Category: Activities

March 25th and 26th is Maple Open House weekend all around Vermont. The Vermont Sugar Makers Association coordinates this event, and you can see the list of the open sugar houses here. Our events page is filling with special maple-themed events that will be taking place. Leading up to the weekend, we’re posting some informational articles about maple syrup in Vermont. . . first up, the changes in maple grading – in a post originally published by Dakin Farm.

On January 22nd, 2014 Vermont led the world in adopting a new set of international maple syrup grading standards that the International Maple Syrup Institute, together with the Vermont maple industry had worked on for over 10 years. Other states in the maple producing region of the United States, The USDA and Canada are expected to follow in the near future. While the maple syrup in Vermont will be made to the same exacting standards maintained by generations of Vermont sugar makers, the new maple grading system will assist consumers in choosing their preferred grade of maple syrup based on a color and flavor descriptor.

For many years, Vermont’s four grades of maple syrup had differed from other regions. The states of Maine, New York and Vermont had their own grade names, these differed from USDA standards and other states as well as Canadian grades. This created a great deal of confusion within the marketplace. Now, our new grades will be aligned with all other states and provinces, so that we all use the same grade names. To maintain our premiere position, all syrup made in Vermont will have the word “Vermont” incorporated in the grade name and all syrup made in Vermont is required to be made thicker than the international standard in order to have a better “mouth feel” and flavor. Our new grades expand the range of maple syrup available, yet rest assured it’s the same great, high-quality product you have come to expect from generations of Vermonters. We hope that you will explore all of the grades to find new uses for this all natural, nutritious sweetener and gift from nature, Pure Vermont Maple Syrup.

To find your flavor of choice, we’ve outlined how the old grades will compare to the new.

All of the new Vermont grades for consumer use are called Grade A Pure Vermont Maple Syrup. Once the syrup has been determined to meet Grade A standards, a color and flavor descriptor are applied to help consumers decide which grade they prefer for their particular use.

•         Golden Color/Delicate Flavor will be the same color and flavor as Vermont Fancy. It will be light and golden in color with a mild, delicate taste. Golden Color/Delicate Flavor is excellent as a table syrup, in teas or as a topping for ice cream or yogurt.
•         Amber Color/Rich Flavor will compare well to Grade A Medium Amber but may be slightly darker in color. Still, it is a lighter amber color with a full-bodied flavor and is a good choice for consumers who prefer the classic maple syrup flavor.
•        Dark Color/Robust Flavor will compare well to Grade B and is a dark amber color with a more pronounced maple flavor. Dark Color/Robust Flavor is ideal for consumers who prefer stronger maple syrup flavors. Great for use in recipes, the special flavor of pure maple carries through to your favorite dishes.
•         Dark Color/Strong Flavor will be even stronger and darker than Grade B. Almost black in color, this syrup has a very strong flavor that also works well when used in recipes. Dark Color/Strong Flavor will be in limited supply due to the fact that it is made at the very end of the maple season, if conditions are favorable. This syrup can only be labeled as Grade A syrup if its strong flavor remains pure and if there are no “off flavors” which can develop in Very Dark, end of season maple syrup.

 

Source: Dig in VT Trails

The all-natural, subtle sweetness of maple is a welcome ingredient in most baked goods, just ask Instructor Robyn Sargent of the Baking Education Center at King Arthur Flour. The Baking Education Center offers an array of classes aimed at helping the home chef bake like the pros and their recent Maple Madness class taught budding bakers how to celebrate one of Vermont’s most prized resources! Robyn generously shares her dos and don’ts for substituting maple for other sweeteners, and one of the delicious recipes featured in the class–a Maple Walnut Tart with maple syrup in both the crust, and the filling!  

How does Robyn use maple in her recipes?

