Miranda Vineyard held their annual barrel tasting yesterday at the vineyard. A barrel tasting gives us a chance to sample the wine in its final stages before it is bottled.
They held the tasting in three sittings which provided great opportunities to see the operation and ask questions. The tasting included music, a tour of the cellar, food, wine, and plenty of formal and informal Q&A. We sampled their new Cayuga white and the Merlot.
Manny pouring the Cauyga whiteManny serving the Cauyga whitePeople tasting (the third shift)Maria with vines ready for planting (any volunteers?)
Miranda has some excellent wines. My particular favorites are the Woodridge Red and the Goshen Farmhouse Red. The liquid gold is their Vinho Fino which is a divine white port-like wine. (It really is a port, but we’re in America not Portugal so they’re not allowed to call it a port. Sigh.)
P.S. The Connecticut Wine Trail 2011 Passport season is underway and Sophie and Cecelia are back on the trail with a vengeance! Visit 16 of the 31 wineries.
Friday, June 18, 2010, 4-7 PM Ice Cream Social at New Morning Natural Foods store
to benefit Safe Haven Shelter and services for victims of domestic violence located in Waterbury and Southbury. Rain or shine.
Saturday, June 19, 2010, 2-3 PM Sherri Brooks Vinton, author of Put ‘Em Up, at Sport Hill Farm
Demo on preserving food and book signing.
Register through Sport Hill’s Web site.
Sunday, June 20, 2010 1-4 PM McLaughlin Vineyards Reggae under the tent
Bring a picnic or order a boxed lunch. Sangria will be available while supplies last. Reservations recommended.
Tickets $15 advance/$18 door. Includes a wine tasting or glass of wine.
Since Hopkins was having a barrel tasting on this day, we began there.
A barrel tasting is an opportunity to taste wine before it has been bottled. A wine can either improve or degrade after bottling (hence the expression bottleshock). Some vineyards allow people to purchase futures at a discount—in essence, placing a bet on how the wine will turn out.
Hopkins had a lovely spread of cheeses, fresh fruits, and pate’s. Artisan Foods was on hand for wine and local cheese pairings. This was my first barrel tasting and I was expecting something different. I was expecting to see barrels. Their barrel wines were in decanters! The barrel samples offered were their Chardonnay and their Cabernet Franc.
I really liked the barrel Cab Franc. It tasted less finished—almost raw, but also less tart than the bottled version. In the interest of full disclosure, Cab Franc is one of my favorites. Not all areas in CT can successfully grow this grape due to our micro-climates. The industry was mostly using Cab Franc for blending with Cabernet Sauvingnons and Merlots but it has been slowly coming into its own. Cab Franc goes particularly well with lamb and (happily) Cato Corner’s Womanchego cheese.
Taking the long way around the block home, we hit White Silo Winery. While I’m not a big fan of fruit wines, but if you are, White Silo is impressive. Their sweet raspberry was smooth and not a diabetic-coma-kind-of-sweet. The dry Rhubarb was surprisingly pleasant. I was not fond of either the dry or sweet blackberry, but it could just be me.
I maintain that Sunset has one of the best St. Croix wines in CT. St. Croix grapes are typically used for Roses, blending, and jellies. This tiny grape is particularly suited to our region and Sunset has perfected it in their wine. The color is somewhere between ruby and garnet. The taste has a hint of plum with a mild peppery finish. Their New Dawn and Twisted Red are good dry red wines, with nice berry bouquets. New Dawn is darker and more fruity than the Twisted Red.
I finally got my opportunity to taste the Vinho Fino, a Portugese dessert wine. OMG! It’s a white port, golden in color and is absolutely Finho! I’m still a big fan of their Woodridge Red, a Cab Franc blend.
Maria Miranda and Mary Beth
This was an exceptionally pleasant tasting, with different groups of customers in jovial conversation as if they’d known each other for years. Between the good wine and exceptional humor from the staff, this is a place where total strangers can have a great time.
Miranda is hosting a Connecticut Wine Dinner, with a fabulous menu catered by Litchfield Saltwater Grille on Friday, June 25 at 7 PM. It’s $75 for a five-course dinner and includes the wine pairings. Call for reservations: 860-567-4900 (The Litchfield Saltwater Grille) or 860-491-9906 (Miranda Vineyards)
These Goshen wineries have some fantastically fun people. It must be the water (or the wine).
This week’s forage technically began on Friday evening on the ride home from work. Sport Hill Farm was still open so I picked up:
arugula
spinach
a lovely potted lavender plant
The new barn at Sport Hill is really coming along. It is beautiful. Sorry, no photo since this was an impromptu visit! Next time.
Cecelia is up for a weekend of wine trailing for the 2010 Passport contest, so we planned on an abbreviated Saturday forage.
Serendipitous score: at the Newtown Deli, there’s a (newish) fresh meat market called Butcher’s Best Market. Their lamb and pork are from local farms. I scored
