Sadly, we have come to the end of our adventures at the Beresan Winery….

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Sitting on the deck overlooking the vineyards - a great place to spend a relaxing afternoon

I had intended to get this posted yesterday but, as usual, life intervened.  Given my track record of late, though, 24 hours delay is rather timely…

I spent a lovely hour with Joe Sharry and six of his wines that beautiful Saturday afternoon.   I had my choice of five of the 10 main wines, and then for an additional $2 each could add either of the limited production wines to my tasting.  After careful perusal of the menu, I opted for 2 whites and 3 reds and Tom encouraged me to also try the red Cuvee, a suggestion I found impossible to resist.

My first selection was the Shelter Harbor Chardonnay.  Pale gold color with a soft, lightly citrus nose.  In the mouth, the wine is dry and buttery with soft tannins on the finish.  The predominant note was grapefruit, but it was light and subtle.  Served chilled, the wine is crisp and refreshing and would work well with seafood, grilled vegetable dishes, or on its own.  A very nice wine.

My next choice was the Winnapaug White Merlot.  I discovered white merlots a few years ago, and have become a real fan, generally preferring them to their red counterpart.  I like the heartier character of the white merlot (as compared to Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc) and the often earthy character I find in them.  I also don’t see a lot of them, at least not among local vintners, and so always make a point of trying them when I do.  Langworthy Farm’s White Merlot didn’t wow me, but it also didn’t disappoint.  It’s a pleasant wine, peachy in color with a pretty, slightly floral nose.  In the mouth, however, the wine is more earthy with notes of grass and green pepper, and there’s a slight bitterness on the end that might soften with aging or perhaps more breathing time.  The most interesting thing I found about the wine is that there were no dominant notes throughout – I found myself having to search for the individual notes.  That’s not to say it had no flavor, just that no one note shone through.

With that I rinsed my glass and turned to the reds, bypassing Langworthy Farm’s two Merlots and heading straight to the Charlestown Cabernet Franc.  Aged for 14 months in a combination of Frend and American oak, the result was one of my favorite of all the wines I tasted that morning.  A lovely purple color with a soft nose with rich notes of cherry, the wine has is dry and earthy, with light notes of pepper and cherry and tobacco on the finish.  In addition to the tobacco notes, the oak provides a light smokiness which I found very interesting.  The Charlestown Cab Franc recently won a medal in the Finger Lakes Regional Wine Competition.

I know many people who aren’t fans of Cabernet Franc, finding the grape and the wines, pale imitators of their more robust Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir cousins.  I, as regular readers of Vino Verve will attest, have become a big fan.  Particularly here in the Northeast, the grapes seem to grow very well and produce some really nice, robust reds.  Not as “big” as a California or European Cabernet Sauvignon, but strong enough to stand up to hearty foods and cold winter evenings.   Langworthy Farm’s Cabernet Franc definitely made it into my collection of Cabernet Francs.

After the Cabernet Franc, I moved on to the Napatree Cabernet Sauvignon.   Aged for more than 12 months in French oak, the Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the better of it’s kind I’ve found among southern New England wineries.  Like other local wineries, Langworthy Farms brings in their grapes from California; I’m sure it is no surprise to anyone that ours is not a climate conducive to growing Cabernet Sauvignon.  The wine is a lovely garnet color with a rich plummy nose.  I really loved the nose on this wine.  In the mouth the wine is very smooth; I was a bit surprised at how smooth, as so many of the “bigger” reds I’ve tried here in the northeast have felt “young.”  The wine is lush and rich with strong earthy, grassy notes and notes of leather and smoke from the oak.  I also detected light notes of blackberry which contributed to the overall richness of the wine.  Very nice wine, and one of the better Cabernet Sauvignon’s I’ve had here in Southern New England.