“You can sub maple for any liquid sweetener, be it corn syrup, honey or molasses but it’s more challenging to replace regular sugar with maple and not throw off your liquid/dry ingredient ratio. However, for bread and cookie making, feel free to use up to two tablespoons of maple syrup and just increase your flour by a bit to accommodate the increased liquid. Be sure to use darker syrup to not lose the subtle flavor of the maple—now called Grade A, Dark/Robust Flavor.“

Here is King Arthur Flour’s Maple Walnut Tart recipe, and check out the Baking Education Center schedule for a great lineup of baking classes.   

Source: Dig in VT Trails

This article was originally published by our friends at the Vermont Arts Council.

In the Green Mountain State, sweet signs of spring include maple forests awakening and a plethora of outdoor art awaiting visitors.

With more than 3,000 sugarmakers in residence, Vermont is the top maple syrup producer in the United States, generating over one million gallons annually. This year, pair visits to the state’s famed maple sugarhouses with outdoor arts exploration. From Maple Open House Weekend, March 25-26, to the Vermont Maple Festival, April 22-24, the opportunities for exploring Vermont Arts and savoring the season are as ample as maple is sweet.

The state’s arts stats are equally as impressive as its maple mastery. Vermont ranks third in the nation for artists as a percentage of the workforce, second for writers, and eighth for musicians and photographers.

Enjoy the outdoors this spring by feasting on both the artistic and the agricultural bounty of Vermont. You may even feel inspired to practice your own art skills by drawing, painting, or photographing Vermont’s maple and country scenes. Share using the hashtags #VTarts and #VTmaple; we’ll repost some of our favorites!

Highlights, north to south include: 

St. Albans

St. Albans is well-known for hosting the Vermont Maple Festival, which takes place annually in April. Locals know that there’s an artistic ode to sugaring in town: a 6’ by 16’ mural titled “Sugaring Off” by Phillip Von Saltza can be found in the town’s Federal Building. Visitors can also enjoy “Haying,” another onsite mural by the same artist. Both were New Deal paintings commissioned in 1939.

Beginning in spring 2017, visitors to Saint Albans will be able to watch art in action by way of multiple murals springing up on downtown businesses and in public parks across the city. Visit www.stalbanscommunityarts.com for updates.

Nearby sugarhouses:

Branon Family Maple Orchards, in Fairfield and Bakersfield, are seventh generation maple producers. Nowadays, they’re utilizing 18 solar panels across the sugarbush, or as they say, “tapping the sun.” Nearby and open for Vermont Maple Open House Weekend are Bouchard Family Dairy in Franklin and Leahy’s Maple Farm in St. Albans. 

Jeffersonville & Enosburg

Jeffersonville has two new public art gems, which also hold the title of the largest painted murals in the state. Front and center at a busy roundabout in town, you’ll see the North & South Silos, murals painted by Artist Sarah Rutherford. The North Silo represents the summer and autumn seasons, with an elder male farmer depicting the current or past generation. He looks towards the child on the South Silo, a representation of the future generation on a backdrop of winter and spring. Both feature state symbols such as the hermit thrush and red clover. 

Also nearby and worth coming back to visit when it’s open in summer, Cold Hollow Sculpture Park in Enosburg Falls, features 50 massive and masterful sculptures by David Stromeyer amid old farm meadows and hay fields. 

Nearby sugarhouses and maple shops:

At Snowshoe Pond Maple Sugarworks in Enosburg Falls, Barbara and George Salg have been producing maple products for generations. In Jeffersonville, at Marsh Family Sugarworks, Diane and Ryan Marsh manage over 10,000 taps. Both will be open to visitors during Vermont Maple Open House. Sweets shoppers will delight in a visit to the Vermont Maple Outlet on Route 15 in Jeffersonville.

At Boyden Valley Winery & Spirits in Cambridge, Maple Open House activities include free sugar on snow. See their sugarhouse in full swing and sample syrup inside. Maple butter yeast donuts will be available for purchase – but not for long! Inside the winery, enjoy maple cocktails, tours and tastings of maple wine and maple cream liqueur.

Burlington

Public arts abounds in Vermont’s Queen City, hundreds of acres of sugaring are just a short drive away.

Along the waterfront, one new mural the city is proud to tout is the Andy A-Dog Williams Skatepark & mural celebrating his life, made by his long-time girlfriend and tattoo artist Jozie Furchgott Sourdiffe.

