It is my sincere hope that the information in these pages will develop into the story of the founding of a family owned and operated farm/vineyard/winery. At the very least it will contain the details of our collective thoughts, research and experience in the pursuit of this endeavor.
This section shall be the ongoing chronicle of our actual experiences.
December 4, 2004 - Trip to Millbrook Vineyard & WineryDecember 11, 2004 - Name Search must go on - Found the NY Labeled Grape Wines List in pdf format (need to post link here). Bad News...Standing Stone Vineyards exists already in Hector, NY. Hollow Hill is still an option.
December 24, 2004 - Marion was standing in the living room talking about some polar bear cocktail shakers with Alex when the subject of non-stemmed barware came up. This is where she uttered the fateful words "Bottom of hte Bottle...wouldn't that be a cool name for a company!" Which, of course, it is. Research will commence.
Some research into the process involved.
Considerations in Starting a Vineyard - Tranquility Vineyards LLC - A short and simple list of some things to keep in mind.Herein lie some interesting sources of grapevine-related information. As this is other people's information as I have been able to find it, you could almost say I heard it through the -- well you get the picture.
Cornell Grape Pages - Cornell University - The definitive source for information regarding viticulture. These folks are responsible for the overwhelming majority of the science of grapes in the USA. The fact that they recently introduced a new species of grape to the world should say something. The are also located in NY state, and through the Cornell Co-operative Extension provide support to farms in the area.Other people involved in the market locally. Not necessarily vineyards (though some are), but also retailers and interest groups, clubs and the like.
Vintage New York - A retail operation that deals exclusively in goods produced in the state of New York.The Law of it all.
The New York State Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) State Liquor Authority. - This is the official site for the State of New York.
Wine Evaluation Chart (PDF) - The American Wine Society - This is a three page PDF file that includes a tasting score sheet and charts to help standardize wine competition judging. I just like the way the charts show the relationships between tastes.
Enology Resources - Author Unpublished - A bunch of annotated links.
The Wine Institute - California - Provides Information about winemaking. Harvest reports, news and --oh...yeah-- the Legal Library known as WineLaw (cf. above), which is a beautiful setup.
The American Wine Society - The AWS is a national noprofit consumer organization.
Wine Tasting Terms - Strat's Place - This is kinda silly, but it is a glossary of words used in describing wines. I list it only because the first word on the list is "abgang"
ABGANG (see also AFTERTASTE).How cool is that?!
Term used by Austrian winetasters. Expresses the total sensation following swallowing, not only in the palate and throat but also stomach etc.