Jump in on a Riot in Boston

The Second Glass Boston Wine Riot, that is!

In 2010 I shared my experiences from the Boston Wine Riot in two posts (post 1, post 2) here at the Ancient Fire Wine Blog. The event was a generous blend of local wines, wines of the world, some of Boston’s edgy and new food purveyors, educational sessions, wine-loving people, music and online networking; making for a fun afternoon of mixing, mingling and tasting.

The Wine Riot has been in Boston again since 2010 and I’ll be making it to this year’s installment. I’ve found that having a festival game plan is the best way to get the most out of a general admission event with so many tastes available. What is my game plan for this event?

• New local wineries and newer vintages of those local producers with which I am already familiar. This is smart business. Eating & drinking near where you work and live is a constant source of adventures you can take on short notice.
• Unfamiliar wine regions. This is a frequent festival approach for me. Exposure to new wine regions means exposure to history, culture, people and food that I am also not likely already familiar with. You can learn a lot about a place through its food and drink. Eventually I am going to run out of these, but I'm not there yet!
• New producers from regions known to me. Broadening my knowledge of wine-making regions to which I am already somewhat familiar helps continuously fill in the blanks dynamics of the place and what the region does best. Keeping an eye on new producers also means seeing new styles and spins on the local scene of the producer.

For folks not familiar with Second Glass and the Wine Riot events held in several cities nationwide, here are the pertinents:

• Second Glass brings wineries and wine drinkers together through social media and in-person events across the nation by helping people uncover their new favorite wines, remember what they drink and share all of that fabulous info with their friends.
• Guests can look forward to tasting over 250 wines from across the globe while tagging, rating and remembering them for later purchase using the free mobile app at http://www.secondglass.com/wineriot/mobile/
• This year’s Boston Wine Riot is April 20^th & 21^st at the Boston Park Plaza Castle on Arlington Street. There are three riots Friday 7p to 11p and two on Saturday from 1p to 5p and 7p to 11p. Ticket information and additional details can be accessed at http://secondglass.com/wineriot/boston-2012/tickets/

If you haven’t gotten your tickets yet, what are you waiting for? Crash the Boston Wine Riot with friends and find something new and tasty to drink for the great Spring weather coming!

Cheers!

Jason

47 Words about New England Wine

Here are my 47 words about New England wine. It's an open invite, and we've got place for people to stay. Come one, come all, experience New England wine!

Quirky, questioning, a bit quixotic and definitely not quaestuary, the people and the wines from New England are a breed unto themselves. Grapes, fruits, honey and vegetables, we’ll make wine out of anything. Why, because we can! Come see for yourself. You must experience New England wine.

Cheers!

Jason

This week is Regional Wine Week, a celebration of  lesser known wine regions and their wines. All week I will be sharing the wines of the New England region, my home base and my wine enthusiast playground.

New England Has Wine & Unique Wine Character

( Vines at Candia Vineyards in Candia, NH )

Wine in New England represents a broad range in both style and the places where they are made. Styles range from traditional table wines like Chardonnay and Merlot to wines made from cold-weather and hardy grapes like Cayuga and Marquette. You’ll also find fruit wines made from myriad local fruits, dessert wines, port style wines, sparkling wines, distilled spirits and really unique products like iced cider. Our wineries are located in all different types of settings from farm wineries situated on vineyard and orchard lands, to rural locations a bit off the beaten path, to suburban settings not far from the hustle & bustle, and at least one urban location. All together keeping it as diverse as they come!

With my ramblings above I’ve led you directly to first a product and then a winery that I think are great examples of unique wine character in New England. The product is Eden Iced Cider produced in West Charleston, Vermont, pretty far afield even for New England. The winery is Travessia Urban Winery in downtown New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Many ciders are included in the broad category of wine in New England because the alcohol content (10+% in some cases) is much more like wine than beer or typical hard cider. Eden Iced Cider in particular fits the wine category very well, and dessert wine specifically. The concentrated flavors, smooth, elegant textures and ice-wine character will grab you straight away.

