Vermont
Snow Farm Vineyard
Estate Seyval Blanc, 2006
$13.50
Normally, availability and price would have eliminated Snow Farm’s wines from this column, but they are so well crafted that they should not be overlooked, and they are made in South Hero, Vermont. You can buy the wines in Vermont or you can order them from the winery.
This winery is the real deal. It looks the part, and there are no apple, pear or plum alcoholic beverages produced or sold here. They grow only wine grapes suitable to the climate, and they make only serious wine.
Other than the lush green landscape, this attractive vineyard could be in Napa Valley or Sonoma, rather than on the Champlain Islands. Well-managed vines stretch out neatly over acres of trellising, and the modern winery and tasting room blend into the bucolic countryside like a stable on a horse farm. Like many California vineyards, Snow Farm even brings in musicians for weekly evening concerts throughout the summer. And, once inside the doors of the winery, there’s no mistaking the familiar yeasty aroma of winemaking.
Back in 1992, Harrison and Molly Lebowitz thought their farm near Lake Champlain would be a good site for a vineyard. After all, they liked wine, and farms were going down the tubes all over Vermont, so maybe growing wine grapes would be a good alternative to raising cows. Four years later, they had Vermont’s first commercial winery.
“We have a climate that is similar to Burgundy in France, and we produce wines that are similar to the light wines produced in Burgundy — similar to a pinot noir and Chardonnay,” Harrison Lebowitz said.
Harrison Lebowitz, who has a degree in chemistry and one in law and Molly Lebowitz, who graduated in 1983 from Dartmouth College, knew enough about wine to know that they didn’t want to make it themselves. From the vineyard’s inception, they hired Patrick Barrelet as winemaker and vineyard manager. That was a good move.
Barrelet is a Quebec native, who commutes from his home in Bedford, Quebec. He learned his winemaking skills in France, where he got a degree in viticulture at the University of Dijon, studying under one of the top five winemakers in Burgundy. Since joining Snow Farms, he has won double gold, gold, silver and bronze medals for the vineyard’s wines at international competitions.
All of the wines I tasted were excellent, with very complex flavors, crisp and dry. They have some sweeter wines, but I skipped them.
Of the whites, I particularly liked the Estate Seyval Blanc, which has garnered a few medals. The grape is a hybrid that is grown mostly in the Northeast and in England. The wine is partially aged in American oak barrels, which gives it a light wood flavor and a taste that is much like a light, crisp Chardonnay. At $13, it’s a bargain.
We also particularly liked two red wines — the Estate Leon Millot, a very light, but intensely flavorful red that Lebowitz compares to sangria, and the Estate Baco Noir, a medium bodied wine much like a merlot or pinot noir. Both are made from hybrid grapes that like the cold weather. Both are $14.
The best way to try the wines is go to South Hero and visit the winery.
The most convenient way to buy the wines is to ask the proprietor of a Vermont wine store to get it for you. The winery distributes the wines and will wholesale and ship to merchants. Another alternative is just to call the vineyard at (802) 372-9463 or go to snowfarm.com.
Snow Farm wines are worth the effort to find, and the fact that wines of this quality are being made in Vermont is exciting and a bright sign for the future of the fledgling industry in the state.
Shelburne Vineyard
Cayuga White, 2005
$11.99
There are well-crafted wines being produced in both Vermont and New Hampshire, and because of a line of recently developed cold-tolerant grapes, the future looks bright for the states’ fledgling wine industry. In New Hampshire, Flagg Hill has been making wine from grapes for a while, and does a very good job; and there are some other bright spots in both states. Keep an eye out for wines produced by Chris Granstrom at Lincoln Peak Vineyards in New Haven, Vt.
One of the best producers in Vermont is Shelburne Vineyard. Owners Ken Albert and Scott Prom have been growing grapes organically in Shelburne overlooking Lake Champlain since 1998. They released their first wine in 2001, but until recently, there have been ups and downs as they tried to find the right grapes for the growing conditions, Albert said. But now, things seem to be going right. They’ve expanded, have new equipment, a distributor, and they’re winning international gold medals. They opened a new tasting room and a “state-of-the-art” winery in the fall, 2007.
I discovered a bottle of Shelburne Vineyard’s 2005 Cayuga White at the South Royalton Market. I had tried some of the fruit wines produced in both states and wasn’t expecting much. I was really surprised. The wine is delightful, and although it violates the tenets of this column about wine under $10, it’s worth the price. And when you consider the savings in gasoline and the environmental benefit, it’s even a bigger bargain.