I finished up the main tasting with the Pawcatuck River Red, a stainless-steel fermented blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot.  Not a bad wine, and people who like slightly sweeter, lighter wines should really enjoy this.  But I found it almost too clean, particularly coming after the Cabernet Franc and the Cabernet Sauvignon.  I missed the smokiness and the earthiness I found in the other two wines.  Garnet colored, with a fruity nose, the Pawcatuck River Red is a fruitier wine with strong notes of cherry and blackberry.   The tasting notes indicate this would be great with pasta and salads, and for a lighter summer red it’s not bad.  However, compared to the other two I found it to be not as complex and interesting.  Perhaps if I had tasted that one first before either the Cab Franc or the Cab Sauvignon, I would have been more impressed.  Still, despite my preference for the other wines, it’s a nice overall table wine, and I think more people will prefer this one to the Cabernet Franc.

Because I was the only guest that morning, I was able to chat with Joe throughout the tasting, learning about the history of the winery, the house/bed & breakfast, and the surrounding area.  Because I usually can only hit the wine trail on the weekends, it’s not often that I have the luxury of having the winemaker all to myself.  So at the end of the tasting, when Joe suggested I try to the Ward 3 Cuvee, his limited production red, I certainly wasn’t going to turn him down.

The Cuvee is a Bordeaux-blend of the Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon, and it was fascinating to taste this immediately after the Pawcatuck River Red, a blend of the same grapes.  Darker in color, more of a dark garnet, with a strong earthy nose, this is a lovely wine.  Both rich and subtle the flavors and notes of the wine blend together beautifully.  The predominant notes are earthy, almost loamy.  I detected notes of tobacco and leather, and the finish brings forth notes of warm spice, cumin among others.  There are also very soft, subtle fruit notes that provide a depth and richness that opens up the earthiness beautifully.  I also found the wine built over time – each subsequent taste layering on the previous one.  A very impressive wine.

That concluded my tasting for the morning.  There are an additional five wines, 3 whites and 2 reds, on the main tasting menu and a limited production Reserve Chardonnay that I did not have the opportunity to try.  However, there is at least one winery in Southeastern Connecticut still on my list, so I think a return trip to Langworthy Farms to try the rest of the menu will be on the schedule soon.

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I am making more progress on getting through all the video that I shot out west at the WBC’10. Here is my latest video from Beresan Winery.

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I know it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to post anything; it’s also been a while since I’ve been able to hit the win(e)ding roads.  I woke up the other day wondering where this summer – and all my plans – had gone to.

My last wine trip was about a month ago, a beautiful, warm, sunny Saturday.  I’m still trying to finish the entire Connecticut wine trail, only 6 more to go, but as I looked at my maps that morning, I decided I’d take a short detour and head first into Westerley, Rhode Island and the Langworthy Farm Winery before turning back home and picking up one or two of the wineries I’ve yet to visit in the southeastern corner of my state.

Westerley, the home of the Langworthy Farm Winery, lies just over the Connecticut/Rhode Island border.  While it’s the first winery on the Coastal Wine Trail of New England which runs through Rhode Island and Massachusetts and ends at the tip of Cape Cod, Langworthy is actually closer to the Stonington wineries, Jonathan Edwards, Stonington Vineyards, and Salterwater Farms vineyards, than it is to the Newport wineries that follow it on the Coastal Wine Trail.  Because of their proximity, you could do an easy day combining two, three or four of the wineries that fall along the border.

My original plan when I left the house that morning was to start with Langworthy Farm Winery, loop back to Stonington for a visit to Saltwater Farm Winery, and then stop at Gales Ferry and the Holmberg Orchards and Winery on the way home.   A touch of sunstroke (probably shouldn’t have sat on the porch at Langworthy as long as I did) and lunch that didn’t sit too well intervened, and I wound up skipping Holmberg Orchards, but not before sampling some very nice wines at both Langworthy and Saltwater.

Langworthy Farm, owned by Joe & Gail Sharry, is a small property about 1/2 a mile from the coastline and beaches on the homesite of Samuel Ward, one of the first governors of Rhode Island.  The farm include a small vineyard, the winery and a bed and breakfast which is housed in a charming mid-19th-century Victorian farmhouse.  The Sharry’s have lived in Rhode Island since 1993, first in the Providence area and then moving to Westerley in 1999, when they bought the Langworthy Farms property.  They had been making wines for years and after successfully launching the Bed and Breakfast, decided to begin their own winery.  They planted their first vines in 2002 and the winery opened to the public in 2005.