I had the pleasure of trying three different Eden products recently, two of which were presented in our New England Wine Tasting event early in the month. The third product is the Eden Northern Spy Barrel Aged Iced Cider. As I mentioned in the wine tasting post linked above the flagship Eden Iced Cider product is an intense shot of apple with lots of nuance to work through. The aromas of baked apple flesh lift off the glass. The barrel aged Northern Spy version takes all of this a bit higher with more complex spices and a toasted undertone, both I presume from the wood aging. I had considered a pairing when I sat down with this bottle, sharp cheddar cheese from Vermont was my thought, but the drink alone kept my attention such that it was gone before I had broken out the cheese. I am presenting the picture of the bottle here, but sadly I forgot to take it before I emptied it, which would have given you a good idea of the deep orange/gold/brown color of the contents. You’ll just have to imagine what it looks and tastes like if you’ve never had it.

Iced cider is produced by freezing fresh pressed sweet cider, draining off the unfrozen portion leaving behind a good deal of the water present in the initial cider. The result is a concentrated apple cider with a sugar level 10-15 Brix higher than what is typical for grapes used to make dry wines. This concentrate is fermented slowly at low temperatures to produce a final alcohol content of between 8 and 11 % by volume with 12 to 15% residual sugar. From there it is stabilized, filtered and bottled like any other wine. The notable statistics on this product are that the final volume is less than ¼ of the starting volume of cider and that one 375ml bottle of iced cider requires 8lbs of apples to make!

From farms and orchards to city streets, you’ll find wine everywhere you go in New England. Travessia Urban Winery located in downtown New Bedford, Massachusetts represents the melding of an agricultural product, wine, with the urban lifestyle. New Bedford is a South Coast city in Massachusetts, not far from Rhode Island and the roads that head out on to Cape Cod. An urban winery is unique in New England despite the many large population centers we support, but is recognizable to those who have toured other wine regions, namely areas in California. I walked the Santa Barbara Urban Wine Trail earlier in the year and really enjoyed the mix of wine and city character.

For a small winemaking region it isn’t any surprise that there aren’t more wineries in urban settings, there are only about 100 hundred wineries in all of the six New England states! As time passes I am betting the draw to locate wineries and tasting rooms (maybe representing multiple labels) in population centers with public transit access will grow; lots of young potential patrons and access by tourists will and there are plenty of brewpubs and breweries already seeing the benefits!

Travessia focuses primarily on wines made from grapes grown in the state of Massachusetts, although not yet grown by the winery itself. All wines made from local grapes are 100% local, and wines made from grapes sourced outside the region do represent a share of the wineries total annual volume. Using this approach Travessia can produce local wines from locally available grapes, for which the quality and availability fluctuate year to year, and use out-of-region grapes to make wines so that a broad inventory is always available for customers.

I’ve also had the pleasure of trying multiple products from Travessia recently. First was the Vidal Blanc (a local wine), a wine I’ve enjoyed at a number of tastings. This wine was also reviewed in the New England Wine Tasting linked above. The second wine was the Jester Zinfandel, a wine made from grapes sourced from California. This is a pretty big Zin, in that jammy Zin zone some are familiar with. Medium concentration with a dark ruby color, the nose exudes dark red fruits some spice and oak. Full bodied and seemingly sweet from the concentration of plum and black raspberry fruit flavors, this wine is supremely drinkable. There is just enough acidity and tartness to ensure this wine isn’t fat; keeping your taste buds primed for more. There is a hint of alcohol on the finish which is otherwise clean. As I understand it the particular vintage of this wine has been sold out for some time and that a new year will be going to bottle soon. I will clearly state that I am lucky to have found this at The Urban Grape in Chestnut Hill, and if you want it you better go running because there wasn’t much left.

Travessia is also part of the Coastal Wine Trail, a wine trail in one of the only three AVA’s located in New England, the Southeastern New England Wine Growing Appellation. There are nine wineries on the trail from Langworth Farm Winery at the western edge of Rhode Island to Truro Vineyards well into the journey out on Cape Cod.

So there you have it. Unique wine character in New England. As if you didn’t already think we were strange, this might seal that deal!

This week is Regional Wine Week, a celebration of lesser known wine regions and their wines. All week I will be sharing the wines of the New England region, my home base and my wine enthusiast playground.

Cheers!

Jason

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.”

500 Vines with Funky Names – Prospect Hill Winery Lebanon, Maine

Elvira, Edelwiess, Chancellor, Aurore, Sabrevois, Marechal Foch, Frontenac, St. Vincent, St. Croix, Landot Noir and Prairie Star. Some wine enthusiasts will recognize these as grape varieties and examples of those typically grown in cold and harsh climates like Maine. Others might think they were more likely foreign destinations or made up names. We’ll get back to the story of these grapes and the wines made from them in just a bit.

