Harpersfield Winery Taste

On the second installation of our Winemaker Wednesday series we featured the wine of Harpersfield Winery presented by the owner Patty Ribic. Chef Tim King and Pete Evanovich put out a spread of cold dishes that accompanied the wine perfectly with the Burgundy and Alsatian style wines the winery produces.

The two cold dishes offered was a lovely traditional Peruvian seafood Ceviche with scallops, shark, and whitefish; followed by a roasted vegetable gazpacho. Of course both of these were offered with handmade bread sticks, a cheese platter, and marscapone and chocolate sauce drizzled over crustini.

Before we get to the tasting notes, I'd like to mention a precursor. There was a bit of confusion on the supply of the wine we offered that day and only ended up featuring five of the six wines I promised. For those of you that showed up for this event, I am truly sorry for the confusion. I did however try to make up for it by opening a few bottles of unrelated Riesling to sample out to those who were willing to try. But enough about my downfalls and lets get on to the wine.

Harpersfield Winery is a unique winery located just outside of Geneva, Ohio. While Harpersfield has been around for decades, it only recently was bought and transformed the winemaking into into a French-based wine concept. The winery concentrates most of its 18 acre vineyard on the Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir varietals giving it that extra Burgundian/Alsatian flair. The wine itself isn't excluded from the old world style offered by the wineries French farmhouse decor. For more about Harpersfield please visit: www.harpersfield.com

Our first offering from this great winery was a Alsatian favorite Gewürztraminer. Gewürztraminer is slowly gaining popularity among American Riesling drinkers. The often mispronounced (ga-VERTZ-trah-mee-ner) and greatly misunderstood varietal offers a fantastic floral nose that other white varietals can't live up to. The Harpersfield 2005 Gewürztraminer "St. Fiacre" (retail $18) is deep gold in color with heavy honeysuckle and floral perfume reminiscent of the great Gewürztraminers coming from the Alsace. This great summer varietal is lightly effervescent upfront with a long fruity semi-dry finish. The strong floral tones and lightly semi-dry finish in this wine allow it to compliment any spicy dish. I suggest pairing this with pan seared scallops and Thai fried bananas.

The next wine we featured in the taste is a must have for any Chablis drinkers. While the Harperfield 2005 Chardonnay "Fut de Chene" (retailing at $24) tends to be on the pricier side for an Ohio Chardonnay, it still exhibits great value for its quality. "Fut de Chene" loosely translates to aged in oak barrels in French. John is responsible for introducing me to the elegance of French Chardonnay. Harpersfield does a fantastic job at retaining the minerality and elegance of Chablis Chardonnay but still shows the depth that Chardonnay offers in parts of Napa Valley. This Burgundian beauty offers an earthy nose with slight suggestions of tropical fruit. Full crisp fruit leads to a nice mellow lightly buttery finish. Try pairing this beauty with lobster in a Champagne butter sauce, spinach parpadelle noodles and salmon roe caviar.

For our next selection we offered a varietal that does well in the Great Lakes climate. The Harpersfield 2004 Vin Gris de Chambourcin retails for $18 and is another great summer wine offered by the winery. Chambourcin is a French hybrid varietal that was widely popular in the 1970's. While most wineries offer this full aromatic varietal as a red selection, Harpersfield offers their Chambourcin as a rosé. This light pink wine offers strawberry, watermelon, and pear on the nose. Luscious fruit flavors lead to a long balanced finish. This was my favorite wine of the night and perfect for the patio on warm summer nights. John suggested serving this wine lightly chilled and after tasting I agree with the suggestion. Try pairing this wine with grilled tuna salad sandwiches with lemon-habanero mayonnaise and watercress.

Our first red selection for the evening was the Harpersfield 2005 Pinot Noir "Clos Mes Amis" (retail $25). Harpersfield does a fantastic job crafting cool climate Pinot Noir into an elegant wine that would stand up to many of its Burgundian counterparts. The 2001 vintage of this wine won a bronze medal in a state wine competition. Much like the "Fut de Chene" this wine exhibited a nice balance between old world and new world styles. "Clos mes Amis" offers nice cherry, cocoa, and dark fruit essences on the nose. The palate offers full fruit flavors leading to a long smooth rounded finish. Try pairing this fantastic red with crepes fruits de mer.

We ended the evening with an Ohio offering of a Bordeaux varietal. Cabernet Franc is a tough little black grape that tends to do well in the Northern cooler climates. Thanks to DNA fingerprinting it has been established that this varietal is one of the parent varietals to Cabernet Sauvignon. The Harpersfield 2005 Cabernet Franc (retail $25) is deep ruby in color and has elements of black cherry, strawberry, and spice on the nose. Full and fruity upfront leading to a nice subtle plumy finish this wine is a very elegant example of this varietal. Try pairing this wine with grilled pork burgers indochine and potato frittes.

