New England Wine Tasting

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As part of my Drink Local Wine education and an early jump on Regional Wine Week coming up next week I organized (with help from Margot as always) an all New England wine tasting. The tasting featured twenty-two bottles from the six New England states. In organizing it I tried to represent wines of all the types you might typically find in the region, from dry reds and whites to fruit wines, dessert wines, ciders, and mead. I also tried to pick multiple producers from each state, and in a simple sense accessibility of the wines in local shops or those that were shippable from out of state played a key part in which wines were included. I could have ordered more, spent more time looking and had a different lineup, but my gut tells me our experience was well rounded enough not to fuss over such details. There is a listing of all the wines at the very bottom of this post.

We invited our friends Chris & Nancy Obert, the authors of The Next Harvest about the New England wine scene, to join us. They are the only other people I know that have ever surveyed wines from all the New England states in one place before. We also invited friends from many of our past tastings to help us sort out what was going on in the region in 2011.

As we kicked off I asked tasters to keep the question of “Could you adopt a local wine drinking habit based on what you learn today?” in their mind as they worked through the wines. I was curious about this myself, something I hadn’t been able to answer yes to in the past, but have always assumed that the passage of time would impact my future answers.

One point is needs to be made right here. The group found the quality of the wines to be mixed, and I would say as mixed as any batch of regional wines I have ever tried. That excludes the flawed wines as they don’t often get poured by producers who tend to catch the issues first. The feedback is fair based on the experiences folks had and should be taken in the spirit it is being given. All of us sincerely want to support our local producers and know that we need to keep sourcing the wines, tasting them and letting the wineries know how they are doing. How else could they grow to serve the communities they represent?

Which Wines Really Worked For Me?

Chamard Estate Grown Chardonnay (CT) – baked fruits, with whisps of old oak in the nose. Not super fruity, rather focused and dry to a quick exit. It is balanced well and positive attributes all the way around. It has hints of MLF and old oak, but nothing very forward. This is a Chardonnay that I would recommend for an all occasion wine and for decent coverage with food pairings.

Travessia Winery Vidal (MA) – this was one of the few repeat tastes for me. It was sweeter than I recall, but had that mellow perfumed nose and peachy, citrusy finish I recalled from past tastings. Very well put together.

Eden Iced Cider (VT) – this was another repeat for Margot and I, and one of the most important wines we included in the tasting in my opinion. Orange/gold in color this cider pours like light amber syrup when cold. The nuances from the nose full of apples are intoxicating. The intense shot of apples and spice in the mouth is fantastic! So many people commented that they had never had such concentrated apple flavor before and that it was incredible to sip. I would have to agree.

Truro Vineyards Cranberry Red (MA)  – I liked this wine on its own, feeling that the combination of the light red wine base and tart red fruit from the cranberry was perfectly blended. I’ll be sipping on the rest of this watching the Ken Burns Prohibition special on PBS shortly! Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of this bottle when it was full. It is a real shame since it is a beautiful lighthouse shaped bottle.

Candia Vineyards Marquette (NH) – when I bought this wine some time ago I drank one bottle right away. I enjoyed it but don’t recall it grabbing me as much as the tasting pour I had had that led to the purchase. I then forgot about it. The age has helped this wine emerge beautifully. It has a warmth and spiciness to the nose that really drew me in. It has that wildness I often find in the cold-weather-hardy native and hybrid red grapes. I like that, although some people can’t accept it. It is moderately concentrated and dark with solid dark red and purple fruits. The finish is a bit tart and very clean.

Which Wines Did I Hear Positive Feedback About?

Chamard Estate Grown Chardonnay (MA) - clearly this was the standard dry wine everyone like the most. I tasted it after Noel commented on his positive experience and confirmed everything he had said. Everyone we ended up recommending try it had positive feedback as well.

Truro Vineyards Cranberry Red (MA) – Margot mentioned the pleasant tartness, and Lorie (@winingways), Noel & others all commented on how drinkable it was. Missy and Richard blended it with the Tanguay Hard Frost Cider and raved about the result. This wine also shows up again in the next section, but you’ll have to keep read to find out why.

Eden Iced Cider (VT) – this is an exquisite product to be sure, and almost everyone who had it was savoring each sip. I have orders to fulfill when I visit Eden in the wintertime!

Turtle Creek Winery Chardonnay (MA) – quite a few people said that really liked this wine and would no doubt buy it again. It was one that was positive on as well, the dried fruits and spices in the nose were very pleasant.

LaBelle Winery Heirloom Apple & Maple Dessert Wine (NH) – I was very happy to hear so much feedback about the apple wines during the tasting. Amy LaBelle is the only local winemaker that I know that can really make an apple wine versus apple hard cider, flavored or not. They are NOT the same product and apple wine in my experience is harder to make. That’s me, and I’ve tried it. This apple wine infused with maple flavor is a great example of local flavors creating enjoyable sips.