The winery and Tasting Room sits in a small cottage-like structure in the yard behind the main house.  The Tasting Room itself is small but charming, with a few bistro-style bar tables and chairs and a long wine bar running along the back wall.   Windows over the bar allow you to see through to the pressing and storage areas behind the tasting room.

To make up for the relatively small tasting room, the Sharrys have built a long deck running the length of the cottage with tables, chairs and lovely views of the vineyard and surrounding farms.  The property is located on the corner of two fairly busy state roads, and while not an interstate, there is still a fair amount of traffic you’ll see and hear as you relax and enjoy the wines.

On that particular Saturday I arrived shortly after they opened, and pretty much had the place to myself.  Joe Sharry was my host for the wine tasting, and we spent a very pleasant hour sampling wines, talking about the history of the property and surrounding area, and enjoying the sunshine.  Langworthy Farms currently produces 12 wines, six whites and six reds, including a limited production Chardonnay and Bordeaux-blend red.   A tasting will run you $6 and includes your choice of five of the 10 wines, with tastings of the limited production wines being an additional $2 each.   I was by myself that day, so I didn’t have the luxury of splitting the tasting menu with a wine-trail buddy and sampling them all, so I settled on two whites and three reds, and Joe kindly added a tasting of the Ward 3 Cuvee, the limited production red, at the end of the tasting.

More on the wines themselves on Thursday…

Langworthy Farm Winery
308 Shore Road
Westerley, Rhode Island 02891
888-355-7083
langworthyfarm@cox.net
www.langworthyfarm.com

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Has it really been a week since I posted last? I have finally crawled out from beneath the giant pile of work that fell on me after I returned from Walla Walla in order to put together this video. The order of these videos might be coming to you out of order because I am just like that. The important part is that you can see what it is like visiting the vineyards!

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I saw this clip recently and was excited to see local American wines getting the respect that it deserves! We, at VinoVerve have discussed some of these wines and I think that it is safe to say that we are interested in trying the others!

I think Matt, Al, Natalie and Joe should all have a Locapour T-shirt!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Please see Alba Vineyard, Central Delaware Valley AVA, August Winery, Augusta AVA, New Mexico

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Yes, I know.. This is not about the Wine Bloggers’ Conference, but rather something that happened to me yesterday. I opened the door to the store to take some recycling to the bin and there practically beneath my feet was this baby. I have never seen a baby bunny so close up and personal. Frankly, for a while I thought that this baby had made its way to my doorstep to croak. I couldn’t even see it breathing.

Eventually, it got used to me hovering near the door enough to move around a bit.

Here is my footage… just because it is cute.

And no. This baby was not offered a complementary tasting.

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This year at the Wine Bloggers’ Conference, the folks at Jordan Winery volunteered to make Video Diaries for interested bloggers. Well, this blogger was interested.

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Much of the art work in the Tasting Room is used in Taylor Brooke's wine labels.

Marguerite Barrett
Contributing Writer

If you’re a fan of Cabernet Franc, as I have become, or just interested in exploring a bit, and you’re in the southern New England area this season, I recommend making a trek over to Taylor Brooke Winery to check out their last vintage of Cabernet Franc.   After doing a full evaluation of their vineyards, they decided to take out the Cabernet Franc and replace it with Corot Noir, making this the last vintage they will be producing.

The reds section of the tasting menu kicks off with the Cabernet Franc.  Taylor Brooke produces their Cab Franc in the Pinot Noir style, medium bodied and fruity.   The color is a medium ruby.  The nose is lightly earthy with notes of plum.  In the mouth the wine has light cherry notes and a peppery finish.  Upon first taste, the wine feels both young and light, however it does open up with subsequent sips.  It’s not as robust as the Gouveia and Chamard Cabernet Francs, and fans of the more full-bodied reds of California and Oregon will likely not be won over to Connecticut Cabernet Francs here.  However, it’s a nice wine when given a chance, and I anticipate it will improve with a few years of cellaring.

