Ed's wine blog

 

2019  Isle La Motte Vineyard  Marquette, Marquette Reserve, and Lucent white blend

We were up in Georgia Vt to visit our niece and her husband last weekend, and had a small window of free time so I decided to visit a friend of mine on Isle La Motte as it's not that far from their house. I had been by a 2 acre plot of vines many times on the way to his house before and kept saying " one of these days I need to stop and find out what's going on " well, my friend wasn't home and this time I noticed there was a flag out by the vines that said open along with
" wine tasting today"  that's all the invitation I needed...

Steven and Jamie Foley started this endeavor 6 years ago, and this year is the first time they've been open for tasting. It's a small tasting room indoors, and they have tables set up outside behind the winery on the lawn. It was a beautiful sunny day with a nice breeze when I stopped by, perfect for sampling wines in the shade of an umbrella.

Jamie started me off with the Marquette red wine Ruin, it has notes of cherries, blueberries and vanilla in the nose. The palate has matching flavors of the cherry and blueberries, it finishes slightly tart with the fruit notes fading pleasantly. The color is a vibrant red/purple that lingers in the glass, almost staining it.

I tried a number of foods with this at home, the best matches I had on hand were a double cream brie with a bit of ground pepper that brought out some additional flavors in the wine, green spanish and kalamata olives worked, I'm betting prosciutto and landjaegers would also pair well with it. A Sunday roast chicken dinner with gravy also comes to mind.

The Ruin Reserve was very nice, more plush in the mouth, smoother, and the influence of 6 months in French oak definitely made a difference. Similar flavors to the regular Ruin but with more elegance.... definitely worth the extra $3.00. I would try the reserve with herbed prime rib, a nice cut of beef or buffalo grilled medium and finished with a dollop of garlic herb butter. The linguine Bolognese from 3 Tomatoes in Lebanon would be very nice with this wine.

The Lucent white blend is quite tart on it's own, you definitely will need some food to go with it as it has medium high acidity. Great notes in the nose and palate of citrus and lemon, the first dish that came to mind is the Tortelloni Brunelle from Lui-Lui. This dish has a lemon cream sauce with chicken, tomatoes, capers, and black olives that would pair up well with the Lucent. I would also try this wine with chicken and broccoli in an Alfredo sauce over linguine.

If you're up in the Champlain Islands for a weekend getaway, I definitely recommend stopping by their winery to check out their wines. Steven and Jamie are good people and I had a great time talking with them about the world of wine. The tasting costs you $8 and you get to keep your glass... support a regional winery...

Cheers!

Ed