What About The Reds?

The red wines underperformed on the day. We did have the New England Red though. Who makes that wine you ask? Well, not any of the producers, and it didn’t come from any one of the states we tried wines from. It is a blend of wines from producers in four of the six states.

After tasting all the reds the reviews were mixed and not very energetic. Noel suggested the Chamard Vineyards Merlot (MA) had a bit too much acid and that the Boyden Valley Riverbend Red (VT) was too powerful of leafy characteristics. I like a bit of leaf and greens in a red wine and Cabernet Franc immediately came to mind. I noted the depth of color and concentration of the Marquette from Candia Vineyards (NH) and schemed up a blending experiment. A Petit Verdot analog? Perhaps. Our ultimate blend was 10 parts Chamard Merlot and one part each of Boyden Valley Riverbend Red and Candia Marquette. When served it was worth trying the blend as it was and then with a splash of the Truro Vineyards CranberryRed (MA). The whole was definitely more than the sum of the parts, with healthy acidity, a nice dark color and accessible fruits in both the nose and in the mouth. There was also a subtle warmth from oak. The splash of Cranberry Red added bright red fruits and tartness to the finish. I am inclined to believe that I will be making a cranberry wine in this style to both bottle for drinking, but also to reserve for the positive role it appears to play in blending.

While the details are a bit different, I suggested a similar collaborative red blend when I reflected on the red wines I tasted in Virginia. I can’t stress this point enough, blends should be a more critical consideration of wineries in all regions of the world where the winemaking is still in its youth. Blends of both estate grown grapes by one label AND collaborations between wineries throughout entire regions have the potential to channel the very best attributes into wines that capture imaginations and define the wines people come to the region to find.

The Sakonnet Vineyards Claret (RI) red blend didn’t seem to resonate with anyone. Some of the feedback wasn’t worthy of printing here. I personally found that it ended flat and didn’t have enough zip to grab me. I plan to give it a little air, there was little tightness perhaps, and come back to see if there is any change. When contrasted with my own, very young, riff on a Meritage blend the difference was immediately noticed in the expressions of the tasters. Brighter, fruitier and more nuanced was the general response. Noel suggested my blend was likely to shine brighter when repeated in a larger batch with a year in the barrel. I love my wine-making friends!

Problems We Had

Moonlight Meadery Sumptuous – unfortunately this had re-fermented in the bottle and had lost all the sweetness. It was not drinkable and a shame to not have been able to enjoy. We’ve had this mead several times in the past, and this was not it.

Alfalfa Farm Cranberry – this was aged too long, our bad. It was oxidized and without merit for drinking.

Boyden Valley Seyval –there was piney flavor that was very pronounced, and very off-putting. This was untouched after several folks confirmed the finding. Neither Noel or I could figure an angle that would have created this outcome and let it run under the radar.

Willow Spring Seyval  - this wine came off as very light and diluted to several of us. This is not typical to the style at all. A few folks tried it only to confirm this conclusion.

Other Notable Wines

Hopkins Vineyard Night Owl – this is a Vidal based dessert wine that is very much worth a drink. I actually finished it right from the bottle with dessert! It has a wild character in the nose, offers considerable concentration, honey and dried fruits all the way through the tart, sweet finish.

Flag Hill Blueberry – this was very much unlike what many folks expected in a fruit wine. It is medium-dry with a pronounced fruit flavor and clean finish. I don’t often find a blueberry wine I like, and this wine didn’t personally grab me, but I didn’t hear lots of surprise at how it presented itself.

Observations & Follow-up Actions

Maine didn’t show very well in our tasting. With the exception of the Tanguay Hard Frost Cider neither the Kennebec Hard Cider or Cellar Door Viognier garnered much attention. I believe this should be spun as a call to action to source additional wines from Maine to get a better idea of what is offered from the state. Margot and I will be heading up to Maine this coming weekend to do just this.

Eden Orleans Aperitif Wine – this is a new product, an herbed cider wine made to be used as an aperitif or a cocktail mixer. It was very interesting to taste in this way because it gave people the opportunity to explore it. I do honestly believe from my own experience that cocktails with gin, vodka and vermouths are likely to be the best way to apply a wine of this type. Stay tuned for the requisite experiments to be shared here at the Ancient Fire Wine Blog.

Rhode Island didn’t fair too well either. The first wine I ever had from Sakonnet Vineyards, the Eye of the Storm Rose, is still my favorite. We served this as our pre-game wine for early arrivals and during our prep. Positive remarks all around. And while neither the Sakonnet Claret (mentioned above) or Gewurztraminer were highly rated, the later needing some zip to be more stylistically correct, I think some additional exploration in Rhode Island is required.