Thanks again for your ongoing support of events like this and I look forward to seeing you at another one in the near future. All the recipes on this weeks blog were sourced from www.foodnetwork.com. Until next time remember to to keep an open mind and an open mind.

Mastropietro Wine Taste, Feb 15th

This week's Thursday Night Flight Night was a unique experience. John and I decided that as local wine represenatives we should promote local wineries and wine makers. The first in our series of Ohio Wine Makers is our good friend Dan Mastropietro. Dan, being a long time hobbiest, recently realized his dreams and created an new cutting edge wine making facility in Berlin Center, Ohio. While still young in his wine making Dan has proven to create some very elegant representations of California classics. Because Dan currently buys all his fruit (he expects his first yeild on his newly planted vines next year) all of his bottles are labeled without vintage. As he begins to create more wine from his own grapes that should change. But anyway, with good wine comes good food. Chef Tim King put out a roasted red pepper bruchetta and a cheese platter to accompany the wine for the evening.

We started the taste with the sweetest and most popular white the winery has to offer. Dolce Bianco (retailing at $12) is 100% Niagara grape with a 12% ABV & a pale yellow gold complexion. The nose has fresh pineapple, grapefruit, and carnation with a hint of mushroom in the finish. Dolce Bianco is off-dry upfront but not cloying, leading to a subtle acidic tang in the mid-palate and finishing balanced with a slight citrus tone of navel and cranberry. This was definitely a crowd pleaser on Thursday, and as one patron mentioned led to a sense of nostalgia of early wine of the North East States (his grandmother grew Niagara grapes). Try this wine with a grilled chicken breast topped with a pineapple chutney or a deep fried calamari tossed in a Thai vinaigrette and topped with roasted corn and tomato relish.

Next we moved to the Chardonnay (retailing at $14). At 14% ABV this golden hay colored wine had a creamy & floral essence with a slight nutty tone. Mellow and light fruit lead to a smooth effortless buttery finish. The overall simplicity to this wine was refreshing proving that this nicely balenced and quite easy drinking wine could hold up to many of the American Chardonnays in the same price point. Pair this wine with a warm goat cheese and artichoke salad with asparagus and fresh greens tossed with a lemon vinaigrette or an apricot glazed barbeque half chicken with rice.

The people's choice for the taste was the Chambourcin (retailing for $12) at 12% ABV. Chamboucin is a fungus resistant hybrid varietal that was popular in the seventies as a table wine in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. The late ripening quality of the grape makes it a great candidate for growth in the cooler Ohio climate. This light ruby wine has elements of cherry, black raspberry, and a hint of brussel spout on the nose. Light and fruity in style with a slightly tart semi-dry finish this wine proves to be an excellent representation of the Chambourcin grape. Try this wine with a ricotta and asiago stuffed hungarian pepper in a tomato and red pepper pommodoro sauce.

The fourth wine of the evening was Dan's Merlot (retail $16) with a 13% ABV. His cloudy pale red wine had a unique take on the Merlot grape. The nose led to nutty tones with ripe berry and a slight kick of petrol in the back end. This medium-bodied Merlot is fruity in the mid-palate with a long dry semi-oaked & slightly spicy finish. I could only assume that Dan Mastropeitro takes French approach at this varietal which may be the reasoning in the subtleness of this wine. This Merlot specifically would make a great addition to any blend. Try drinking this wine with orange glazed pork tenderloin served with roasted potato wedges & steamed garlic broccoli.

We ended the taste with my favorite wine (of course). Mastropietro's Zinfindel (retailing at $16) is a modest 12.5% ABV and deep ruby in color, although not opaque. The nose offers light cherry & raspberry with slightly creamy tones. A Fruit-forward Zinfindel with off-dry plum flavors in the mid-palate and a bitter-sweet chocolate oaked finish that leads to a short burst of black pepper in its' grand finale. This is a very elegant example of a light, balanced Zinfindel without overpowering fruit. This wine would go great with a pan seared duck breast finished with a Zinfindel port wine cranberry reduction.

Thanks again, for reading this blog and I hope it's helping you keep your wines organized. This Thursday we will be featuring an all French taste with the wines from European Imports. I hope to see you all there and remember to keep an open eye and an open mind.

Please check out the Mastropeitro website at: www.mastropietrowinery.com
or check out the Ohio Wine Producers Association at: www.ohiowines.org