The Church Street Marketplace has multiple sculptures and murals to enjoy along its pedestrian-only street. A highlight is the “Everyone Loves a Parade!” mural by renowned Canadian muralist Pierre Hardy, widely known for his inventive and detailed large-scale pieces. Grand Master Samuel de Champlain leads the charge as the scene depicts an evolution in time along Church Street. Notable and everyday Burlingtonians, downtown businesses, and iconic images of the past 400 years can be distinguished in the elaborate illustration. 

Nearby sugarhouses:

Those willing to drive just 15 minutes from Church Street can meet sugarmaker Fred Bell at Backyard Boilers in Colchester. Hours are limited to a small window of the year, but during open house, visitors can watch traditional methods of sugaring on a “gentleman’s farm” with chickens, geese, and ducks. Maple syrup, maple candies, and maple butter will be for sale.

At Shelburne Farms’ 15-acre sugarbush, sap is collected using modern plastic tubing and about 50 metal buckets, the latter of which are primarily educational. In 2016, they produced 600 gallons of pure maple syrup, which is sold at the Welcome Center and Farm Store. Proceeds are reinvested into farm-based education programs for students, families, and educators.

Montpelier

Visitors to the State capital can stop at the Vermont Arts Council on State Street. Open to the public, tourists and locals alike can explore the Council’s year-round outdoor sculpture garden. A public/private collaboration, the sculpture garden features rotating two-year exhibits of contemporary sculpture by Vermont artists. Designed in 2002 by Burlington landscape architects H. Keith Wagner and Associates, it offers a place to picnic or engage in quiet reflection in Montpelier’s downtown. 

Onsite, you’ll also learn about the Vermont Arts Council’s mission to “advance and preserve the arts at the center of Vermont communities,” and its vision to build “a Vermont where everyone has access to the arts and creativity in their life, education and community.”

A quick walk around downtown Montpelier with reveal several new arts initiatives, like the murals and art installations along the walls of businesses, bridges, and sidewalks of Langdon Street. 

A nearby sugarhouse you’ll want to visit is Morse Farm Sugarworks and Nordic ski area – a 200-year-old family sugaring operation led by the inimitable Burr Morse. Open and serving maple creemees year round, Morse Farm offers free sugar house tours and tastings, a country store, multimedia displays in a real woodshed theater, nature trails, and an outdoor farm life museum. Sprinkled throughout the grounds are whimsical wooden folklife characters carved by Burr himself.

Rutland

Rutland’s extensive arts scene features public art and outdoor exhibits. In West Rutland, The Carving Studio and Sculpture Center has a contemporary sculpture garden situated at an historic marble quarry, where you’ll often see artists in residence and workshops in action. Just down the road, explore the West Rutland Art Park’s outdoor sculptures. In downtown Rutland, start your arts immersion at Castleton’s Downtown Gallery and continue to several public murals that delight unexpecting travelers.

Nearby sugarhouses and maple festivals:

At Green’s Sugarhouse, nestled in Finel Hollow in Poultney, the tradition of maple sugaring has been passed down through six generations. Though open year round for tastings and guided tours, Pam Green recommends calling ahead at 802-287-5745. The whole sugaring process – from their 5,000 trees to the jug on your table – can be seen during Open House Weekend. 

At the Poultney Maplefest Craft Fair on March 25, Vermont artisans offer handmade crafts and locally-produced art, including painted sap buckets, yarn, knitted items, jewelry, greeting cards, sachets, photographs, art glass, wood and tin products.

Manchester

Home to the largest sculpture garden in the state, the Southern Vermont Arts Center offers outdoor art plus an historic mansion and art gallery. SVAC’s stunning sculpture park and gardens provide a mix of culture and contemplation for art lovers and outdoor enthusiasts alike. With commanding views of the Green and Taconic Mountains in all directions, the park offers more than 120 acres of forest-land and trails, a perfect spot for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, picnicking and dog walking. 

