Today is Vergennes Day

Arbor Hill Grapery in the western Finger Lakes is celebrating Vergennes Day today, Saturday July 12, from noon to 3 PM. Vergennes is the name of a once popular table grape recently revived and made into a white wine by Arbor Hill's John Brahm. The name comes from the village in Vermont where the vine was discovered in the 19th century. Arbor Hill has made a point of these origins and Vergennes Day celebrates the connection. Festivities will include food, a fiddler, and release of Arbor Hill's 2007 Vergennes. Sounds like a good time.

Arbor Hill is an innovative winery credited with first introducing Traminette 10 years ago and working to bring back grapes and wines from the past. Last year they offered Iona, a real oldie, to home winemakers.

Dan, I still remember trying the Vergennes at Niagara Cool a couple of years back - it was a great experience. It's particularly good to see Arbor Hill promoting this heritage grape in our day and age: the time is high for a total reinvention of all our Eastern heritage hybrids and natives. So far as we know, only Arbor Hill makes a quality varietal wine from Vergennes today, is that right?

Yes, Arbor Hill is the only producer. I spoke with John Brahm yesterday and was surprised to learn that Vergennes has been grown continuously around Naples for many years, mainly as a table grape although Widmer made it into a wine years ago when John worked there. Interestingly, when John had some trouble convincing BATF that his proposed label was accurate in describing Vergennes as a varietal he was able to come up with a 40-year old bottle of Widmer Vergennes in support.

Vergennes Day was fun. It began with an account by John of how a French diplomat named Vergennes was instrumental in getting France to support the American Revolution. For this, a largely French-Canadian settlement in Vermont named their city after him. Visiting there several years ago John found no Vergennes vines and no one who even knew there was such a thing. He corrected that by planting some vines in the city park and presenting the Mayor a case of Vergennes. As John told the story, the flags of France, Canada and the US were brought forward one by one and their anthems played.

The 2007 Vergennes is noticeably sweeter than the 2006 which I preferred. Part of the difference is due to growing conditions but the market also played a role. The sweeter 2005 Vergennes had sold better than the 2006. Arbor Hill's sweeter style Traminette, the Classic, always does better than the dry version too. Did someone say consumers talk dry but buy sweet?

The other news is that Arbor Hill soon will bring out an Iona rose, yet another first. I mentioned to John that the Iona I made from his juice last year turned out pretty well. He said it had been a good year for the crop and figured in the decision to bring it out commercially.

I love the Arbor Hill Traminette (all 3 versions). I cannot wait to try the Vergennes.

[Jenise]

So what does vergennes actually taste like?

So what does vergennes actually taste like?

Who better to turn to than Paul B. writing on this board 11 Apr 07?

Vergennes is such a rare grape that I had never heard of it before this year. It is great to see this fine varietal example being crafted in our time at Arbor Hill in the Finger Lakes. I've included a photo of the rear label here because the write-up is really interesting and worth a read.

I think it's fair to say that, served blind, few would guess this to be a labrusca wine. It had subdued fruit with a light spicy overlay that didn't hint at any particular white labrusca variety that I've tried up to now. Delaware and Steuben both have distinct labrusca character. Diamond has this character too, but then it seems to whisper a kind of "guess who I am" from the glass when swirled.

No, Vergennes is certainly unique. It's not "foxy" in the sense that we understand this to mean a grape-jelly aroma. The wine was bright and clear with a crisp and vivid demeanor; the fruit was there and was complemented by a subtle spicy element. The mid-palate was crisp and cleansing with healthy acidity, and the finish was minerally and nearly dry (I think I would have rated this a '1' on the sugar scale, just by taste). Really an excellent wine, but more importantly an excellent initiative - a true breaking out of the trough, as I alluded to above.

Paul B.