Black Sheep Wine and Beer Shop Field Notes

Winemaking as a Way of Life

by John VerPlanck and Jennifer Laskey VerPlanck,
Black Sheep Wine and Beer Shop, Harpswell,Maine

          A year or so ago, a friend of ours was traveling in Italy, seeking new wines to import for his business. At one location, in Campania he enquired of the vigneron how long wine had been made at that location.  “Since 78,” was the reply.  “1878? 1778?” he asked.  “No,” said the winemaker, “78.”  Almost two millennia!

          Once, while visiting Italian wineries north of Verona, we stopped at the Serego Alighieri winery.  If the name sounds familiar, it is because the winery was founded by the grandfather of the Poet, Dante Alighieri, writer of “The Divine Comedy.  The winery has remained in the family since the 13^th century.  It is small, lovingly tended and quite beautiful.

    

         Europe is replete with centuries-old family vineyards.  These vineyards produce not 100,000 cases, nor a dozen different varieties.  They do produce one or two excellent varieties, just as they always have.
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          On a visit to Castello del Poggio in Tuscany, I watched the father and one son, making the wine.  The mother and one daughter handled the marketing and business end while another son dealt with bottling and distribution.  Labels were hand-applied by two neighborhood women with brushes and glue outside in the shade.  We once had a bottle of their Chianti Classico Riserva in a London restaurant, but we will probably never see it over here.

          Several years back, we visited a winery that was a palatial monument to tourism in California, where the building was huge and ornate and the wine expensive and mediocre. They wanted to charge us more for a larger glass to drink the wine we had just ordered.  But right across the way, a winding dirt road led to a small winery where we tasted superlative wine with the winemaker on an upturned barrel.

          These people love what they do.  As long as the wine pays the bills, they are content.  Fortunately, it usually pays the bills and then some.

          Many wineries around the globe operate side businesses of lodging and meals, in some of the prettiest country imaginable. You can find almost any kind of adventure that you’re interested in, from the authenticity of a farmhouse rental, with your morning wake up call from the household rooster, and communal dining in the vineyards, to the most luxurious rooms with spa amenities and gourmet meals.

Very expensive, sometimes vintage wines are a bonus if you’re interested in paying for them. Most wines at the smaller wineries and some from the larger will not be available anywhere other than the winery itself. You are really missing out if you like wine and you don’t stop into the local winery when you travel. Some spectacular wines are locally coveted and unknown to the rest of the world.

The winery “lifestyle” is very interesting. Most small to medium wineries are run by the owner/ farmer, we have found, and are mostly family run operations. The business is second to their family or regional heritage and pride in their products. If you are a traveler, try one of these winery spots for a great adventure!

© 2018 Text John and Jennifer Verplanck, all rights reserved.

Photo/ illustration credit: Personal photos of the author, Wiki media commons, Bigfoto.com, public domain, MorgueFile.com, PDPhoto.org