Apstein, Michael

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Bridgewater ReviewVolume 2 | Issue 3 Article 4Jul-1984Guest Opinion: The Wines of New EnglandMichael ApsteinThis item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.Recommended CitationApstein, Michael (1984). Guest Opinion: The Wines of New England. Bridgewater Review, 2(3), 2.Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol2/iss3/4NEWPORT COUNTY TABLE WINERHODE ISLAND REDGROWN. PRODUCED AND BOTTLED BYSAKONNETVINEYARDS. LITTLE COMPTON RIBONDED WINERY NO.3Chicama Vineyards, on the Vineyard,grows only vini/era u merlot, cabernetsauvignon, and gewurztraminer u on itsthirty-five acres. In addition, the owners,George and Cathy Mathiesen, buy carefullyselected grapes from California to producea Zinfandel, Chenin Blanc and RubyCabernet. In size, Chicama is whatCalifornians call a "boutique" operation,producing about 6,000 cases a year. TheMathiesens have started making theregion's first sparkling wine, called Sea Mist,using both the traditional champagnemethod, and the traditional grapes ofChampagne, the chardonnay and pinotnoir.wonderful lesson in grape growing and winemaking. Jim and Lolly Mitchell have forty-five acres of neatly pruned vines of allvarieties. Since the different varietiesmature at slightly different times, you cansee the vines and grapes in various stages ofdevelopment. With their own acreage andanother fifteen acres which they manage,the Mitchells need not rely on out-of-stategrapes; hence their wines carry a vintagedate and some say "estate bottled,"signifying that they come exclusively fromSakonnet's own grapes. From an initialoutput of 4,000 cases in 1975, theirfirst year,Sakonnet's production has grown to 10,000cases last year. Half the vineyards arecurrently planted with vini/era and half withhybrids. Like Commonwealth, Sakonnetuses the hybrids to make both varietal andgeneric wines. These are distinguished bythe fact that varietals carry the names of thegrapes from which they are produced, suchas Vidal Blanc, while the generics, which aremade from a combination of several grapeshave imaginative names like "Spinnaker"and "America's Cup White."The public is encouraged to visit thesewineries for a tour and tasting. Since theyare all small operations, an advance phonecall to check on visiting hours is advisable.-A visit to the Sakonnet vineyards in LittleCompton, Rhode Island, provides aCommonwealth owns no vineyards itself,relying instead on grapes purchased fromvineyards in New Hampshire, New Yorkand Masachusetts. David Tower, who ownsCommonwealth, oversees the grapegrowing at many of these vineyards.Commonwealth's production is split 50-50 between the vini/era and hybrids. Of thelatter, Tower says, ''I'm not trying to make a$30-a-bottle wine u these are perfectlydelightful varieties for the mid-priced ($5-$7a bottle) range." However, Common-wealth's best wines are the vini/eras, theChardonnay and Reisling. Tower's "1983bottling" Quail Hill Vineyard AmericanChardonnay won a gold medal at the FirstAmerican Wine Competition held at theCulinary Institute of America in New York.Of the nineteen Chardonnays which wonmedals, sixteen were California; Tower'swas the only one from the East. This yearthere is not enough Quail Hill VineyardChardonnay to be bottled separately, so itwill be combined with Chardonnay from aMassachusetts vineyard, Stone Gate, andlabeled with both names: Stone Gate-QuailHill Vineyard American Chardonnay.Even though Commonwealth's wines aremade from grapes grown and harvested in asingle year, their labels cannot legallyinclude a vintage year. A wine label whichcarries a vintage year is generally anindication of quality; thus a wine labelled"1982 Bordeaux" will probably be superiorto one simply labeled "Bordeaux."However, a U.S. wine labelling law requiresthat eighty-five percent of the grapes in avintage-dated wine come from the state inwhich the wine was made. Since a largeportion of Commonwealth's grapes ar~grown in New York, its labels can bear thenotation "bottled in 1983" but not simply"1983."Quail Hill Vineyards ...AmericanChardonnayDry White Wine'"lWJ1TlE) IN 1983Produced & bottled byCOMMONWEALTH WINERYPlymouth, MassachusettS ALe. 1l,.8YVOL.;,~ ....~COMMONWEALTH~WINERYDA V I 0 Tow t". win~ma~~rMartha's Vineyard is known forsecluded beaches, quaint towns andsummer vacations. Despite its name, fewconnect it with wine, unless, of course, youare lucky enough to be familiar with HeitzCellars' sought-after Martha's VineyardCalifornia Cabernet. In fact, there is avineyard on the Vineyard as well as nineothers here in New England: three each inMassachusetts, Rhode Island andConnecticut, and one in New Hampshire_ Itshould come as no surprise that grapes forwine are grown in these parts, since upstateNew York was the first major wine-makingarea in the U_S. In fact, the U.S. Bureau ofAlcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is soonplanning to designate southeastern NewEngland as an official wine-growing region.Most New England wineries use bothtraditional European grapes (vitis vine/era)such as chardonnay, reisling and cabernetsauvignon, and what are known here asFrench hybrids. These are grape varietiesdeveloped about one hundred years ago inFrance (where they are still used but called"American" hybrids) as a way to combat thevine-destroying root louse, phylloxera.These newer breeds of 'vines combine theelegance of the traditional vini/era with theheartiness of the American roots and at thesame time eliminate the undesirable strong,grapy or "foxy" quality inherent in nativeAmerican grapes.These new hybrids were originally givennames like Seibel 5279 or Seyve-Villard5276, perhaps a botanist's dream, butcertainly not designed to lure the averageconsumer. So the names were changed tothe more marketable Seyval Blanc or VidalBlanc.The New England wineries are all smalloperations. Commonwealth Winery inPlymouth, Mass., for example, produced12,000 cases last year. In comparison,Chateau Lafitte Rothschild produces 25,000cases a year, and many of the Californiawine makers produce as many as 500,000.2

Guest Opinion: The Wines of New England

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Guest Opinion: The Wines of New England

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