Local Wineries at the Nantucket Wine Festival

The Nantucket Wine Festival is one of my favorite wine events each year. Amongst cherry trees and fresh ocean breezes I get a chance to visit with many New England winemakers under one roof and sample their latest offerings. This year's festival was extra special because there were new faces amongst the standard favorites.

Our first stop was with San Lorenzo. This is a winery located in San Gimignano, Italy, but begun by a native Nantucket businessman. Twenty years ago, Howard Jelleme bought an old farm in Italy with a dream to create delicious wines. From that 4 hectare beginning, the winery now has 26 acres and creates a wide range of offerings. Located in Chianti Land, Howard creates a Super Tuscan with 95% Sangiovese and 5% merlot. It was very fresh tasting, a light, fruity wine, perfect for summer meals. Chianti winemakers use the term "Super Tuscan" when they want to make a wine that does not follow the strict rules set down for an official "Chianti" blend.

The San Lorenzo winery is committed to making quality wines from quality grapes. They begin the winemaking process within 2 hours of picking the grapes, don't filter the reds, and don't add sulfites. As a result their wines are best drunk young, and have a lovely freshness that really lets the grape quality shine through.

The vineyard located ON Nantucket Island is of course Nantucket Vineyards. Not only were they pouring their Chardonnay, Zinfandel and Merlot, but they had some Rum and Vodka on hand as well. We asked the reps about the smoked salmon being offered elsewhere with 'Vineyard Grapevines'. We were told that when the Nantucket Winery vines were pulled out in 1998 for being non-productive, the local restaurants grabbed up the grapevines for their cooking efforts. The winery now makes their wines from west coast grapes, and has expanded into beer and other alcohols.

The new rum line was just released in December, and the plan is to name each release for the first hurricane of the season. The strength of the rum is based on the strength of that hurricane! The molasses is brought in from Buck Island in the Caribbean, and ages in the same casks as Jim Bean's single malt. The winery reps emphasized that "the key to all of our products is the triple-8 well that we draw from." We've always enjoyed the wines of Nantucket, and found the rum to be smooth and flavorful.

Sakonnet, the largest wine producer in New England, chose quality over quantity at this festival, a commitment we saw in just about every corner of the festival tents. Instead of bringing their huge selection of wine offerings, Sakonnet chose to showcase their best wines. Their Sakonnet Brut Methode 1996 sparkling wine was light and toasty, with a refreshing flavor of citrus fruit. Quite a great wine for sipping near the ocean.

Next, their Sakonnet Vidal Blanc Icewine. Being an icewine fanatic, I was pleased to hear that this icewine was not created by freezing regular grapes, but was actually harvested in mid-November after the first night frost. They hand harvest the grapes and then keep them chilled to mid-February, when they can start processing them. The frozen grapes cause the presses to work very hard, and they only get 600 bottles per ton of grapes. The resulting wine is deliciously smooth and sweetly fruity.

Turtle Creek Winery is a new winery from Lincoln, MA, growing from 300 cases last year to 600 this year. The owner, Kip Kumlen, explained that he was a businessman with no winemaking background but with a passion to create delicious wines. He planted 500 vines in 1997 and just finished putting in a total of 4,000. All of the vines are vinifera varieties - pinot noir, cab franc, chardonnay and riesling. While those vines are maturing, Kip is bringing in grapes from Long Island, the Finger Lakes and California. Since Lincoln is a dry town, the winery is unable to sell wines in their tasting room. They're hoping to set up a tasting room in Boston, though.

We enjoyed greatly the wines Turtle Creek had brought in, which show Kip's talent in working with grapes. We look forward to seeing how he creates wines with his local grapes!

Westport Rivers, a Massachusetts winery world famous for their sparkling wine, was on hand with three of their offerings. They had a 2000 Chardonnay, the 2001 Rose Pinot Noir, and a 1998 cuvee RJR. We enjoy Westport Rivers in our own home and greatly enjoy all three of these.

Local restaurants contributed to the success of the festival, offering free samples of their tasty selections. Company of the Cauldron was slicing smoked salmon for visitors. The Maine farm-raised salmon is smoked right at their restaurant from apple wood and Nantucket Vineyard grapevine. We saw many people walking around with this delicacy, and enjoyed it greatly ourselves.

The restaurant we watch for each year is Pi Pizza, run by Evan Marley. Evan is an enthusiastic proponent of healthy eating, and it shows in his foods. The lines by his pizza oven are always deep, but it's well worth the wait to get one of his delicious slices. I easily admit to returning a few times for his pizza slices, and spent quite a while talking with him about his pizza, his philosophies and his love for Nantucket.

Evan is a strong believer that "food should come from the ground or an animal and should not be manipulated". He feels, with all the junk food out there, that 'America is ready for quality pizza" and hopes that his shop is just the first step in spreading the word about healthy eating and pizza. His flour is organic and stone ground and he doesn't use nitrates. When you think about it, pizza is a blend of very healthy ingredients - fresh bread, fresh tomatoes, cheese, and maybe a few meat or veggie slices. As people took their plates and walked away, the compliments floated on the air - "This is the most fabulous pepperoni" - but most people simply took a bite and sighed in satisfaction.

The comments from the local wineries and restaurants were unanimous in enjoying and promoting the Nantucket Wine Festival. With the festival's support of the local merchants and its active encouragement of buying locally, it both brought in visitors from a wide area and helped the visitors learn how delicious local foods and wine can be. This is truly a festival of and by the people!

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