PORTSMOUTH — Billy Wilson is busy punching down grapes into their purplish-red juices that are sitting inside a large tub at Greenvale Vineyard’s new production facility.
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Greenvale Vineyards will host its 25th annual Harvest Festival from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2, at the vineyard at 582 Wapping Road. Festivities include tractor rides throughout the historic farm’s vineyards (tractor rides start at 1 p.m.) and tours of the new winery.
The music from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. will feature Portsmouth-based folk band Princess June. From 2 to 5 p.m. enjoy the fun funk sound of the Brian James Quartet. Music will be at the restored stable turned tasting room.
Food offered will include Newport Chowder, Aquidneck Oysters, Charcuterie Mobile Cart, Mad Good Cookie, Sarcastic Sweets, the Biscotti Bar and Great Aunt Louise. There also will be an array of craft items by local artisans.
This year Jonathon Alsop, author and founder of the Boston Wine School, will return to conduct wine classes. The Boston Wine School was established in the early 1990s. Alsop will conduct four sessions in the new winery in the Wine Education Center. Classes are “Wine 101, Tasting, Thinking and Talking about Wine” at noon; “Orange You Glad? The Color of Wine” at 1:30 p.m.; “The Grape Unknown, Albarino, Vidal Blanc and Touriga Nacional” at 3 p.m. and “Life is a Cabernet” at 4:30 p.m.
These sessions will feature Greenvale’s estate grown wines, and winemaker Bill Wilson will be there to answer questions, too. There is a charge for the sessions — $10; $5 for wine club members.
Greenvale Vineyards is on the state and national Registers of Historic Places. In the same family since 1860, Greenvale has been growing grapes since 1982, making wine since 1992 and opened for tours and tastings in 1998. For more information, call 847-3777 or visit www.Greenvale.com.
PORTSMOUTH — Billy Wilson is busy punching down grapes into their purplish-red juices that are sitting inside a large tub at Greenvale Vineyard’s new production facility.
Using what resembles a slotted spoon the size of a shovel, he mixes up and pushes down the skins that are tossed in along with the juice during the fermenting process. “When wines are fermenting, it releases CO2, and that pushes up the skins,” Wilson explained. “So what we like to do, twice a day, is to push them down.”
A twice-daily routine after which each bin is sealed up tight again, “punch-downs” play a pivotal role in crafting wines that boast superior flavors, aromas, and colors.
And the folks running the historic 1863 farm off Wapping Road expect this year’s harvest to be one of their best since they first started planting grapes in 1982.
“These vines are three weeks riper than usual,” said Wilson, the son of vineyard owner and general manager Nancy Parker Wilson. “It’s been such a nice fall and the amount of heat we had earlier in the growing season just made for great conditions for ripening grapes both white and red. But especially for red wines: I’ve never seen this level of ripeness, really. It’s a sweeter grape, but it’s going to lead to more of a bolder red wine — a red wine with a little more alcohol, less acidity, and more body.”
In other words, it’s been a very good year.
“Hever (Ortega), our vineyard manager, says this happens once every 10 years,” Wilson said.
The yield will also be greater this year — about 85 tons of grapes compared to Greenvale’s normal yield of about 75 tons. “That’s about 3,500 to 4,000 cases,” he said.
Unfortunately, wine enthusiasts will have to wait patiently for another two years before they can pop the corks and savor this exceptional batch. Wilson explained the process:
“It’s about 15 days of picking, but it happens over a range from early September to late October and early into November,” he said.
“These clusters,” he said while looking over a large vat of dark red grapes, “are going to get de-stemmed in about an hour. They go through a machine that basically flings the berries off the stems. The stems get composted and the berries wind up in what we call macro-bins, and they’ll basically ferment in those bins. The juice and skin sort of sit together and they also get mashed up.”
That’s when he performs the punch-downs inside the 150-gallon tubs which translate to 60 to 65 cases each. After about 10 days, the mix will go into a press “and that’s when the wine gets separated from the skins.”
After that, the wines go into a tank and sit for a day or two before being pumped into barrels, where it will sit for 12 to 18 months. Then it gets bottled and sit for another few months.
‘Game-changer’
Parker was speaking from the vineyard’s new 8,000-square-foot production and storage facility located in the southwest corner of the farm, the result of a two-year project that was completed in May 2023. Previously, the Greenvale team made its wine at Newport Vineyards, but now it ferments and stores everything here. It helps keep the farm sustainable while cutting costs and centering control onsite.
“Yeah, from a flexibility standpoint and a production standpoint, this has been a game-changer for us,” Wilson said. “I loved being at Newport Vineyards; they were amazing to us and we were there for 25 years. I sort of miss the camaraderie I enjoyed every day there, but this has allowed us to double our production.
“This is really the first regular harvest we’ve had with the new building. Last year we had a small crop, which a lot of other vineyards experienced. This finally showcases the building and how it processes the fruit.”
The public will be able to see the entire operation by stopping by the annual Harvest Festival this Saturday (see related story), and enjoying the vineyard’s current offerings.
The you can dream about sipping the latest crop down the road.
“We’re excited to get a whole lot of these wines released,” Wilson said.
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