Nearby sugarhouses and maple shops:

Dutton Berry Farm has three well-known farm stands across Southern Vermont where you can purchase maple syrup and other specialty products. Visitors will love seeing the sugarhouse in operation at the Manchester location, where each year, they put out more than 3,000 taps. The farm is open seven days a week.

Wild Farm Maple is an old hill farm on the lower slopes of Mount Equinox, chopped out of the wilderness at the end of the 18th century. The Clay family arrived to restore the property in the 1960s and began producing maple in 1972. They welcome visitors during Vermont Maple Open House weekend.

If Vermont’s sweet season and arts have piqued your interest, visit Vermontmaple.org and VermontArtsCouncil.org.

 

 

 

 

Source: Dig in VT Trails

VFN Executive Chefs Doug Paine of Bleu Northeast Seafood and Juniper Bar & Restaurant, Phillip Clayton of The Farmhouse Group, and Eric Warnstedt of Hen of the Wood are teaming up to benefit a cause near and dear to our hearts, Jr Iron Chef.

The Jr Iron Chef competition gives middle and high schoolers from across the state the opportunity to try their hand at the culinary arts. Teams practice for months; sharpening their knife skills, mastering the mother sauces and working together to create a signature recipe that they bring to the competition. Check out the South Burlington team cooking up some homemade ramen on the news here. 

The benefit dinner, coming up on March 12th at Bleu Northeast Seafood, will bring the three DigIn VT chefs together to create a paired feast with a raw bar to start and Sweet Simone’s providing dessert. The dinner celebrates the 10th birthday of Vermont Jr Iron Chef and all proceeds benefit the important event. Check out the menu and buy tickets here.

It made us wonder, how did VFN professional chefs get their start? So we asked the three collaborating chefs – what was your first or most important food memory? The taste that shaped your future? 

Doug Paine, Bleu Northeast Seafood and Juniper Bar & Restaurant at Hotel Vermont 

“My grandmother used to live in this really old farmhouse in Saxton’s River. A lot of my early food memories come from this house. I remember there being an old style pantry in the unheated part of the house. I could always find something good in there. One of my favorite things she used to make stuffed quahogs (they moved to Vermont from Fall River, MA when my mom was a kid). They were always delicious but the thing that still sticks with me is we used to throw the shells in the driveway so they would get all smashed up cover like gravel. My grandmother would joke about how in a hundred years from now people would find the shells and wonder how they got there so far from the coast.” 

Phillip Clayton, Farmhouse Group

“One of my favorite food memories from my childhood is the tomato sandwiches that my mom would make with her homegrown tomatoes. My grandfather passed down a love of growing tomatoes to her, and eventually to me. She would toast white bread and spread Duke’s mayonnaise on both slices. Then she’d layer it with sliced tomatoes and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. I would eat dozens every summer because they were one of the most simple and perfect foods I’ve ever had.” 

Eric Warnstedt, Hen of the Wood 

“I remember my grandmother feeding me escargot. I wasn’t an adventurous eater but I always loved seafood. They came in a can attached to a plastic tube of shells. You could stuff them back in the shells with garlic, butter, parsley etc. They were glorious and I always order snails whenever I see them.”

Source: Dig in VT Trails

In spite of the temperature swing back to wintertime after a few weeks of spring, it’s still the moment to start thinking about gardening. Our calendar is filling with gardening classes and workshops, and the Vermont Flower Show is this weekend. Vermont farmers will be planting seeds indoors not just for their own crops, but to sell as starts in the first Farmers’ Markets of spring. Some of us got into the spirit of gardening for 2017 a few weeks ago in the homesteader track of the NOFA-VT conference. Charlie Nardozzi is an author, speaker, commentator and workshop leader who has been educating us about gardening for years – and to encourage garden dreaming we’re bringing you excerpts from his most recent newsletter. You can read the full newsletter and see where Charlie is speaking next at his website: http://gardeningwithcharlie.com/

Climatologists have been predicting wild swings in the weather with global warming, but the last week or so here has been downright amazing. From blizzard conditions to 70F and flooding, back to freezing temperatures. Not only am I confused, my plants probably are too. Luckily, it didn’t stay warm for long so the return to colder weather shouldn’t cause too much damage.

