Harmony Vineyards

Throughout the semester we’ve been learning about wines in different regions and how they are made. Finally it was my opportunity to visit a vineyard/winery and actually see what we’ve been discussing in class. One thing that made my visit to Harmony Vineyards which is located at 169 Harbor Rd, St James, NY in Long Island, different was that I went during the evening. It wasn’t intentional but it was a unique way to explore the vineyard and tasting.

Harmony vineyards has been around for 326 years, and has a 4-acre vineyard, and a 32.5-acre waterfront. The grapes variety grown are red: merlot, cabernet sauvignon, and cabernet franc which are blended together to make a Bordeaux-style wine. The white grape variety is just chardonnay to make a Chablis-style wine. Since the vines are in such close proximity to the water they experienced diurnal temperatures which helps moderate the temperature. When we visited harvest had already passed so their was no grapes on the vine and since it was so dark we could see the water and was a bit scared to go too deep into the the vineyard. I was told the Harmony vines doesn’t give tours so my evaluation of the vineyards were concluded from my own knowledge because “I study wine”.

After exploring the vineyards we went indoors to the tasting room to try the wines and ask questions. When asked if I could see their production facility I was told that they don’t make their wines on site, and they send them to LENZ winery, who makes their wines. This really surprised me but at the same time it made sense because the property isn’t really that big. The next day I called LENZ winery which is located upstate NY to get information about the vinification(how the wine is made) practices for Harmony vineyards. I was able to speak with Thomas who’s the assistant winemaker, and he provided me with this information.

For Chardonnay once picked grapes have little contact with skin and goes through bladder press for two hours. The grapes are tumbled and press then moved to a cold temperature steel barrel for two weeks to settle juice. Next it’s moved to another steel barrel kept at 65 degrees for 7 to 8 month. After the wine is filtered to clean sentiments and clarify, then bottled as a still wine. For the red grape variety all grapes are fermented together with skin and left in steel barrels for 2 weeks. Yeast is then added to convert sugar into alcohol, then goes through a press to separate grape from juice after fermentation. Next the wine sits in oak barrels for up to 18 months to 2 years, these oak barrels are made from French and Hungarian oak and are lightly toasted. To maintain flavor they allow gravity to filter the wine which I found interesting, so the reds are bottled unfined and unfiltered. Also for Harmony Vineyards they buy 2 brand new barrels each year and 18 used barrels. LENZ produces 500 cases for Harmony vineyard each year and use 100% natural oak corks. Additionally we must keep in mind this is the vinification process the use for Harmony vineyards.

Going back to the tasting room which is in “The Old East Farm House”, the design is very warm and homey. In the tasting room I met Fabio and Brittany, they were really nice and eager to help me do my project. The reason for that was that my friend and I were the only people there at the time. When I asked about the viniculture(how the grapes are grown) of the grapes, beside the the variety and that the whites stay on the vines for a 1 -year cycle and reds stay on the vine for a 2-year cycle, they didn’t really know much pass that. One of them actually started googling answers for me. Plus since wine production isn’t done on site like I mentioned before, they couldn’t remember how the wine is made. Which is why I had to call LENZ. So I would say my tasting room personnel’s weren’t really that knowledge. And they didn’t have to explain the wines to me either because the notes were on the menu.

For the tasting the wines are poured into these 2-3 oz glasses which I think is a smart way to give the illusion you have more wine than what you were actually served. The wines we tried was the Chardonnay: 2014 Grand Reserve and 2015 Reserve. The red blends were 2014 Medium body, 2013 Medium body, 2012 Medium body, 2006 Light body. Our favorite was the 2014 Grand Reserve which had hints of lime, lemon, grapefruit, and green apple. The wine was clear with a buttery finish and would have gone good with a salmon. Our favorite red blend was the the 2014 Medium body which had hints of cherry, cinnamon, plum and vanilla. It had a lot of tannins, I would have paired this with filet mignon with a side of roasted potatoes and snow peas. Each bottle has about 15% alcohol. Also something important I learned was that 100% of the proceeds go to charities such as Island Havest, City Harvest, The PinkRock, The Stony Brook Foundation, The East African Center for Empowerment of Women and Children, etc.

In the end besides getting there late I really enjoyed the trip because it allowed me the opportunity to visit a vineyard, which is something I probably would never think of doing. Also since studying wine I felt more confident going into the winery because I have a little wine knowledge. Which was quite helpful since the staff wasn’t much knowledgeable. I really appreciate these types of projects and looking forward going to other winery, vineyards, and wine tastings.