How About That Local Wine Drinking Habit?

I came away thinking that I was closer to being able to suggest house wines and all-occasion wines from the New England region than I had ever been before. Because I make so much wine, they become my house wines and gifts for others, but I do still buy commercial wines. A few of those I tasted here are likely to make the cut in future buys. Many of my red wine drinking friends answered no to the question, understandable if you read the section above, and I suggested we focus on reds in another round of New England wines in the near future. Some research and sourcing effort might pay off.

Cheers!

Jason

Wine List

New Hampshire

Moonlight Meadery Sumptous

Candia Vineyards Marquette

Flag Hill Winery & Distillery Blueberry

LaBelle Winery Apple/Maple

Connecticut

Chamard Vineyards Merlot

Chamard Vineyards Chard

Hopkins Vineyard Night Owl

Rhode lsland

Sakonnet Vineyards EOS

Sakonnet Vineyards Meritage

Sakonnet Vineyards Gewurztraminer

Maine

Cellar Door Winery Viognier

Kennebec Hard Cider

Tanguay Hard Frost Cider

Massachusetts

Travessia Winery Vidal

Turtle Creek Winery Chard

Willow Spring Seyval

Truro Vineyards Cranberry Red

Alfalfa Farm Winery Cranberry

Vermont

Boyden Valley Seyval

Boyden Valley Riverbend Red

Eden Iced Cider

Eden Orleans Aperitif Wine

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Thoughts on Local Wine

To say I’ve always been a supporter of local wine would be a bit misleading. My curiosity to find it where I’ve lived goes back about 10 years, but back then it was a novelty to me. I’ve been a supporter of local beer much longer and although I’ve always treated beer and wine as equals around my table it took some time for local wines to make consistent appearances. New England has culinary traditions that are known beyond the region, Boston Baked Beans anyone, and in more recent years a dining scene that regularly gets headlines to draw folks from elsewhere in. But, we aren’t known for our wine.

In 10 years I have greatly increased my interest in and knowledge of the local wine scene, checking out the products of all of the wineries in my home state of New Hampshire (with the exception of the very newest to which visits are in the works) and a smattering of wineries in Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts. As of this writing there are 23 wineries, cider houses and meadery’s in the state of New Hampshire.

When I first started looking for local wine I didn’t really know what to expect although I knew that vineyards didn’t dot our landscape like they do in parts of California. I came across wines made from local fruits, peaches, strawberries, apples, cranberries and blueberries, and wines made from grapes such as Chardonnay and Merlot, but also ones I had never heard of like Foch, and Vidal.

The fruit wines always did, and still do make sense to me. I’ve lived in New England all my life and love the different parts of the summer when local fruits are available at pick-your-own farms and the local farmstands. We might not have vineyards, but we sure do have plenty of local fruit. The wines made from these fruits reflect our agricultural capabilities, making them hyper-local and tightly connected to the people and the place from where they come. Wine snobs everywhere might turn up their nose, but at least we have a sense of place!

The wines made from grapes that I had never heard of, others like Diamond, Noiret, Leon Millot and Seyval, took some education to understand. Together these grapes are categorized as hybrid and native grapes. I am not a farmer, but I didn’t have to be to quickly recognize that our climate forces wine grape growers to seek varieties that are cold weather hardy and because of our seasons, flora and fauna, also disease and pest resistant. Vines in California and regions all around the world need these same attributes to varying degrees, but those areas offer growing conditions where the noble grapes do so well that these other grapes aren’t even considered. Areas along the New England coast and in the Southern regions have a lot more luck with growing Chardonnay and Cabernet grapes (and other vinifera), but not as easily and reliably as other regions, so the native and hybrid grapes still form the core for some wineries in those locations.

With only 3 AVA’s (American Viticultural Areas) in New England, Western Connecticut Highlands, Southern New England and its sub-region Martha’s Vineyard, there is not lot of wine that comes from specific designations in New England. Beyond these zones (and from within them as well) wines labeled as New England or carrying the name of a state must be made from grapes, fruit or juice grown in the region or likewise the state. Not all wineries can grow or locally source enough raw material to maintain their production and thus source grapes and juice from elsewhere. The Finger Lakes is one example of such a source, although juice is also imported from California and international purveyors. These wines must be labeled as American Wine, and are only then manufactured locally. The “localness” of such wines is debatable, but at least a few of the wineries that I know that started this way quickly moved to using estate grown or locally sourced grapes to brings things back to local.

No post about local wine would be complete without a review. I am going to review the Flag Hill Raspberry Wine. Flag Hill Winery & Distillery is located in Lee, NH and is one of the oldest wineries in operation in the state of New Hampshire, opening commercially in 1996. Prior to 1996 it operated as a vineyard selling its harvested fruit to the New Hampshire Winery, which has since ceased operation. The property Flag Hill is located on has been the site of a family farm going back to the 1950’s and in 2004 114 acres of it were designated as conservation land with support from the Land and Community Heritage Program.

