TRAVESSIA Winery Blog

Red Oak winery closes

Red Oak winery in Middleton, MA, is no longer in business.

I became aware that the winery was up for auction via Richard Auffrey’s “The Passionate Foodie” blog just a couple of weeks ago.  I spoke with the auctioneer this morning who told me that the winery was actually doing quite well business wise.  The closing is due to an unfortunate legal situation.

I visited this winery about a year ago, tasted several of its wines and bought a few bottles.  I didn’t really like their Chardonnay but thought that the reds were good.  In fact one of their Cabernet Sauvignon was quite good, BUT...

I feel sorry that this winery is closing and wish the best to the owner and everyone involved.  However, I have to be honest and say that I just don’t get excited about wineries like Red Oak.  Red Oak’s brand was built on “Bringing the best of the West to the East”.  West being California grapes, East being the Massachusetts winery that turned those grapes into wine.  The wine may even be great but what are you drinking?  A California wine or a Massachusetts wine?  If you believe, like I do, that what determines the origin of a wine is the place where the grapes are grown and not the hand of the winemaker in the winery, then you are drinking a California wine.  If I want a California wine, I buy it primarily at the local wine shop, not at a Massachusetts winery.  I don’t care what sort of spin you put on it… that California wine is not transported appropriately and that it’s better to transport the grapes in a refrigerated truck than to transport the finished wine, etc.… that’s just not going to fly for me.

One thing I will give to Red Oak… at least they were very clear about the origin of their grapes, unlike several Massachusetts wineries who blend California grapes with their own locally grown/sourced grapes and do not clearly disclose this to the public.  Wineries do this under a law which allows them to blend a percentage of "foreign" grapes with the grapes they grow themselves and not have to clearly state this on the label. Sure it’s legal, but this practice leads the wine drinker to develop the wrong impression and incorrect expectation for what Massachusetts wine tastes like. I find this “blending” practice damaging to the Massachusetts wine industry.  But I’m off topic now… this really deserves its own post.

Massachusetts wine sucks!

Fact:  Every state in America has a winery.
Question:  How good is the wine being made in each state?

Joel Stein set out to find the answer by drinking and evaluating one wine from each state - 50 states, 50 wines.  He did it with help from his wife, his friends and Gary Vaynerchuck.  This sure seems like a fun exercise and the type of thing that I would love to participate in.  But this experiment was actually published in Time magazine and that’s what I have a problem with.  Readers, regular wine drinkers or not, could read the Time’s article and make purchasing decisions based on how each of the individual state was rated in the review.  Here's the problem…  No single wine can indicate the quality of ALL wine being produced in its native state.  However, reading the review for the Massachusetts wine that was chosen would lead most people to conclude that Massachusetts wine simply sucks.  Here is the review for the Nobska Red wine produced by Cape Cod Winery:

<<If an old lady were to make wine at her bed-and-breakfast and the only ingredients she had to work with were sugar and paint thinner, she'd make this wine. Everyone at the wine-tasting party was choking and running to shake off the taste that reaches down and drags up the darkest part of your soul. Have you ever had cheap grappa? Or Old Grand-Dad whiskey? Then you have some idea of the face this wine causes you to make. Why would you make a heavy, Bordeaux-style red blend (which is what the winery claims it's aiming for) in this cool climate when, even if you somehow succeeded, it would never go with Cape Cod food? A woman at our party has a parent who lives near a different winery in Cape Cod, and she said its wine is awful too.  Rating: Undrinkable — by Joel Stein>>

The review is right on point.  They nailed it for sure.  I tasted this wine early this year after I had heard that the winery was for sale at the time (I don’t believe it was sold).  I had about half a glass of it and dumped the rest.  Cape Cod Winery’s Nobska Red is quite simply one of the worst wines ever produced in the history of mankind.  This is not a subjective matter… the wine is technically faulty and should have never made it to the market.  How did Joel Stein select this wine for his review beats me.  But the Nobska Red is not an indication of the overall quality of the wine being produced in our state.  I’ve written before that there is room for improvement but to make this Nobska Red our state’s “example” wine is wrong.  It’s wrong and not fair to everyone else working hard to improve the quality of their wines, especially those dedicated to growing their own grapes right here in Massachusetts.

