News
Shelburne Vineyard
August 4, 2008 In spite of an extremely wet July, veraison (the start of the ripening process) has occured on our Marquette grapes at our Rt7 planting
Early June 2008 We've won 23 medals for our current (2006) vintage wines in International compttitions, Looking forward to the first harvest of Marquette grapes from our new RT 7 vineyard site this fall.
Looking back to this past winter, it treated all our varieties very well. While we had lots of snow and it stayed around all winter we never had a real "cold" snap. The temperature never went below -8.8F at our growing sites. For our VT site that's quite mild. We had virtually no loss of buds to low winter temperatures, so the vines of all varieties are loaded with about to bloom grape buds.
Feb 2008: We've moved into our new tasting room. Our horse shoe bar with its finely polished cherry counter from a tree harvested on Shelburne Farms is complete and awaits visitors.
Dec 2007: We are moving into our new state-of-the-art winery/tasting room. Construction is winding down. We're selling wine out of the processing space while the tasting room bar is being constructed.
June 21, 2007: Construction began today on our new tasting room/winery complex on RT 7 in Shelburne, VT. designed by Selin + Selin Architects. JA Morrissey general contractors. It's designed to be a "green" building. It employs SIP panel walls with 8 inches of foam insulation, on-demand lighting with low wattage flourscent fixtures, an on-demand hot water heater, a metal light-reflectiong roof, window ventlation to minimize use of air conditioning, natural gas heat, low flow plumbing fixtures, non VOC paints, a non paved gravel dirveway, and all surrounded by organically grown cold-hardy grape vines.
March 2007 Zweigelt 2007 growing season:
This is a pure vinifera varietal (pure European parentage) and a challenge for us here in Vermont.
We chose it as our only red vinifera varietal based on its hardiness and its ability to ripen in our climate.
It produces a fine medium bodied red wine with pleasant tannins, somewhat similar to a Pinot Noir. It's the most widely planted red variety in Austria where it originates. Its also widely grown in Ontario's, Niagara Bench region.
Until the spring of 2007 we thought it was as hardy as Riesling. We were wrong. We planted it first in 1999 but I guess its takes a decade or so to really understand how a given variety will fare in a given area. On March 6, 2007 the temperature plunged to minus 18 F, the coldest we have seen since our first planting. It occured after a relative mild winter.... at least until that day, with the result that we have no Zweigelt crop this year. The Riesling vines located in the very next rows will have a reasonable crop and yield this year....SO....March 6 separated Riesling from Zweigelt......we now must conclude that Riesling is a considerably hardier vinifera than Zweigelt. It took us 8 growing seasons to learn this!! The Zweigelt vines mostly survived so we will try for a crop next year.
December 2006 Ice Wine Harvest - Half the Juice but Twice as Sweet -
Summer 2006
New Winery Equipment Sept 2006 marked a major expansion in winemaking
New vines planted capability. New state-of-the-art 16 HL press, a remote controlled
pump, and GAI automated bottling line are up and operating.
An additional 2.5 acres of newly released hardy vines were
planted at our new RT 7/Shelburne Road site.
1.25 acres of Lousie Swenson (White) and 1.25 acres of
Marquette (red) were planted on 8 ft intervals in rows spaced
10 feet apart.
New State-of-the-Art Winery and Tasting building
& an additional 2.5 acres of vineyard to be planted with more new
cold hardy varietals.
March 28 and 29, 2005
|
Shelburne Vineyard Medals won in International Competitions
What our customers say about
our wines
|
|
|
A Brief history and goals of Shelburne Vineyard
|
|
|
Shelburne Vineyard's second season
|
Newsletter #3
|
2000, Our first harvest
|
|
|
2001, The 2nd Harvest, 1st Winemaking & Our 1st Sales!!
|
|
July 7, 2002 Update
A photo tour - Establishing the vineyard - spring to fall 1998
|
 |
|
Shelburne Vineyard in the Media
Burlington Free Press June 16, 03
|
"one Vermont vintage is doing well with the local wine connoisseur...and that is the Shelburne Vineyard label. This..[is] a very well made wine. We see a lot of wines from obscure places. Shelburne Vineyard is an amazing Vermont wine and that label will get well-known outside the state."
|
|
|
"In 1997, Ken and Gail Albert turned their hobby into a business with the founding of Shelburne Vineyard. Today, as their wines are winning awards and fans, they have opened a tasting room and are about to break ground on a new winery building..........." by Virginia Lindauer Simmon
|
|
|
"I recently spoke with Ken, the owner of Shelburne Vineyard in Shelburne, Vermont, about his unique microclimate, carefully chosen grape varieties, and the continuing evolution of his business....." See the rest of the article by Brigid Caroll.
|
|
|
"In 1998, one-time chip-design engineer Ken Albert launched Shelburne Vineyard, an organic winery.".....by Cathy Resmer (02/21/07)
|
|
|
Half the juice but twice as sweet
December 30, 2006
By Ashley Matthews SHELBURNE -- Friday morning, pre-dawn, wasn't an ideal time for picking fruit. At 4 a.m., it was 16 degrees. Snow flurries whipped in a nagging wind. It was dark -- very dark. Despite the adversity, 10 people trekked through rows of grape vines at Shelburne Vineyard, collecting bunches of the fruit by the light of headlamps and truck headlights. The grapes were this season's last; the rest were plucked from the vines months ago.......
|
|
|
|
|
|
|