it’s second year, the festival features wines produced by many of the state’s 20+ wineries, as well as local foods, crafts, music and cooking demonstrations by Vermont chefs.  Later in the afternoon, the nearby Inn at Sawmill Farm is hosting a wine and cheese pairing featuring the wines of Shelburne Farms Vineyards.

At this point, I’ll likely be pointing the car south and heading home, but for those interested in making a night – or a weekend – of it, five local restaurants are hosting Vermont Wine Pairing Dinners.  Ranging between $100 and $120 per person, the dinners feature 3-5 courses paired with carefully selected local wines.

A weekend pass costs $40 and will get you into the Vermont Bluegrass BBQ which kicks off the festival on Friday evening, and into the Festival grounds on both Saturday and Sunday. One-day passes to the BBQ and festival grounds can be purchased for $15.  The Indigenous Vermonter Breakfasts (Saturday and Sunday) and the Vermont Wine & Cheese Reception and the Wine Pairing Dinners (Saturday) require separate admission.

For full details, including links to pre-purchase tickets to any or all of the events, check out the festival website.

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Gretchen Neuman
VinoVerve, Editor

One of the hot concepts in dining these days is eating local. And why? Well because local food is good for you. Locally produced food products are fresher than those shipped from thousands of miles away and certainly more fuel efficient as shipping costs decrease. Fresh, locally produced food products are being touted as tastier and more nutritious and a way to preserve the heritage and economy of local communities. The term used to describe this trend is called Localvore or Locavore. The term was coined by Jessica Prentice during San Francisco’s celebration of World Environment Day in 2005.

But in the discussion of local foods there has been no talk about drinking locally. Before Prohibition, local wineries, breweries and distilleries were the rule instead of the exception. There were 919 wineries and 1400 breweries in the U.S. before prohibition. When the law went into effect there were 200 licensed Bourbon distilleries in Kentucky alone!

 

Locapour Dark by VinoVerve
Browse more Locavore T-Shirts
With our emphasis on eating locally, why not start drinking locally as well? Unknown to most people in America, there is a licensed winery in every state in the union. Yet, even the Governor of Kansas in 2007 was unaware that there were 15 wineries in her state. Among those that are aware of the presence of these wineries, many have dismissed them out of hand as producing low quality products. Are they all producing outstanding products? Maybe not. But then again, neither are the wineries in the rest of the country, or indeed the world. Yet local wineries do not seem to enjoy the same kind of encouragement that local breweries have enjoyed for the last 20 years. Maybe because it takes less time to produce a good beer than a good wine. Maybe over time, the perception of local wineries will improve. In the mean time, wine producing states are working with their winemakers to improve the quality and raise awareness of their local wines. And lately I have heard a new term used to describe those of us that drink our local wines. That term is “locapour” and was the Hudson Valley Winemakers new word for 2009.

Marguerite and I have found that the wine around us has been as interesting as it is varied and we have referred to these adventures as our trips on the “win(e)ding roads”. The methods and ingredients have ranged from the traditional to the unusual. They are made in modern methods and using traditions that we didn’t even know about. We love the history of the wineries and their locations, meeting the winemakers as well as their customers and tasting the wines that they have produced. These wines may not rate 100 points in the Wine Advocate, but they are good, honest products made by folks who care about wine and are trying to respect its tradition and put their own mark on it.

I plan on exploring these wineries and am declaring myself a Locapour. I drink local wine and am proud of it!

Come and join us! You will be surprised and pleased that you did!

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