To get an accurate review of the quality of wine being produced in each state we would need to taste every single wine being made.  Just kidding :-)  I know this would be an impossible task since there would be tens of thousands of wines to be tasted.  So maybe we should taste a few from each state.  A criteria could be established to determine how wines are selected as representatives of their state.

I salute the experiment and think that it’s certainly a fun way to look at wine in America, maybe even raise more interest in American wine.  But I’m concerned for the inaccurate conclusions that readers may take away from this.  I want to ask the few of you who read my blog to please don’t give up on our local wines even if you come a across a bad one.  Unless the bad one is my own, in which case I expect you to bring it back to me and ask for your money back.

Note that it is not my intention to bash Cape Cod Winery and the people there who I’m sure have no intention to put out crappy wine.

Local is better… is it really?

This past weekend I met a few people who aren’t just into wine, they are into "local wine".  I did not pass on the opportunity to explain how I’m about to launch my own winery with wines made with grapes grown locally right here in Southeastern New England.  They were excited to hear this and I was happy to have acquired a couple of new followers who may eventually become good customers.

I later realized that I had broken one of my own rules while speaking with these locavores.  I over-hyped the "local product" aspect.  I do believe that it’s important to tell people that my product is local and I will surely do it often.  But while doing so, I don’t want to give people the impression that my wine tastes better and is better for the planet than any other wine which is not local.

I’ve studied the marketing approach of several small wineries which use the “local” mantra as their platform to greatness.  Unfortunately, in most cases, there is a heavy dose of bullshit involved in their speech...

Local wine just tastes better
Quality in wine is an extremely subjective matter to begin with.  It is up to you to decide the wine you enjoy independently of the hundreds of variables that exist in grape growing and winemaking.  However, there are some standards that cannot be denied and sometimes a wine is just simply bad no matter how subjective wine tasting may be.  And I’m not talking about technically faulty wine here.  Where am I going with this?...  There is a lot of local wine that nicely put, is just below standard of what a good wine is.  From Chardonnay which tastes like Riesling to Merlot table wine that has been artificially sweetened post fermentation, some local wines are like home winemaking experiments gone bad that people should never even pay a $1 for.  Just because the grapes are grown locally, it does not mean that the resulting wine is better than anything else.

Local wine is better for the environment
What is better for me as a Massachusetts resident… a California or Spanish wine made from organically grown grapes, OR… a wine made from grapes grown locally with the help of pesticides?  The California or Spanish wine comes with an expensive carbon foot-print for transporting the wine from thousands of miles away across the country or across the ocean.  But what about the potential cancer-causing pesticides that the local farmer had to use to grow an healthy vineyard? (note: the cancer aspect has never been scientifically proven)  If the local grower is capable of growing grapes without the use of pesticides then he or she has accomplished something phenomenal.  Unfortunately, growing consistently good quality grapes in New England without the use of pesticides is highly risky and close to impossible (as in most other wine growing regions of the world).  Bottom line… don’t be fooled by someone who tells you that you are helping the planet by buying a local wine.

If you have read this far you deserve to know what my own choices are…  In regards to quality, there are very few Southeastern New England wines that I’ve tasted (and I have tasted most of them) that in my opinion are of consistently good quality and better than most equally priced wines available from all over the world at the local retail stores.  The Winterwine from Sakonnet Vineyards is an example of one of the few really consistently outstanding local wines.  In regards to the “green” factor, the main pros and cons of organic and local cancel each other, at least for now.  I do enjoy being closer to the source of the product and for that I will keep trying local wines.  But don't ever let me fool you with the local B.S.

The Heat Factor

In the United States the definition of a "heat wave" varies by region; however, a heat wave is generally defined as a period of at least three consecutive days above 90°F (32.2°C).  The historical average high temperature for the month of June in the Southeastern New England region is 77°F (25°C).  So, it appears the Northeast part of the country has just had its first heat wave of the year.  But this is a small one… nothing compared for example to the heat wave that claimed an estimated 35,000 lives in Europe during the summer of 2003.  That year, temperatures reached as high as 104 Fahrenheit and remained extreme for about two weeks.

