Thursday, January 14, 2016

Maine - Lebanon - Prospect Hill Winery

Prospect Hill Winery- (August 2015) The second of two Maine wineries we visited on vacation, this one came with weird directions when mapping it; good thing to check websites first or we would have been on a dirt road for most of the trip.

All their wines are estate and as you'll see, the varieties are not typical; all were chosen for being able to withstand the cold northern winters and the short growing season. The whites are all 2014 vintages and the reds 2013. Richard and Anita, the owners and winemakers, basically invited us into a kitchen-like setting for our tasting. Since all the varieties were new to us, we did not mind that they had the wines chosen for the tasting (their policy).

We started off with the Elvira, a crisp dry wine with the flavor of a green apple, and the Edelvira, a combination of the Elvira and Edelweiss grapes, which was also dry, with notes of apple, had a smoother finish. Of the two, the Edelvira was best, but the Edelweiss was not available for tasting comparison. Our next taste was the Prospect Hill rose, made from early pressed Saint Vincent grapes; its one of the few blush wines I have enjoyed with subtle hints of strawberry.

With the reds, we started with the chancellor, which to me is similar to a merlot/cabernet sauvignon blend. It had a fruity plum taste but a smooth finish; it was too dry for my wife. The marechal foch here was probably the best I had while in the New England region. It was bold with fruit flavors, yet  balanced. The harvest red, a blend of 40% Saint Vincent and 60% marquette grapes would be a nice summer red with its red color and berry taste. But it was the Prospect Noir, a 50/50 blend of landot noir and marquette grapes, that my wife and I knew we could sit down and enjoy with dinner. When we were finished our tasting, Anita took us out to their vineyards.

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