Hippie Wineries

What the @!#&@! is a Hippie Winery?

Seriously, go to any wine festival and you'll hear people saying "oh you have to try Hairy Frog Winery...they're a hippie winery." Why????

What makes people thing a hippie winery will make better wine? Because in my experience hippie wines taste AWESOME at the tasting, then not unlike wet dog from the bottle you bring home.

Couple of years ago we went to the Finger Lakes and were told we had to try the wine at one winery, because "they're a fun, hippie winery." We got there, and they were racing their Coleman Coolers in the driveway. No, I'm not making that up.

They were closed, but with some cajoling, they agreed to open up for us. They opened gallon jugs from the fridge and poured liberally as we happily tasted their wares. They drank some along with us, laughing and joking...we had a ball and had so much fun that we bought a whole case of their wine!!! Were they real hippies? They dressed the part, and they all had that half-baked look...so they were at least trying.

We ended up drinking 2 bottles of that wine...the rest tasted like a locker room smells.

This past Saturday at the Wine Fest we tried a hippie winery...or at least a winery staffed by people in tie-dyed clothes. Their wine had a head on it!!! It didn't taste too bad, but I want to know why there was a layer of bubbles in the bottle. Their drier wines were very acidic, their sweet wines were better, and obviously what they expected to sell.

There were a few other stands that purported to be hippie wineries; again, loads of tie-dye, Bob Marley posters, and 'fun' labels and names. None of their wines were anything to write home about either.

Is the hippie winery a marketing ploy?

I've done a little research and found 3 kinds references to hippie wineries.
The first is recipes for wine in a jug using baker's yeast and grape juice concentrate.
The second is a winery that's organic, possibly going back to the 70's.
The third is a winery that proudly proclaims their hippie status.

So I have to wonder if the second type of reference is the source of the 'myth' of their wines being something special, or is the third the real source; painting a mental image of happy hippies making great wine, all naturally.

Anyone have any ideas or answers? Contact me at the link in the right column.

Winefest!!!

Every year a bunch of us go to a resort about 45 minutes away for the Great Tastes of PA Wine Festival.

Yesterday was the day...and what beautiful weather we had. Sunny, warm (but not oppressive) and a slight breeze keeping the bugs away. Despite some crowded places at the start, we were able to spend about 5 hours tasting, along with time for chatting, eating, and one trip to the car to unload our wine booty.

A few years ago a local winemaker told me he wasn't sure if he was going that year, because "sweet sells...that's it". After yesterday, I'm inclined to agree with him.

I tasted some good wines. There were a few spectacular Traminettes, and Chambourcins. I helped a friend drink a bottle of Cab Franc that was smooth as silk and made me crave steak (I'm a med-med well kinda' guy, but I wanted rare meat after drinking that.) One treat there is the abundance of fruit wines. If you're an elderberry wine fan, there's a lot to love here. We have a bottle of plum wine I can't wait to drink with some spicy Asian food. The there was the mint wine that could have tasted like mouthwash and did not. Not quite sure when the opportunity to drink it would be though.

Last year a young lady at one of the stands convinced myself and few of the guys to taste the garlic/pepper wine. That was not pretty, and had we seen her yesterday, there would have been a scene.

But this festival is all about the sweet wines...the Concords, Niagaras and blends. Its hot, and you can't really expect anyone to spend the day fighting crowds to drink a teaspoon of Merlot. I try a drier red if they have them, or if I get a tip on a good one. Generally, I go for the medium wines, then try a sweeter blend and maybe a fruit wine.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the 1000 Flushes blue stuff my wife and friends were sampling. Wine should not be that color.

In the end, it's a good time. You spend the day with friends, feel pretty good, and hopefully buy some wine to extend the good time to another weekend (or five.) You can buy a bottle of something good and grab lunch at one of the vendors, find a shady spot near the stream (The porta-lavs were next to it this year!??!?!) and listen to one of the bands. It's not a bad way to spend a weekend afternoon.

I want to talk about some of the trends there, the intentions of some of the places, and if something like this is really good for wine appreciation. I'll save those topics for later posts.

Have a great week!

Miscellaneous Monday

Good evening everyone,

Not much going on wine-wise at the moment. Searching online for some good prices on a wine press. Getting a list of wineries that ship grapes here as well.

The 6 vines in the backyard have a ton of grapes on them already. Granted, they look like empty grape stems, but they will have grapes, someday. Will I make a backyard wine again this year? We'll see.

Had our first night on the deck of the season this weekend. Drank some Red Cat from Hazlitt's, and Banty Red from Bully Hill. I've spoken fondly of these before. It was a warm night, and anything drier would not have been enjoyable at all.

Mike Rowe is shaving a yak as I type this. Is he a genius or twisted in ways a team of Mental Health Professionals would be shocked at?

David Beckham bought Posh Spice a vineyard in Napa Valley as a birthday gift, and possibly to give her something to do. Heidi, if you're reading this...

There's a new poll up: White wines this time. Merlot was the clear winner of the last one.

Final note: Blogger's spell check says Merlot should be spelled Mer lot. What's Mer lot?