Heat wave or not, it certainly has been very hot for early June here in the Northeast.  So what effect did this short period of unusually high temperatures have on our vines?

Though most people tend to think that high temperatures are a good thing for vines, this is not always the case.  It depends on several factors such as how hot and humid it really gets, the duration of the heat spell, the present growth stage of the vine and more importantly, what happened previously during the growing season.

Temperatures in our region had been a bit lower than usual throughout the spring so the vines were at best running on schedule and in some cases a little behind.  So, am I happy for the heat?  You bet.

Vines “took off” over the last week with shoots growing very rapidly.  Inflorescence are now mostly fully formed (here's a picture of a Pinot Noir inflorescence).  I’m glad to say that the majority of the vines have now “caught up” to schedule and will begin flowering any day now.  The vines have a deadline to meet in November (it's called harvest), so they love it when weather conditions help them stay on schedule.

Day 1

I’ve done it.  Today I launched what will most likely end up as one of the biggest projects of my life and potentially the biggest risk I’ve taken to this day.  I’ve officially began the process of creating my winery.

The amount of thought and research that I’ve put into this over the last two years cannot be quantified.  Many things had to come together for me to have the chance to attempt to build my own winery.  Getting the part-time gig as winemaker for Running Brook was a critical step to get to this day.  Never before in my life have I felt how the luck of being in the right place at the right time could end up having such a dramatic influence in my future and the future of my family.

I’ll be honest and say that over the last few weeks while pondering this decision I felt very nervous.  However, once I made the decision to go for it, the nervousness immediately started to change into a sense of excitement.  Ideas are popping into my head… I can already visualize the next crush season, the labels on the bottles, people having fun and chatting while sipping my wine at the tasting room.  A couple of years from now I may look back at this day and say to myself… what in the world was I thinking?  I may end up as another victim in the cemetery of failed wineries.  But so be it.  I’ll take the risk instead of questioning myself for the rest of my life… what if I had done it?

So, what’s next...?

I’ve registered as a business at the local and state level but the biggest hurdle is yet to come… obtaining the necessary licenses from the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) and the Massachusetts ABCC (Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission).  It involves a lot of paperwork and a considerable amount of time (3 months or longer).  After submitting all of my applications, I will start thinking about other aspects such as the brand image.  I’ll be counting on you for opinions and feedback on some of the decisions that I will have to make.  But here is what I can already share with you today…

The name of the winery:  TRAVESSIA
The place:  Downtown New Bedford

TRAVESSIA is a Portuguese word for Journey or Passage.  There were other names but once I thought of this one, I quickly and easily realized that it would provide me with many opportunities to tie it with what I want the winery and the wines to be all about.  Besides I wanted to avoid naming the winery after a place or the family’s last name.

The winery will be in the downtown area of New Bedford.  A few months ago I failed to convince the owners of a small piece of land in Dartmouth that I was the right person to take over their property.  In retrospect, that was a good thing.  I’ve since realized that building an Urban Winery is more in line with my immediate objective.  The number one question on everyone’s minds… where do the grapes come from?  Well, certainly not from the roof tops :-)...   That’s a topic that deserves its own post but I can tell you that the vast majority of the wines made by TRAVESSIA will be from grapes grown right here in Southeast New England.

Feel free to comment here or send me emails of encouragement… or discouragement :-)

Why are these wineries for sale?

In a continuation of last week's theme… there are currently two vineyard/winery properties for sale right here in the Southeastern New England region.  One of them is Cape Cod Winery in Falmouth.  The other is Chicama Vineyards on Martha’s Vineyard Island.

Cape Cod Winery
Vineyard:  Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Pinot Grigio, Seyval and Vidal.
Annual production:  Approximately 2,500 cases
I read a recent article in the Cape Cod Times advertising the sale of this property.  Once I knew that the sale is definitely official, I contacted the owners and expressed my interest in acquiring some of the winery production equipment.  The owners really hope to sell the winery with all its equipment so they are not willing to part with any of it.  The winery is only open from May to December.  Here is the real estate listing.