Richard and Anita Carle are the dynamic duo at the center of Prospect Hill Winery, but make no mistake; this is very much a family affair. Arriving to a full house on a warm mid-Autumn Sunday, Richard and Anita’s grandson John was my tour guide through the vineyards. I am jealous of John. I came to winemaking at 30 years of age, but John is just a teen and has been working around the vines and in the winery for more than 6 years already. By the time he comes of age to legally consume the products he has worked so hard to help create he is going to know so much! He is already passionate about his labors, professing his love for the spot where the vines are located; talking about them like his future children. We arrived the week following the completion of the harvest, which John said had come in great. As we headed back to the barn we ran into Nathan, Richard and Anita’s son. The busy day had pressed him into service giving tours and helping turnover the tasting room for new guests. He was smiling, and I suspect he knew that it would be a good day for the winery, and by extension his family. In the flurry of the tasting area Richard and Anita's daughters were hosting tastings and checking guests out.

Grapes were first planted on the property in 2002. I asked Richard how he came to grow vines and he responded with a classically funny quip that always renews my desire to dig into the stories behind the wines I enjoy. The land was originally used to pasture cows, which they slaughtered for the beef. Realizing they drank more wine than they ate beef the idea to switch to growing grapes was floated and took hold. I wonder what the cows thought of that conversation!

They started with Elvira and Edelweiss, both white grapes, and small plantings of St. Vincent and St. Croix for reds. In 2005 they established themselves commercially, producing what wine they could from the small number of mature vines. The first significant harvest was in 2007, from five red varieties in addition to the Elvira and Edelweiss. Fast forward to 2011 and there are now 500 vines in total, a number Richard says is what they feel they can manage and will work with for the time being. This brings up notable point about Richard, Anita and Prospect Hill. The operation is small in scale, but they are very clearly keeping it at the size it is by choice. It is obvious they are working on hard to make sure all the elements are in balance so they can produce a quality product and also provide a warm, friendly experience for guests. This pragmatism was refreshing to see. They could grow larger, and I bet they will in time, but they know what they have and how to make it work, something so many people wish for; and many never find.

I did some background research on a couple of the grape types to present the reasons why these types exist why they might be used in the climate found in places like Maine.

Edelweiss – Developed in 1980 at the University of Minnesota by Elmer Swenson. It is a winter-hardy variety cultivated to withstand the harsh Minnesota winters, which bear similarities to Maine. It is also strongly resistant to disease and fungus typical to grapes. It is a cross between the Minnesota 78 and Ontario grape varieties which includes Vitis labrusca parentage. This fact is significant because early, and under-ripe picking is recommended to reduce the labrusca character that many people find offensive in finished wines that exhibit it.

Marechal Foch – This grape is a hybrid developed in France in 20th century with an uncertain lineage. It is believed that it is a cross of Goldriesling, a Vitis vinifera variety, and another grape that could have both Vitis riparia and Vitis rupestris parentage. What we do know is that it is an early ripener, cold-weather hardy and resistant to fungal diseases. With small berries the threat from birds is high. This variety does see a specific improvement and likeness with traditional red wine as the vines age.

All the wines at Prospect Hill are made from estate grown grapes. Richard makes the case for this being a local winery very plain, invoking the word terroir in the process. While wineries elsewhere do make other choices with regards to the source of fruit, keeping it hyper-local is something he is passionate about. We talked briefly about how the desire to grow and expand business into things like a restaurant, event facility, etc. can put pressure on wineries resulting in non-estate wines. This is something that is understood as a choice, but not one without concerns.

I tasted 8 wines during my visit.All the wines are dry and naturally acidic, which translates into healthy tartness. The whites are from the 2010 vintage and the reds, except for the last, were from the 2009 vintage.

I started with the Elvira. I found this wine to have a citrus driven nose, grapefruit was the predominant aroma I could identify. In the mouth I found tart apples and more citrus, this time lemon. This wine is very tart and crisp without being grapey.

The Edelweiss was next. The grape comes out in the wine, and its origin as a table grape is consistent with this. It is also citrus driven and again tart and crisp. This wine is very smooth despite the high level of acidity and tartness. I could see many summer days sipping on this wine being just right.

