Our second site, was established in the spring of 1999 approximately one mile south of the original site. It's on land leased from the 1,100 acre Meach Cove Estate. The site is on level, well drained stony land very near the Town of Shelburne's Municipal Beach On Lake Champlain. The largest planting on this site is Riesling. We have several hardy clones of this variety, including "Arctic" originated by the Konstantin Frank Vineyard in NY State, and clones #239 and #110. The site also contains two other white wine varieties: Vidal, and Traminette (2005 Double Gold medal winner, 2006 Gold medal winner).
Also planted here is the red grape "Zweigelt" (2005 Gold medal winner) a pure vinifera variety developed in Austria. It has been proven in Ontario where it has produced some fine quality medium bodied reds capable of aging. We spaced vines 5 feet apart on this site (one foot farther apart than on our 1st site) to allow for easier mechanical weeding with our Weedbadger tool.
Our first harvest from this site was in the fall of 2002. The fall harvest of 2003 yielded our first significant quantities of Traminette and Zweigelt.
The Minnesota hybrid Marquette was added to this site in June 2007.
Our 3rd site located directly on US RT 7 (Shelburne Road) between the VT Teddy Bear and the Shelburne village and Museum was planted in 2006 with new cold hardy grape varieties; Marquette a red grape just released by the U of Minnesota; Louise Swenson a white grape developed several years ago, also in Minnesota.
More Marquette, and another red variety, St Croix and the white variety La Crescent were planted here in July 2007.
This 13 acre site, owned by Shelburne Vineyard, also houses our new, state-of-the-art, winery building. We welcome you to visit, taste and tour our new facility.
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