Chicama Vineyards (website url expired)
Annual production:  Approximately 4,500 cases
I first heard out about the potential sale of Chicama via this post.  I’ve searched for a real estate listing but have not found anything to this point.  I also left a message with the winery but no response.

I don’t have any concrete reasons for why these two properties are for sale so I’m not going to speculate.  Whoever purchases them may or may not be interested in continuing the vineyard and winery operation.  If the properties are capable of producing quality wines from grapes with regional character it would be very sad to see them closed for good.  I know this blog post does not do justice to the work that I’m sure these two families have put into their business.  I would like to visit the wineries, speak with the winemakers, get a real feel for what they have accomplished since their creation and understand what obstacles they faced.  Unfortunately I've not been able to gather much information.

But while some wineries may be faced with their last days of existence, others are just getting started.  A new vineyard is under way right here in the South Coast of Mass.  Coastal Vineyards is located in South Dartmouth and therefore within the Southeastern New England AVA.  8 acres have been planted with traditional French vinifera such as Chardonnay and Merlot.  Winery production is expected to begin this Fall.

Running Brook Update #3 - 2007 Reds

Back in mid January I wrote about Running Brook’s 2007 white wine vintage.  Here is a summary and latest status for the red wines made from the 2007 harvest:

• Rosé of Pinot Noir – The grapes were left in contact with the skins longer than we had planned for due to the chaos that was developing at the winery during harvest/crush time.  With three days of juice to skin contact, this wine is not really what you would expect a rosé to look like, but it is lighter in color than any Pinot Noir.  This was one of our first wines to be made in 2007, so the temperatures of early October were high enough to allow it to go through a natural malolactic fermentation.  We took advantage of the cold winter to add some tartaric acid, drop its high pH to just below 3.6 and cold stabilize it.  Should be a great summer time red.
• Pinot Noir – Have I told you about my feeling towards Pinot Noir?  Well, add another strike to the count.  The problem is that this wine ended up with pH above 4.0 which makes it extremely difficult to maintain healthy.  More importantly than any pH numbers, the wine just does not taste like what we had hoped and worked for.  We haven’t given up on it but may feeling is that 2007 still was not the year for our Pinot Noir.
• Petit Verdot (*pictured)– The color is just phenomenal.  I won’t forget pressing this small lot of wine into a single barrel until past 2AM sometime in late October.  My hands were purple for days.  Still a bit "harsh" mouthfeel especially for someone who may prefer lighter reds.  It is young so this is not surprise.  It may be used to blend with the Cab.Franc and Merlot as it is usually done in Bordeaux, but we haven’t made a final decision.  We love to take a barrel sample and just look at its color… wine geeks do this you know.
• Merlot – Even Eric Fry commented during his visit in January that this is a “Nice Wine”.  Coming from one of East Coast's top winemakers it was a huge complement.  This wine had a juice to skin contact of about 13 days which resulted in a beautiful color extraction.  It has enough tannin and acid backbone to carry it for the long run.  Still very young and it has a major step to go through... mallocatic fermentation.  Very promising.
• Cabernet Franc/Merlot – This is a field blend of the two grapes, de-stemmed and then crushed together right at the crushpad.  What’s the ratio of Cab.Franc to Merlot?  We aren’t really sure… it’s Manny the Vine Man secret… :-)  Just like with the Merlot, 13 day maceration resulted in beautiful color.  You can taste the tannins easily but they are not overpowering.  We are very happy with this wine thus far.  It promises to be one of our best reds.

There are also a few other reds that Manny Morais made on his own with natural yeast fermentations.  I detect a bit of an acetone aroma/flavor in the Cabernet Sauvignon but besides this the wines are showing good.  The 800 pounds of Pinot Noir that I took home from the Dartmouth Vineyard ended up pretty disappointing.  The wine developed a slight taste that can be described as “mousy”.  This is something that usually occurs with wines made with very low levels of sulfite.  It’s bacterial in nature and my research seems to indicate the worst… it can’t be fixed.  The wine is drinkable, but I can’t get over the “mousy” taste so I think it is heading to the drain at some point before the next harvest.  A good example of a wine that I would never attempt to sell to anyone.  In fact, I would not even give it away for free.