The next wine, Edelvira, is a blend of the first two grapes. It is again dry, crisp and tart with abundant citrus. The balance was a bit off, but after tasting the Edelweiss and liking it, I could have been biased.

We moved on to the reds. Frontenac was up first. I have had Frontenac quite a few times so the nose was easily recognizable to me. It's a bit wild with cherries. The cherry comes back in the mouth and with the generous acidity comes off as tart cherries without a doubt. There are hints of oak in the nose, but they don't linger into the palate. Richard explained that they use oak chips versus barrel aging for their red wines. I'm familiar with this from my own wine-making and know that it does give the winemaker fine grained control on the oak for small batches of wine. The tannins are a little coarse, but for a 2009 this is reasonable to expect.

The Prospect Hill Red is a blend of Frontenac & Foch. The Frontenac nose pops up again, but the difference in the mouth is easily noticeable. The fruits are darker in this one, including plum and blackberry. The tannins are a bit more smoother and the balance of this wine is in a good place.

Next up was the Foch by itself. It is a softer wine than the Frontenanc, something I prefer this grape for. Hints of cherry and dry soil in the nose and mouth. Despite the high acidity it is very smooth and seriously drinkable.

The Harvest Red is another blend, this time of St. Vincent and Frontenac. This time the Frontenac nose was amped up with more fruit and that translated to the mouth. Lots of cherry and berries. The tannins are noticeable in this wine, suggesting some aging time for softening would see an enhanced drinking experience.

The last wine was the 2008 Chancellor. The nose on this wine is huge, full of dark fruits like plum and blackberry. The fruit is a solid player right through the finish making it a true full bodied wine. I found it to be very smooth with an obvious drying and aging from the year of additional age compared to the other reds. The tannins are smooth and provide a noticeable structure to the wine. This was the winner of the day for me!

A little over a week ago Margot and I hosted an all New England wine tasting. Unfortunately Maine didn’t show very well, and I knew we needed to seek out additional wines to try to help us better contextualize what Maine could do. I met the Carle’s a few years ago at a trade event where they were pouring their Foch. It had grabbed me then and during my search for wines to include in the tasting I had checked on the availability of wine from Prospect Hill. Their wines are only available at the winery and they don’t ship. You have to visit to taste and to buy wines to bring home. For a small winery with a good story, this is really the way to go.

One of the best problems small businesses can have is seeing their product fly off the shelves. As I was finishing the tasting of the whites, with the Edelweiss being my favorite, it was determined that the last customer to leave had purchased the remaining bottle of Edelweiss, meaning there would be no more available until the spring next year. I was bummed, but so happy for Prospect Hill. Their size is manageable for them and they often sell out before they close up for the winter. The Edelweiss was added to list of wines sold out for the year that already included Prairie Star, Aurore and their Prospect Hill White.

We did take home two bottles of the 2008 Chancellor. The additional year of bottle aging had shown development of the structure and texture of the wine over the younger reds, and I felt it was the best of example of the potential in Maine wines I had yet come across.

This week is Regional Wine Week, a celebration of  lesser known wine regions and their wines. All week I will be sharing the wines of the New England region, my home base and my wine enthusiast playground.

Cheers!

Jason

What a Harvest!- Flag Hill Winery, Lee New Hampshire

Grapes have been grown on the site of what is now Flag HillWinery & Distillery in Lee, NH for over 20 years. The way proprietor Frank Reinhold told it this past Saturday, this was the biggest harvest they’ve seen in those years. Flag Hill’s first commercial vintage was in 1996, with vineyard acreage and annual production steadily increasing since.

On a beautiful hot & sunny day, reminiscent of summer and not Columbus Day weekend, 225 volunteers fanned out in the vineyards picking Cayuga White and Marechal Foch grapes, totaling about 5 acres. Frank was keeping score and we broke a couple records. The first acre of Cayuga was cleared in 19 minutes! We also cleared more acreage in the time it required than ever before. The volumes harvested for each were in 1500-2000 gallon range, something they were expecting based on the great growing season and the amount of fruit hanging on the vines. In his opening remarks Frank used the phrase “freakin’ lot of fruit” to describe the task at hand. As I understand it that is a technical phrase used by experienced winery owners during harvest in good years.

