I hope that you all enjoy Thanksgiving as much as we do. It is a wonderful time of family, friends, food and,of course, wine. After a token 5 km turkey trot, we all gather in the kitchen for much of the day, cooking, sampling, eating hors d’oeuvres, oogling over the new lives that have joined us since the last family gathering– we have 30-somethings whom we treasure. It is a glorious day that begins with “bloodies” or sparkling, and ends with a feast and bottles of red and white at the table.
For your convenience, here are our expanded Thanksgiving Week Shop Hours:
It is that time of year when we are meant to reflect a bit on gratitude. At Windham Wines, we are grateful always to those who continue to support us. Without your support, we won’t be here. In the age of Amazon Prime, and next to a state that locates massive single-buyer driven liquor and wine outlets on its borders, we need you.
Whites Timorasso– Piedmont: Ezio Poggio, $24, (organic) my new favorite white at the shop 49 acres of Timorasso globally, all in Piedmont Juhfark– Hungary, Meinklang, $22 (biodynamic) 385 acres, all in Hungary Biancu Gentile– Corsica, $34 (organic) 15 acres globally, all on Corisca Jacquere– Savoie: Quenard, $16 2538 acres in France, 7 acres in Portugal […]
We are ending the season of tremendous growth and fresh, healthy fruits and vegetables. Among those fruits are grapes; it is harvest time in the northern hemisphere. It corresponds as well with our two seasons of industry wine shows, where we taste the new vintage wines and new wines that our distributors are bringing into Vermont. At the shop, our portfolio of wines shifts from mostly whites and ross, to about two-thirds reds, the rest whites, ross and sparklings.
As you can see from the images above, spring has finally sprung. Two weeks ago, with a day around 80 and another in the low 70s, the trees got the message and sent out little green buds which last week unfurled. We have reasserted the “green” in the Green Mountain state. And, . . . the hummers are back! Did anyone say rosé? We did. Speaking of weather and rosés, we have our final tasting of the fall-winter-spring 2017-2018 tasting season on June 2nd– rosés.
We have a lot of regions and styles to cover in our wine journey together. As I was considering where to head after the February clubs, I was discouraged by some industry articles that pointed to trends in California that are recurring in other wine regions as well, namely, wineries being purchased by nouveau-wealthy people for whom a vineyard is a hobby-investment and the tension between wine industry interests and environmental concerns in developing wine regions. In a somewhat circuitous route, these led me to pay attention to and want to celebrate some really interesting producers from California’s Central Coast region whose fingernails are dirty from work in the vineyards and who are engaging in environmentally sensitive practices in both the vineyard and the cellar.
Earliest sugaring start, mud season, town meeting day– spring is knocking on the southern door of Vermont. As usual, that means lots of tasting at Windham Wines as we see new vintage whites come dribbling in and the 2017 ross begin arriving. Meanwhile, we are preparing for another 8″ of snow; it is early March after all!