Flag Hill Winery & Distillery Raspberry Wine

I could smell the raspberries as soon as I popped the cork. The wine pours a deep red color with a slight purple shift and is clear, much like a Beaujolais Nouveau or Pinot Noir. The wine is spot on for raspberry, and is not sweet, although there is enough residual sweetness to balance the natural acidity of the fruit. The finish is clean and is berries all the way. This wine would be a perfect aperitivo before a meal because the acidity is palate cleansing and makes the mouth water.

( Self-portrait in the arbor used for weddings at Flag Hill. From 2007 )

Wine from Flag Hill is the first New Hampshire wine I ever had. Their wines are consistently of high quality, made from local fruits and estate grown hybrid and native grapes. Margot and I have visited Flag Hill several times to taste, including a local vacation for our 10^th wedding anniversary in 2007, and more recently as the site of the first annual LiveFree & Wine New Hampshire wine festival in 2010. You can check out how it grew from our Live Free & Wine 2011 post.

( Live Free & Wine 2010 )

Next Month the wine lovers at DrinkLocalWine.com will be hosting Drink Local Wine Week from October the 9^th through the 15^th. Not wanting to miss an opportunity to support and promote the wines of New England, I of course have plans.

The first event will be an All-New England wine tasting with 20+ bottles of commercial wines from wineries of all the New England states. Friends of ours who authored the book “The Next Harvest” about New England wineries will be joining us and others at our home to see what the region is offering in 2011. During the research for their book Chris and Nancy Obert visited many wineries and sourced quite a bit of New England wine. They conducted tastings of their own, we sadly didn’t know them then, and are big supporters of the local wine scene. I look forward to the conversations the more recent vintages will generate. We will have wines made from fruits, hybrid & noble grapes, and wines from both longstanding and new wineries to try. A full article with pictures, reviews and feedback will be posted the week following the tasting.

( That's me dumping the Marechal Foch into the Crusher/Destemmer at Candia Vineyards. )

My second local wine activity will be working the harvest at Flag Hill. I’ve worked harvest at Candia Vineyards in the past and enjoyed working with the grapes firsthand, knowing that just a little bit of my love of wine would be in the bottles a year later. Flag Hill has a series of harvest parties annually, something that seems to grow each year. Volunteers pick early in the day and finish with a social where grapes are crushed the old fashioned way to make a celebratory harvest wine that is served at the same event the following year. I will share my experience and photos during Drink Local Wine Week.

I hope you enjoyed this spot on the local wine scene I have come to enjoy in New England. I am very much looking forward to the upcoming tasting, the first for me where all the New England states will be represented, where I hope to get a much better idea of whether a local drinking culture is emerging where I live.

Cheers!

Jason

#WBC11, Google+ Circles & Frisbee

What do #WBC11, Google+ Circles & Frisbee have in common? Not much necessarily unless you’re me with my weird brain. But I have connected conversations about Google+ at #WBC11 with the metaphor of knowledge Frisbee to Frisbee tossing.

As I was re-reading my recap of the Drink Local Forum at #WBC11 I started thinking about the networks I was creating in different areas that each have their own drink local favorites. The initial Frisbee metaphor came from thinking about seeing these connections just being tossed around at the conference like a ball as local-interested folks connected with people who knew about their local area. Social media was clearly front and center at the conference, as a tool, a conversation topic and an important component of what we as a group might do next.

I am not a big fan of Google+ yet, but that is because I haven’t given it enough attention. It hasn’t been rising high on my priority list on daily basis so you will find no singular “die without my Google+” bent here. What did strike me as I thought of all of the overlapping circles, is that because the connections are organic there is an action and an intent there that could be richly described with an action metaphor. The circle is an important symbol in many cultures and it fits very well here.

The identity disc concept from the Tron movies came to mind. Our little one person circle (disc) contains the connections of all those other circles, their actors, the stories and the resulting new connections. We can share our circles by tossing our virtual Google+ Frisbee.

I’ve been home from #WBC11 for almost two weeks now and I am playing a bit of Ultimate Tron Disc War Frisbee with a few bloggers both locally and in other regions looking to promote their local food and drink. From the exchanges I already know that upcoming local events will be venues for meetups and travel plans are being bolstered by well heeled recommendations. As I build up these networks being able to toss them to interested friends and create new connections is a pretty powerful metaphor.

Back to Google+. Circles has it on imagery and a cool name. Circles and the Frisbee like sharing of them applies to topics of all types, and the networks people create are going to cross many, many boundaries. People are the ones who will make it work, connecting and socializing in that beautifully random and interesting way that we do. Now I just need to free up some time to use it…

Cheers!

Jason