But let me end this on a good note.  The wines that we really had high hopes for right from the start are the Merlot/Cab.Franc/Petit Verdot.  I’m honestly holding myself back in my assessment because wine this young changes on a daily basis and who knows next time I taste them I may be disappointed.  Let me just say that I’m very confident.  This past weekend after tasting every single red wine barrel (unfortunately there are only 11 of them), I left the winery with a big smile on my face.  Yes we can make good red wines in the Southeastern New England AVA.

Running Brook Update #2

2007 WHITE WINES
(As of mid-January 2008) 

• Pinot Gris – Flavors of very ripe fruit with a hint of caramel.  Good acidity will make this a food-friendly wine.  We’ll probably prevent malolactic fermentation from occurring so that we can preserve this acidity.  Unoaked, it will probably be released sometime this upcoming Summer.
• Gewurztraminer – The earliest grapes to be harvested ended up as a bit of a disappointment.  Logistical problems at the winery led into an extremely quick first half of fermentation resulting in a wine that lost much of what a Gewurz is well known for… aromatics.  There were also some off flavors that we were only able to partially eliminate.  This wine was not up to the quality standard that we would like to produce.  There will be no Gewurztraminer 2007.
• Chardonnay – The 2007 Chardonnay had a sugar content just above 23 brix at harvest which is not bad at all.  Brown seeds and flavors were a good indication of ripeness.  The wine is not showing its true potential just yet.  We’ll probably allow this wine to partially go through a natural malolactic fermentation and age at least a portion of it in oak barrels.
• Auselesen – I blogged about Botrytis Cinerea and this wine back in early November of 2007.  Truth be told, there was probably a small percentage of rot in this Chardonnay which was not of the “noble” kind.  It shows in the wine right now so we’ll have take care of this.  It is difficult to predict if this vintage will be up to par with the excellent 2005.  We’ll have to wait to see/taste.
• Vidal Blanc – The Vidal was the last varietal to be harvested.  We finished harvesting it on November 12th and it looked/tasted fantastic.  The juice chemistry test results were close to perfect so we did nothing but whole cluster press, settle the juice and ferment at a cool temperature.  We finished this wine just off-dry with its natural residual sugar.  Not an easy and risk-free thing to do while avoiding sterile filtration but we’ll give it our best effort.
• Vidal Blanc Sweet – We took a portion of the original Vidal juice and stopped its fermentation earlier so that we could preserve a higher content of residual sugar.  Again, not easy but if we succeed this may be an excellent desert/aperitif wine.

The owners of Running Brook were also kind enough to give me a small portion of Vidal so that I could fulfill my desire to run crazy winemaking experiments down in my basement.  This case involves a juice-skin contact (a.k.a. maceration) of 12 hours and 48 hours in two separate fermentation bins.  Not typical for white wines, especially Vidal Blanc, but the grapes were so good that I wanted to give it a try.  I started by de-stemming about 200 pounds of Vidal… by hand.  I finished de-stemming in about four hours and couldn’t really feel my fingertips two hours into it.  Yes, I’m stupid!  Definitely one of those nights when I ask myself… why?   But once I had started there was no going back.  Fermentation went according to my expectations and we’ll see what the results are in a few months.

Next post:  Reds

Eric Fry

Last Friday I met Eric Fry, winemaker at Lenz winery in Long Island, New York. Eric refuses to carry a cell phone and drives a Honda Civic hybrid.  After following me on 195 West for about 30 minutes he complained that his car’s mileage went down from 55 to 50 miles per gallon...!  He uses an email address and does check his email… once a month.

Eric has been in the wine business for over 30 years.  He started at Robert Mondavi winery in California as a microbiologist right after college.  From there he went on to work at wineries in Australia and France.  When he returned to the US he worked as winemaker at Dr. Konstantin Frank’s Vinifera Wine Cellars in the Finger Lakes region.  He has been winemaker at Lenz for the past 18 years.  Eric has a tremendous amount of knowledge in wine “growing” and he’s not shy when it comes to sharing his knowledge with others.  I can tell that he's committed to making quality wine above any commercial accomplishments.

