The Independent Spirit: Unique Wine from Vermont & Wisconsin
The United States is the fourth largest wine producing country in the world after France Italy and Spain. According to Wines & Vines Analytics, as of June 2014 there were a total of 7,946 wineries in the United States. Not surprisingly, California produces 89% of American wine and has 3,782 wineries but wine is actually made in all 50 US states.
In honor of the 4th of July and America’s birthday, for the month of July, #Winestudio featured wines from lesser known American wine states including those of Vermont, Wisconsin, Texas, Colorado and Virginia
I was lucky enough to be provided wines to try from Vermont and Wisconsin.
La Garagista 2013 “Coup de Foudre” Pétillant Naturel ($30) is from Vermont.
Petillant Naturel from La Garagiste Vermont
This sparkling wine is made from 100% Brianna grapes. Petillant Naturel means the wine is made from the grapes alone without the addition of sugar and yeast to induce a secondary fermentation in the bottle. The wine is bottled under a crown cap and much like Vermon,t this wine is quite rustic in fact it looks and tastes more like a cider than a wine. This wine has a unique taste that evolved and opened up with some time in the glass. It has a slight bitterness with grass yeast and honey notes. It has 11.5% alcohol and light bubbles. The wine comes from La Garagista a small farm, garden, orchard, and vineyard located in the hills of Barnard Vermont where wine grapes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, flowers, and herbs are grown for the onsite restaurant kitchen that makes farm to table food.
Wollersheim Winery 2013 Domaine du Sac ($14) from Wisconsin
Domaine du Sac from Wisconsin
A blend of French-hybrids Marechal Foch (90%) and Leon Millot (10%) from the Lake Wisconsin AVA. This wine is made by French born winemaker Philippe Coquard who is from the Beaujolais region and it has definite characteristics of a Beaujolais. The wine is whole berry fermented and cold soaked and then fermented in French and Wisconsin oak for 5 months. This wine has fruit flavors of tart cherry and raspberry and is meant to be enjoyed chilled. This wine is light and bright with nice acidity and its tannins provide good structure texture and complexity. This is a great wine for summer and can be enjoyed alone or it will stand up well to food. After this wine, I am definitely open to trying more wines from Wisconsin!
These wines show that you can sometimes find gems in the most unexpected places and are a great reminder to give unique varietals and wines from lesser known wine states and regions a try as you never know what you might come across.
If you would like more information on these wines go to lemetrowine.com and if you would like to learn more about wine in a fun forum join #winestudio on Twitter on Wednesday nights at 6pm PST. Next month we will be discussing and learning about wines from Hudson Valley. http://protocolwinestudio.com/event/winestudio-session-xvi-liquid-voices-of-hudson-valley/
Tags: #WineStudio, Domaine du Sac, Hudson Valley Wine, La Garagista, Le Metro Wine, Petillant Naturel, Philippe Coquard, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wollersheim Winery