( First acre of Cayuga almost picked clean! )

Picking was so busy in the first couple of hours that full lugs started stacking up and pickers had to wait for the roundtrips to winery for freshly empty lugs to keep working. There was lots of socialization in the vineyards as we all worked, and I consistently heard kind words about Flag Hill, from people’s favorite wines, Vignoles came up a lot, to quality of the food at the restaurant and finally how great the staff is.

( Lots of worker bees, and regular bees too! )

You see, this was the 17^th annual Flag Hill Harvest Festival and this annual tradition draws many loyal Flag Hill fans. They really do get to know the people, the wines and the food of Flag Hill. As we assembled in the morning there were games and music, and after the job was done there was revelry over glasses of Flag Hill wine and plenty of that excellent food to refuel the legion of pickers. I had never participated in the harvest festival before, having fallen way down on the wait list in past years, and while the work was hard the enjoyment of meeting new people and seeing the amount of buzz they represented for a local winery made it well worth it.

Margot and I are pretty sure wine from Flag Hill was the first wine from New Hampshire we ever had, but we can’t remember when and where for sure. We’ve visited the winery several times for tastings, sipped our way through the first annual Live Free & Wine Festival, held at Flag Hill in 2010, and got our first taste of the food at a New Hampshire Winery Association dinner a few years ago. In 2007 when were celebrating our 10^th wedding anniversary we stopped at Flag Hill for a tasting and to pick up some wine to enjoy over our weekend away. I have a couple favorites, including the Marechal Foch and the Flag Hill White, a gently oaked light white wine. Flag Hill has expanded its product line in the years we’ve been getting to know them, which now includes vodka, liquers, port style wines and lots of local fruit wines. During his lunchtime address Frank Reinhold mentioned that the bourbon whiskey is in the barrels and will be released all its own time. I’ve been looking forward to trying this new product for some time!

One of the interesting twists of the Harvest festival I was looking forward to was the release of the celebratory wine made from the 2010 harvest, named Les Pieds Sucre. The wine was made from a blend of Marechal Foch and Niagara. It is a slightly sweet red blend with a pleasant fruity nose from the Niagara grapes, and a healthy share of acidity and structure from the Foch. It was the perfect wine to toast the efforts of the group and to a great harvest for a beloved local winery.

At lunch I met the Lynch & Sell families scoping out Flag Hill, the site of the wedding of their children Sean & Megan next September 8^th. Working the harvest was certainly a great length to go to learn something about the facility, but being able to try the food and wine afterwards clearly left them with a positive impression. I was flying solo this day so the lucky break for me to meet and enjoy lunch with them as they talked about their future plans was a true joy. Sean and Megan reminded me of Margot and I, oddly opposite though, and the big laugh was that Megan is “very specific”. There’s nothing wrong with that, really there isn’t!!! Best wishes to Sean & Meghan on their new life together and to both the Lynch and Sell families as they look forward to many happy years ahead.

( Tom, Donna & Sean Lynch with Megan, Karen and Garry Sell )

After lunch there were more activities including a grape stomp, yes with people’s feet, t-shirt painting and an up-close view of grapes being processed and pumped into the waiting tanks. The grape stomping created lots of laughs and there were plenty of folks who wanted to get purple and red feet painted on the back of their shirts to commemorate another exciting harvest.

( Stomp those grapes! )

As I watched the vineyard and winery staff scurry around tending to all the must being pumped out of the crusher I could only imagine how many more long days they still have ahead to get the harvest completed and the wines well on their way to the finished state. It’s times like these that I appreciate the work that I go through to make my own wines, but feel lucky that I’m just dealing with 6-10 gallons per batch!

This week is Regional Wine Week and I will be publishing articles on wines local to me all week. Tomorrow I will share my visit to Prospect Hill Winery in Lebanon Maine. Later in the week I will share tasting notes on wines from Vermont, Massachusetts and my home state of New Hampshire.

I urge everyone to get out an celebrate the wines of their region this week. You might be surprised to find more than you expected or something new and interesting to try.

Cheers!

Jason

New England Wine Tasting

The Ancient Fire Wine Blog has been nominated for a Foodbuzz Blog Award in the Best Single Topic category. Please vote for us and other great Foodbuzz blogs at http://www.foodbuzz.com/pages/awards. Voting is open until October 17th, 2011.

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