How good are his wines?  I have never tasted any myself (yet… day trip to Long Island in the works), but professional blind tasting results have concluded that Lenz wines are as good as some of the top French Bordeaux wines with a much smaller price tag.

Eric “downloaded” a lot of information onto my brain in the span of four hours.  By the time he left on his way back to the ferry, my eyes were spinning and I had a serious headache.  pH was one of the main subjects of discussion during our conversation.  I already knew that high pH was not a good thing in wine (despite what many California winemakers will tell you), but Eric just confirmed it further to me.  I got a quick pH for dummies lesson that I’ll have to revisit many times in the future I’m sure.

Eric is also consultant for many wineries including several in Massachusetts, such as Westport Rivers, Truro Vineyards, and now Running Brook.  We tasted and discussed 12 wines that we made at Running Brook this past harvest.  His impression was that we could have adjusted some things differently prior to fermentation, especially in regards to pH.  But overall, only one wine really seemed to fail the tasting.  I have finally found someone who can clarify some of my winemaking doubts and troubles.  I’m definitely looking forward to learning more the next time I meet Eric.

Oh…. I also asked Eric if he had any recommendations for someone like me who is looking to start his own winery.  His answer went something like this… <<anyone who starts a winery is insane>>.

* Eric's picture from this source.

Running Brook Update #1

October 20th and 21st we celebrate Harvest Weekend and hope to see some of you at the winery/vineyard.  Though Running Brook does not yet have the most luxurious tasting room or hospitality center, there is always a friendly person there to receive you.  Be it Scott, Denise, Pedro or Manny, there is always someone to welcome you with a smile.

There is a lot of activity at Running Brook these days.  We are well into the harvest season but with the bulk of wine still to be made:  Below is a summary of the 2007 harvesting season detailing the grape varietals which we have already brought into the winery and those which we are about to pick.

Grapes already harvested and fermented:

• Pinot Gris - Currently settling in tank after fermentation.  Expect to see this released by Summer 2008.
• Pinot Noir - Already transferred to barrel for aging and malolactic fermentation.

Grapes fermenting right now:

• Gewürztraminer - Cool temperature fermentation under way.  Most likely to be finished dry but we'll see how it progresses.
• Sauvignon Blanc and Alvarinho - Very small quantities of these grapes were produced this year.  Really just for experimental purposes so don't expect to see these on the sales brochure.
• Chardonnay - A small amount that we plan to ferment in barrel.  A lot more still ripening in the vineyard.

Grapes to be harvested in the next few days/weeks:

• Chardonnay
• Vidal Blanc
• Petit Verdot
• Cabernet Franc
• Merlot

Making Wine at Running Brook

Early this year I was invited by the owners of a local winery to help them in their winemaking activities.  Running Brook is a winery founded in 1998, located in Dartmouth - Massachusetts, producing wines from estate grown Vitis Vinefera and hybrid grape varietals.  The winery has faced many challenges and things haven't always run smoothly.  It certainly isn't easy to start a winery business from the ground up here in New England.

But Running Brook has a key ingredient to success... very good vineyards.   Approximately 21 acres of vines planted in two separate vineyard sites with Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Vidal Blanc, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir and Petit Verdot. Their estate grown Chardonnay wines are as good as any that I have had, especially at the $10 per bottle price range – actually… I think that’s a steal for a locally grown "boutique" wine.

My role at Running Brook is of part-time winemaker. This is a great opportunity for me to learn from people who have been in this business for a few years and I’m very thankful to Manny Morais and Pedro Teixeira, co-owners of Running Brook. We are currently bottling the last few barrels of the 2005 vintage. I’m very excited about the upcoming harvest because it will be my first experience making wine in a fairly large scale. Although Running Brook can be considered a small winery, 40+ tons of grapes will result in a reasonable quantity of juice to handle. The vines are looking great and certainly the hot and fairly dry summer we have had to this point here in the Northeast should result in grape clusters with flavorful berries.

There are several options to consider in preparation for harvest and winemaking… crush techniques, cold soaking, fermentation temperatures, press timing, etc. I will regularly post updates on what is happening at Running Brook.

If you happen to be in the New England area please visit Running Brook.  After your visit you can continue to the other four local wineries which are part of the Coastal Wine Trail.