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Christmas is Coming
There is a story behind this event.
Last year, Jennifer saw one of Brenda McCutheon's origami "stars" at her booth at the Westfield Farmer's Market. After some discussion of the possibilities, she commissioned Brenda to make ornaments for the winery Christmas tree using cream cardstock and the winery's old labels. The new ornaments make the live Christmas tree (grown and supplied by the Knapp family who live nearby) a deserved focal point in the tasting room for the month of December and a source of pride and delight as we upgraded the winery's made-in-China "ornaments" for something much more meaningful. Yes, we've asked Brenda to make extra ornaments which we will be selling in the winery so that you may have one too!
So this year, we'd like to celebrate properly. With a tree lighting. And the other activities that make our Christmas holidays special:
- Christmas hors d'oeuvres and wine pairings - not enough for dinner, but a nice pre-dinner start!
- Thoughtful and customized gift sets and baskets for friends and family.
- Flights of Ice Wine - and enter your email for a drawing to win a deluxe ice wine gift basket - just in time for New Year's.
- Gift wrapping and a calligrapher to make that gift tag just right.
We hope that you can join us. No reservations necessary.
Nov 27, 2017 at 7:43 PM
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Nov 7, 2017 at 5:06 PMNew 2016 Vintages Released This Summer & Fall
You may have heard that in the wine business, it takes about seven years to figure out if you made a good (or bad) decision - because that's how long it takes to plant grapes, wait for adequate production to make wine, and then to sell that wine - and to see if your customers like it!
Likewise, we rely on Mother Nature. And sometimes, as in February of 2015, you get a surprise. In this case, it was 30 degrees BELOW zero, which was cold enough to damage some tender vines (Riesling and Traminette) and to seriously reduce production in some vineyards. SO, that was a long way of saying that we sold out of some vintages unintentionally - because we did not have the necessary grapes/juice to produce planned quantities. But now, they are back!
Black Locust Dry Riesling
Traminette
Pinot Noir (first estate vintage)
Cabernet Sauvignon
Chambourcin
Sparkling Traminette
Vidal Blanc Ice Wine
Chambourcin Ice Wine
Sparkling Rosé Ice Wine
Oct 15, 2017 at 10:52 AM2017 Gold Medals
One of the summer's best stories is that we had been sold out of Vidal Blanc Ice Wine for some time and were looking forward to the bottling and release of the 2016 vintage. Winemaker, Jeff Murphy, had already entered sent some wines in the 2017 San Francisco Wine Competition, but knew that he wanted to include Johnson's 2016 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine - and as it had just been bottled, he had to ship it to California via overnight Federal Express to insure that it arrived in time for the wine judging June 30 - July 2. Are we glad that he did! The 2016 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine was awarded 97 Points!!!
Another point of pride is the accolades given to our May Wine. The 2016 vintage was the second of this new product inspired by Germany's spring May Wine celebrations with a white wine punch laced with sweet woodruff and strawberries. Here's what the Beverage Testing Institute had to say:
"Bright yellow straw color. Fruity aromas and flavors of grape jelly, wild lemon, and preserved peach with a round, crisp, fizzy, off-dry light-to-medium body and a seamless, medium-length roasted nuts, dried pineapple, and cream soda finish with coating, silky, soft tannins and a suggestion of oak. An exemplary sparkler with terrific effervescence and a nuanced approach to Vidal Blanc."
OTHER AWARDS EARNED DURING 2017:
2016 Traminette - Gold & Best of Class, 2017 NY Food & Wine Classic
Exceptional/90 Points, Tastings.com
2016 Sweet Riesling - Exceptional/90 Points, Tastings.com
2016 Black Locust Riesling - Highly Recommended/89 Points, Tastings.com
2016 Dry Riesling - Highly Recommended/89 Points, Tastings.com
2016 Semi-Dry Riesling - Highly Recommended/89 Points, Tastings.com
2016 Vidal Blanc Ice Wine - Double Gold, 2017 San Francisco Int'l Wine
2015 Seyval Blanc - Double Gold, 2017 NY Food & Wine Classic
2015 Ives - Double Gold, 2017 Finger Lakes Wine Competition
2016 May Wine - 94 Points, Gold/Exceptional, Beverage Testing Institute, Tastings.com
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