With all this exciting weather, it’s hard to stay focused on what needs to be done in the garden. In many locations vegetable seed starting indoors is happening now. Vegetables need to be started at the right time for the type of vegetable and your location. The first step is to figure out your last frost date. Then work backwards. Quick growing seeds such as lettuce, Swiss chard and arugula can be started 4 weeks before the last frost date and transplanted a week or so before that date into the ground. Other cool season crops, such as cabbage and broccoli, need 6 to 8 weeks of indoor growing. Warm season crops need more time as well. Tomatoes and basil need 4 to 6 weeks while peppers and eggplant 6 to 8 weeks. Watch my video from when I was with the National Gardening Association for tips on vegetable seed starting. . . .

One crop you’ll be starting indoors soon is peppers. There is a trend in pepper breeding towards smaller sized fruits and plants. The latest group that I’ve noticed getting petite are sweet peppers. These baby bells and baby frying peppers are only 3 to 4 inches long. But plant breeders wouldn’t be going to all this work if the public wasn’t wanting it. The advantage of the smaller peppers is you get more fruits, ripening to their mature color sooner. Plus, breeders haven’t forgotten about flavor, so these smaller varieties are just as sweet as the full size ones. These smaller varieties have smaller plants as well so are perfect for containers and small raised beds.

If you want to foray into the land of baby peppers, try the ‘Baby Belle’ Mix. This variety features 3-inch long bell peppers in red and yellow. The seed in the packet is color coded so you can plant as many red or yellow plants as you like. These sweet babies are great raw right off the plant, grilled or sauteed. ‘Pizza My Heart’ is a Christmas tree shaped 2-foot tall plant with red cone-shaped fruits. It’s perfect for container growing. Of course, the small fruit revolution is not restricted to bell peppers. ‘Yummy Bells’ is an Italian frying pepper that turns orange at maturity but only grows 4 inches long. The ‘Orange’, ‘Red’ or ‘Yellow’ Picnic peppers are also short and sweet. You can buy these varieties in a mix in one packet as the Picnic Pepper Collection. Learn more about growing peppers here. . .

A favorite, low maintenance perennial and annual flower that’s an early bloomer in our garden is Centurea. This spring blooming flower goes by many names such as cornflower, mountain bluette, and bachelors buttons. Whatever you call it, it’s a familiar friend in the garden. This 2 to 3 foot tall perennial produces spider-like flowers that repeat bloom. The traditional color for cornflowers is blue, but there are now many color variations. ‘Amethyst in Snow’ is one of my favorites. It has white, tube-shaped flower petals radiating out from a deep purple center. The plant is more compact than other perennial cornflowers. ‘Amethyst Dreams’ has solid purple colored flowers. You can also buy wildflower cornflowers that are annuals, but will self sow. These mixes have blue, white and red colored cornflowers blended together.

Plant your perennial cornflowers in spring in full sun pairing them with other spring bloomers such as nepeta, geranium and iris. I like to plant them in groups so they support each other and don’t flop over after a storm. The flowers are a bee and butterfly magnets so they make nice pollinator garden flowers as well. After flowering is finished, cut back the plant by 2/3rds and it will regrow and flower again in late summer. Like the annual types of cornflowers, the perennials also self sow readily, so be ready to be thinning and moving seedlings each spring. For more details on growing cornflowers, go here.

Want flowers sooner? Check out this information on forcing flowering branches. Or, even sooner, there is the Vermont Flower Show, March 3rd – 5th – a great way to get a dose of the sights and smells of spring.