I’m looking forward to Taylor Brooke’s Corot Noir, which they’ll begin producing once they finish the last of the Cabernet Franc.  I’ve not found many Corot Noir wines; Land of Nod is the only other winery that comes to mind that produces a Corot Noir wine; other wineries, I suspect use it primarily for blending.  It’s not a grape I know much about, and it will be interesting to see what Richard Augur does with it.  But more on that in a year or two.

Roseland Red After the Cabernet Franc we moved on to the Roseland Red, a meritage of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot, and Cabernet Franc.   The Cabernet Franc is from the Taylor Brooke vineyards, and they bring in the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot as juice from California and Oregon.  Made in the Bordeaux-style and aged in Hungarian Oak, this is a really nice wine and my favorite among the Taylor Brooke reds.   Also a medium ruby color, the nose is delicate and lightly fruity – an interesting change from the earthy/floral noses of the whites.   A light/medium bodied wine with both spice and cherry throughout.  The finish is peppery with a hint of smoke and leather from the oak.  The wine opens up over multiple tastings and would pair very well with grilled meats and heavier pasta dishes.

Woostock Valley Red The reds finish with Taylor Brooke’s 100% St. Croix wine.  While St. Croix is grown all over southern New England and is used by many vineyards in blending, this is only the second 100% St. Croix wine that I’ve found in Connecticut, the other being Maugle Sierra’s which I had tried earlier that morning.   If there are other predominately St. Croix wines, they were not called out as such during my tastings.   While fruity, Taylor Brooke’s St. Croix is not as fruity as Maugle Sierra’s; like many of their other wines, there are earthy notes that come through the fruit, possibly the differences in terroir between the northeastern hills and the southeastern shoreline.   The Woodstock Valley Red is garnet colored with a light nose with pleasantly earthy, grassy notes.  In the mouth the wine has bright notes of cherry, although it is not the rich “jammyness” that I found with Maugle Sierra’s.  The finish is slightly spicy; I found it hard to pinpoint what I was picking up.  It’s not pepper, although it has some of the sharpness of pepper.  Indian spices came to mind – perhaps a bit of curry?  Still not sure…  Also aged in Hungarian Oak, the finish is lightly smoky.

With the reds concluded, I rinsed my glass and prepared for the dessert wines.  As regular readers of Vino Verve know, I have a particular weakness for dessert wines.  I love that rich silkiness of a good late harvest or ice wine, and am always on the lookout for new wines to add to my collection.

First up was Taylor Brooke’s Late Harvest Riesling. A pale gold color, the nose is delicate with very discernible notes of apricot.  The mouth feel is silky and lush, and on the palate the wine is smooth and rich with notes of apricot with a honey finish.  There’s a touch of acid on the end which is interesting if unexpected.   During the tasting, Linda Augur serves this with chocolate, and the chocolate definitely smooths out that touch of acid, producing a more satisfying experience.

Chocolate Essence One of Taylor Brooke’s most popular wines, if not the most popular wine, they can’t keep this on the shelves.  From start to finish it takes a minimum of one year to produce Chocolate Essence, which given its popularity means Richard Augur always has this in production.  The wine is a chocolate-infused, port-style wine made from Merlot, which is brought in from Long Island.  They add 20 gallons of brandy to 100 gallons of Merlot and then add cocoa bean essence.  The result is heavenly…  A lovely ruby color which sparkles in the light, the nose has deep rich notes of chocolate, lighter notes of berries and a slight smokiness from the oaking.  In the mouth, the wine has bright cherry notes on the front and soft notes of chocolate throughout.  The chocolate deepens and is stronger on the finish leaving you with the sensation of just having eaten a really good chocolate covered cherry.   It would be excellent on its own, it would pair well with a variety of desserts: fruit and cheese or cheesecake immediately came to mind.  Linda Augur also recommends drizzling it over ice cream in place of chocolate sauce.  Yum!  Once opened it is good for 4-6 months, so you can savor a bottle all summer long.

That concluded the afternoon’s tasting.  I will be heading back soon, though, as the second of their seasonal wines was released last week: the St. Croix Rosé.

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Noticed this video posted by Wine Biz Radio’s Randy Hall. Not only did we have a lovely lunch at Whitman Cellars, but we were entertained by one of our own as well! Nicky Vallee, VinoChick seranaded us at lunch. Enjoy!

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