AKA - How to make wine from everything besides grapes!
It seems to me that what we have called wine and revered as wine and created certifications and diplomas about, is not actually wine. It’s one perspective on one kind of wine from one region of the planet. And I think the first step, the lowest hanging fruit if you will, to having an authentic local wine culture is simply using local ingredients. Put another way, culture grows out of the earth. If it is imported and forced onto the land, it is neither sustainable nor is it culture. Do we even know what American wine, or Australian wine, or Chilean wine actually tastes like? Or do we only know what French wine tastes like when you make it in various places around the planet?
My guests for this episode are the gentlemen of Hermit Woods Winery in New Hampshire: Ken Hardcastle, Chuck Lawrence, and Bob Manley. They have an incredible story of asking these questions and beginning a journey of discovering and creating their local wine culture. These guys are exploring unexplored territory in wine, and they have a lot of knowledge to share about what they are finding.
The wines of Hermit Woods Winery are well-aged, dry, textured, complex, with great mouthfeel and nuanced aromas, but they aren’t made from grapes. They’re made from blends of things like quince, day lily, kiwiberry, black raspberry, honey, and rhubarb, and many other fruits and plants, herbs, flowers, and spices that thrive in New Hampshire. They make about 35 different wines, at least, every year, and they have been at this for over 15 years. They started by asking “Does it have to be a grape?” and I think they’ve answered that question with an emphatic “Absolutely not.”
We cover their philosophy and their unique approach to winemaking, and this conversation has an inordinate amount of practical and helpful ideas for anyone who might want to consider joining this local wine movement. These guys are an incredible resource, whether for technical advice on navigating the particular challenges of fermenting things like tomatoes and how long you need to wait before Japanese knotweed wine stops smelling like baby wipes, or for how to reconstruct a metaphoric grape.
Though this should be obvious, I think it’s very important to point out that the diversity of ingredients that Hermit Woods uses supports, honors, and generates more biodiversity and more diversity of wines. There are many practical advantages to not relying on a single variety of fruit for your entire production, and in the bigger picture it also leads to a healthier, more resilient, and more beautiful wine culture. These three friends are changing the world of wine as we know it, and they seem to be having a lot of fun doing it.
https://hermitwoods.com/
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Sponsors:
Centralas Wine
Tara Gomez & Mireia Taribó - Camins 2 Dreams
Steven Thompson - Analemma Wines, Aesthetic Farming
Max Paschall - Vitiforestry & The Lost Forest Gardens of Europe
Laurel Marcus - Climate Adaptation for Vineyards & Fish Friendly Farming
Ryland Engelhart - Kiss The Ground, Regenerative Wine
Mark Shepard - Restoration Agriculture & Growing GrapeVines In Trees
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Paul Dolan - A Conversation About Regenerative Organic Wine
Adam Huss - Centralas Wine, Crenshaw Cru, and the Organic Wine Podcast
RAS Wines - Sparkling Wine from Maine Wild Blueberries
Kelly Mulville - Regenerative Grazing-Based Viticulture at Paicines Ranch
Nicole Dooling & Michael Frey - Dirt & Mariah Vineyards, The World’s First Savory Institute Global Land To Market Verified Regenerative Vineyard
Justine Belle Lambright - Kalche Wine Worker Cooperative Making Hybrid Space Juice
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Anne Biklé & David R. Montgomery - How To Heal Our Soil, Improve Our Wine, and Save Ourselves
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Kendra Knapik - Ellison Estate Vineyard Regenerative Grazing-Based Viticulture & Natural Wine
Tom Plocher - How to Breed Grapevines
Diana Snowden Seysses - Climate Change, Carbon, and Bi-Continental Winemaking
Doug & Andrew Becker - Montpelier Vineyards, Vermont Organic Wine
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