Some other ideas on what you can do right now for a gardening fix from the Vermont Garden Journal: 6 Tips for Starting a Windowsill Herb Garden; Giving Your Produce Scraps a Second Life; Design Tips from an English Cottage Garden; Planning Your Shade Garden

Ready to get gardening? Read more from Charlie at http://gardeningwithcharlie.com/

 

Source: Dig in VT Trails

This Friday kicks off Cider Week in Vermont – and there is a lot happening in cider here. There are the events around Cider Week, of course, and you can find them on our site or at the Vermont Cider Week homepage. But local hard cider is (delightfully) available year round and we have cider makers and apple growers working hard to keep it that way. Check out these stories on cool stuff in Vermont Cider and get excited for the tastings and other events that kick off February 24th.

• The Lost Apple Project from Shacksbury Cider – This project began a few years ago, finding “escaped” apple trees that are hold overs or volunteers from earlier orchards and cultivating the best cider apples in partnership with Sunrise Orchards and Windfall Orchards.

• Elsewhere – A collaboration between Citizen Cider and Shelburne Museum that brings back historic apples. 

• Hard Cider & Addison County Orchards – A series of stories profiling the impact of Vermont’s hard cider boom on local orchards, from the Addison County Independent.

• Vermont’s Johnny Appleseed – A modern cider apple tree first discovered, and cultivated, in Vermont, from the St. Alban’s Messenger.

• Vermonters Sow Seeds for the Napa Valley of Hard Cider – From Seven Days.

 

Source: Dig in VT Trails

Celebrate Vermont Cider! During Vermont Cider Week, February 24th – March 5th, Vermonters and visitors can find tastings, pairing dinners and cider festivities happening throughout the state. Check out the following events and visit Vermont Cider Week’s website for more information about events.

2/24   Specialty Tasting and Music @ Nectar’s Restaurant (Burlington)

            Cider Demo @ City Market (Burlington)

2/25   Ice Skating with Stowe Cider @ the Spruce Peak Pavilion (Stowe)

            Cider Samples and Bottles @ King Arthur Flour (Norwich)

            Stowe Cider Presents “The Talking Dreads” @ the Rusty Nail (Stowe)

2/26   Celebrate Cider @ Burke Mountain

2/28   Cider Week Supper Club @Citizen Cider (Burlington)

3/1   Toast with the Cider Makers @ Farmhouse Tap & Grill (Burlington)

3/2   Sip the Cellar @ Citizen Cider (Burlington)

3/3   Art, Tunes & Tacos @ Stowe Cider Tasting Room (Stowe)

3/4   Cider Tastings @ Mount Snow

          Cider Tap Takeover @ Bar 802 (Stratton)

 

Featured Vermont craft cider makers include:

Boyden Valley Winery & Spirits, Boyer;s Hard Ciders & Wines, Champlain Orchards Cidery, Citizen Cider, Eden Vermont Ice Cider, Fable Farm Cider, Flag Hill Farm, Forbidden Orchards, Hall Home Place, Harpoon, Newhall Farm Ice Cider, Farnum Hill Ciders, Shacksbury, Stowe Cider, Woodchuck Hard Cider, Whetstone Ciderworks, Windfall Orchard, and Vermont Cider Company

 

Source: Dig in VT Trails

The Vermont Wine & Chocolate Weekend is back for its 6th year – happening February 11th & 12th throughout Vermont. Here we’re republishing a blog post from its 3rd year. You can check out this year’s line up from DigInVT partner the Wine & Grape Council on their event page.

What do you expect from your weekend? Sparkling cranberry mead with chocolate toffee cupcakes? Ice cider with chocolate covered cider caramels? How about a Rose Red Wine whoopie pie? The Vermont Grape and Wine Council thinks you should have all this and more – they’re bringing back their popular Wine and Chocolate Weekend this weekend!

During the Wine and Chocolate Weekend, 15 wineries will invite visitors to come sample wines and chocolate pairings developed with help from local sweets makers (cupcakes, whoopie pies, wine jellies, and caramels are some of the items joining the chocolates). Samples are free; wines and sweets will also be available to purchase for Valentine’s Day gifts or just a treat.

Sara Granstrom, of Lincoln Peak Vineyard, first got the idea for this weekend from colleagues in Pennsylvania, who organized a similar event along their regional wine trail. “It’s fun to have a wintertime event,” she says, “And also a chance to work with local chocolate makers and local businesses.”

