Wine tastings aren't just a matter of walking around tasting and spitting. When faced with tables and tables of wine offered for free by smiling vintners, some of us might race from Malbec to Pinot to Bordeaux with the abandon of a kid at the Big E. But there is protocol. A guide to wine tasting provided by WGBY offered a four-step approach for attendees of their Evening of Wine and Food Tasting, where no less than 60 distributors poured and poured and poured while people drank and spat and asked many questions. There was a nice array of cheese, chocolate bark, pulled pork, salsa, dip, olive oil and other comestibles for the cleansing of the palate—step five.
In the "buy local" corner of the room, two wines and a mead were represented along Californian, Argentinian and Chilean wines. The hilltown contender, the Chester Hill Winery of Chester, seemed to be offering a good wine to try. Blueberries are rumored to have antioxidant benefits, and what better way to get fresh blueberries in winter than in a glass? Here are the results of the four-step process with Chester Hill's New Blueberry Wine, 2007, which sells for $13.
Sight: Hold the glass by the stem, raise it to the light and note the color and clarity. The color is deep blue, not unlike ink or the sky in late evening closer to the shore than here in Western Mass., where the terroir is such that local wine features a medley of blueberries, cranberries or grapes from New York.
Smell: Twirl the wine in the glass. Sniff for aroma and bouquet. Aroma is the grape fragrance; bouquet is the more subtle fragrance that comes later from fermenting and aging. Burying my nose deep in the glass, I could pick up an aroma of blueberry jam from a gift basket that I was given on the Cape two years ago. The more subtle fragrance was a scurrilous white served to me in October, '07 on Rte. 5 in a road house that is now boarded up.
Taste: Sip the wine and hold it in your mouth for a moment, slowly rolling it around with your tongue. Note the pleasant tartness or richness; degree of sweetness, if any; body or consistency; and distinctive flavor. The taste is blue, if taste can have a color, and really tastes like no wine I've ever had. It is good, pleasant, different in a good, local way.
Swallow and enjoy the aftertaste. The taste was so different I was suddenly filled with questions about this Chester elixir. "What proof is this?" "Not much." "Where can I get it?" "Online. River Valley Market." "What do people eat it with?" "Everything! Cheese!" "Are these blueberries high-bush or low-bush?"
The woman doing the offering, Julie Sullivan, became overwhelmed by other tasters at this point. For the record, the blueberries used are high-bush, the healthiest. Much more familiar was Chester Hill's crisp and delicious Seyval/Vidal Blanc '06, a white made from grapes imported from the Finger Lakes. It was a little like a pinot grigio but with some earthiness to it. Nice for picnicking at the Chesterfield Gorge with Colrain chevre and friends.
The other local vineyard was the Hardwick Vineyard and Winery of Quabbin which makes a Giles E. Warner Dry White '06 for $12, a Yankee Boy White Semi Dry 2006 for $12, a Yankee Girl Blush '06 for $12, a Massachusetts Cranberry '06 for $12 and the Quabbin Native Rose '06 for $12. Not really a vintner, Green River Ambrosia Meadery of South Deerfield was represented by owner Garth Shaneyfelt and his wife Melinda, who were offering tastes of their Chamomile Mead, Liquid Sunshine Mead (bubbly with yeast) and the Dry Reserve, a nice white for meals. Green Ambrosia products are available at the People's Pint and Hope and Olive in Greenfield, Green Street Cafe in Northampton, and at several liquor stores. Most of these bottles can be purchased at River Valley Market in Northampton.?
Negative Footprint Nation
Last year the Garlic and Arts Festival had almost 12,000 attendees over two days and generated only three bags of garbage. The Festival composts food scraps and paper and recycles aluminum cans, plastic and glass. Your next event, whether it's for 10 four-year olds or over 10,000 hungry garlic lovers, can be virtually trash-free. At Clean and Green: Organizing Trash-Free Events, Deb Habib of Seeds of Solidarity Education Center and the Garlic and Arts Festival, Mary McClintock of the composting and recycling committee of Conway's Festival of the Hills, and Amy Donovan of the Franklin County Solid Waste Management District will hold forth about commercial composting and where to find compostable plates, cups and utensils. Resources will include the Solid Waste Management District's comprehensive how-to booklet, Special Events Waste Reduction Guide, as well information about the special event recycling bins and compost bags that the Solid Waste Management District loans out free of charge to events in Franklin County. The event takes place in the evening from 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. on March 23 at the Greenfield Public Library in Greenfield. For more information, contact Amy Donovan, Franklin County Solid Waste Management District, 413-772-2438 or amy@franklincountywastedistrict.org, or visit www.franklincountywastedistrict.org.
Don't know a seedling from a sapling?
Victory Gardens aren't just Eleanor Roosevelt and the lawn crew of the new administration in Washington. If you're thinking of growing your own this spring, now is the time to get started. Consider the Botany Study Group as a jumping-off point. This Florence-based think fest is free and meets weekly until the middle of May. Alyssa Wisehart is heading up the Botany Study Group and welcomes ideas for field trips and additional themes. She can be reached at alywise942@gmail.com. Donations will be accepted to pay for the space at Pangaea Institute of Natural Healing in the Arts and Industry Building Studio 460, 221 Pine St. in Florence. Meetings will be held there from 4 to 6 p.m.
Week One (March 9) – Cells and Seeds
Week Two (March 16) – Roots and Shoots: How Plants Mature
Week Three (March 23) – Inside Stems
Week Four (March 30) – Inside Roots and Leaves
Week Five (April 6) – Adaptations for Protection
Week Six (April 13) – Adaptations to Fulfill Basic Needs
Week Seven (April 20) – Control of Growth and Development
Week Eight (April 27) – The Uptake and Use of Water, Minerals, and Light
Week Nine (May 4) – From Flowers to Fruits
Week Ten (May 11) – Strategies of Inheritance
Week Eleven (May 18) – Open discussion, Conclusion
