NE Coastal Wine Trail Weekend Day Two

Sunday, March 21, 2010...

The day dawned on the second day of my Coastal Wine Trail tasting adventure. After a leisurely breakfast at the Hampton Inn Fairhaven and a good work-out in the fitness facility, I checked out of the hotel , made a pit stop at the local Panera Bread for lunch, and then headed to more wineries.

Stop #1: Running Brook Vineyards
Address: 335 Old Fall River Road, North Dartmouth, MA

I didn't know what I would be getting into at this visit. I will admit that I was greatly confused when I pulled in. The OPEN flag was flying at the gate, but no one was in the parking lot in front of the barn-like structure and what appeared to be the front door was locked. I headed back to my truck and started input the address of the next winery into my GPS unit when a truck pulled up. Out hopped a man who turned out to be one of the winery's owners who quickly invited me inside for a tasting. Running Brook is a work in progress. Unlike the other wineries on the trail, this 4-yr old winery is still building it's site of operation and the tasting room is merely a counter top inside the main winemaking area. Not as polished as the other wineries, but very enjoyable since you can see every aspect of the winery--the fermentation tanks, the barrel racks, and the bottling line. The charge for tasting was $7. I think there was a suggested number of wines to taste, but after Pedro discovered that I make wine as well and had an interest in starting a winery, he started pulling out everything he had to taste, including barrel/tank samples!

2007 Chardonnay ($13): Simple dry white wine with light flavor, but a smooth sipping wine
2005 Reserve Chardonnay ($17): Unfiltered & aged for 2 years in old French oak. 100% MLF gave it a nice rich butteriness.
2005 Reserve Chardonnay Unoaked: Nice pineapple nose & crisp finish
2007 Pinot Gris ($14): Bold citrus (pineapple, grapefruit) with a nice crisp finish
2008 Pinot Gris: Unlike the 2007, this wine has not undergone malolactic fermentation, so the flavors are driven by big, green apple aromas.
2007 Cabernet Franc ($18): Finally, a good red wine on the Trial. Lighter color, but big strawberry & black pepper flavors.
2007 Merlot ($18): Very nice. Black cherry & pepper aromas with subtle tobacco. 1.5 years in French oak.
2007 Vidal blanc ($13): Apricot & honey explosion. Semi-sweet finish with a nice balance of sugar & acid (high Brix at harvest).
2008 Vidal blanc: Tank sample. Crisp, Pineapple & Grapefruit predominate.
2009 Vidal blanc: Tank Sample. Still a little cloudy, but gorgeous big honey flavors.
2007 Auslesen ($20): Late harvest vidal blanc made by the traditional German auslesen method of selecting individual high sugar grape bunches. Sweet dessert wine.
2005 Late Harvest Vidal Blanc ($20): Sherry-like with bold apricot aromas and peach & pineapple flavors. Very unique wine.

Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed my 2.5 hrs with Pedro! Learned an awful lot about his winery operations and I volunteered to come back down to help with any winemaking task that he might have. I'm looking forward to a long relationship with Running Brook Vineyard! I ended up purchasing 5 bottles to sample later. Will have to go check to see which ones I bought.

Stop #2: Travessia Winery
Address: 760 Purchase Street, New Bedford, MA

After stumbling out of Running Brook, I had just enough time to visit one more winery before heading for the wedding. I had the choice of Westport Rivers Vineyards or Travessia Winery that were close enough nearby. Since I have been to Westport before (and am a member of their wine club), I chose to visit Travessia, which is a rather unique urban winery in downtown New Bedford. I have to admit that I was very intrigued to visit Travessia since an urban winery is an option that I would consider if I were to open a winery myself. My visit was a little complicated by the fact that the New Bedford half marathon had taken place the same morning and downtown New Bedford was a still a busy place at 3:00 in the afternoon. The winery is located in a small storefront that houses both the sales room, tasting bar, and winemaking space. They have some more space downstairs for added room to make & store the wine. Without vineyards of their own (kind of hard to grow grapes in asphalt), Travessia purchases all of their grapes from Running Brook Vineyards. Marco, the owner & winemaker, was tending the tasting room that day and was pouring 5 wines for tastings ($6). The tasting bar was a little crowded, so I didn't take any notes due to lack of writing space so I'm relying on my general impressions & memory.

2008 Unoaked Chardonnay ($14): Decent, fruity chardonnay with crisp finish.
2007 Chardonnay ($16): Partial MLF & barrel aging gave this a nice mix of crisp & softness, butteriness & fruit flavors.
2007 Vidal Blanc ($13): Essentially the same semi-sweet Vidal that I tasted at Running Brook. Liked it there and I liked it here, too!
2007 Trapeze Zinfandel: Nice, fruit forward with soft tannins. A good everyday drinking zin.

Many of you are probably scratching your heads that someone is growing zinfandel in MA. Well, they are not. Marco is starting a second line of wines made from grapes grown in CA and shipped to the winery for vinification. I didn't purchase any wines while I was there due to time constraints, but I did sign up for their wine club. First shipment should be in the coming week after they release a couple of new 2008 wines.

At this point, I bid a sad farewell to the Coastal Wine Trail and headed to Sandwich for the wedding. I would have to say that Day 2 was my favorite thanks to the wonderful hospitality & generosity of Pedro at Running Brook Vineyards. I will have to repay him with some physical labor when I go back to help bottle or pick grapes. I hope that my faithful readers take advantage of the proximity of several very nice wineries & make their own trip along the NE Coastal Wine Trail.

Cheers,
a Wine Student