Lincoln Peak is working with three local chocolatiers from across Addison County to develop their pairings: Middlebury Chocolates, Daily Chocolate, and Farmhouse Truffles. Sara is particularly excited about the twists on traditional flavor pairings that are appearing this weekend. With Farmhouse Truffles, for example, she discovered that a dark chocolate grapefruit truffle pairs well with their Late Harvest white wine – she’d never expected to pair dark chocolate and white wine, but the citrus zing of the grapefruit reflects the citrus notes in the wine, making it a perfect match.

Other creative takes on the Wine and Chocolate theme this weekend include: Rhapsody Ice Wine from Shelburne Vineyard paired with Middlebury Chocolate’s spicy, habanero-laced Chupacabra dark chocolate; chocolates made using local wine such as ice cider truffles from Champlain Orchards and Eden Ice Cider or cassis-filled chocolates from Neshobe River Winery; the debut of a new chocolatier, Cacao Matteo, at Boyden Valley Winery; an entire Latin-themed weekend, with dance party, at Fresh Tracks Winery. New twists aside, there’s also the basic rule that whenever you get chocolate and wine in a room together, it is a good thing. And that good thing will be happening all across the state.

Sara says that attendance has been great in the last two years and people are beginning to plan ahead for their annual Vermont wine and chocolate tours. As a self described choco-holic, she’s looking forward to many years of this sweet combination.

A full list of participating wineries and what they will be sampling is available on the Vermont Grape and Wine Council’s website. The wineries will be open from noon until 5:00 pm, and all tastings are free. Can’t make it this weekend? Check out the place profiles linked from this post or browse the Wineries & Distilleries section of our Places page.  Want to see these places on a map?  Check out the Wine & Chocolate Weekend Trail.

 

Source: Dig in VT Trails

Winemaker Ethan Joseph will celebrate his tenth year with Shelburne Vineyard in 2017 – he has been working with the winery since his days at UVM. Winemaking wasn’t specifically his passion back then, but a love of growing and fermentation led Ethan to his livelihood and continue to fuel his creativity on the vineyard and in the tank room. Ethan’s growth as a winemaker and wine lover has been mostly self-taught – reading, tasting and experimenting to perfect his craft. Lately, he’s been learning and working on making wines in a ‘natural’ style, releasing two Wild Wines to the public – Wild Louise and Untamed Marquette.

What is a ‘natural’ wine? The blanket term describes wines made with minimal intervention in both the vineyard and the tank room. The goal with a natural wine is for it to make itself so it can be the truest expression of terroir (taste of place).  There is nothing new about ‘natural’ winemaking – the tradition is old, even ancient. However, this style of wine is making a comeback and you can now find entire wine lists and wine shops dedicated to the movement.

Making a spontaneous fermentation using yeast found naturally on the grapes without adding a commercial strain is a risk — if something goes wrong, you are wasting a limited and precious resource. That’s why Ethan’s launch into the wild wines has been careful and thoughtful. To start his fermentation for the wild wines, Ethan handpicks the most perfect and ripe fruit from vineyard – free of bruises and blemishes. He gathers blossoms and even wild grapes growing in the vineyard to diversify the yeast he’s adding to the mix. “Each yeast assists the fermentation in different stages,” Ethan explained. The starter fermentations are made in small batches so he can watch them and choose his cleanest, most successful variation to start the fermentation of the larger batch of wine that is eventually bottled and released.

“There’s a big risk to making these wines, but the reward can be worth it,” Ethan explained. The reward he’s looking for is that enhanced expression of terroir. “These wines are essentially made in the field, you bring them in and let them showcase your location.” You can try these wild wines right next to the traditionally made wines of the same grapes in the tasting room at Shelburne Vineyard. Later this year, alongside the 2016 Wild Louise and Untamed Marquette we can look forward to trying a natural sparkling wine, rosè, and skin-on fermented white wine (like an orange wine).

Source: Dig in VT Trails