This past week
Old York Cellars hosted another
#VirtualVines online tasting featuring their
What Exit Wine brand: a Jersey-centric line of wines that raised $5.000 for the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund. The winery has now turned their philanthropy support to
Hometown Heroes, where $1 from each $18 What Exit White, Red, & Blush Wine where be donated to the charity. During the
#VirtualVines, Old York winemaker Scott Gares and
Sommelier Laurin Dorman were joined by Hometown Heroes President & Founder, Mike Schwartz, to discuss wine and the charity's goals. The embedded video below describes the organization.
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| Photo courtesy of Old York Cellars |
During the session Gares also answered questions on the current harvest and the affect of Sandy at the winery. During the hurricane, most of the grapes had already been harvested, but blocks of Malbec were sitting in the press when the winery lost power. The juice sat on it's skins for eight days - fortunately it was Malbec. Gares also had to use generators to operate punch downs for juice in fermenting tanks. As for this year, the cool, but dry summer will lead to an early harvest; the grapes are accumulating high concentrations of sugar already.
On to the wine, we started with the What Exit White, a 90-10 blend of Chenin Blanc and Cayuga White. It is completely dry, with a floral-apple nose with some decent depth on the palette. The finish is clean and acidic. The What Exit Red is a 6-40 blend of Barbara and Merlot. This is a fruit forward wine, with a slightly spicy nose, followed by dark berry flavors and finishing softly with nice acids. Our tasting finished with the What Exit Blush, basically the White with some Cabernet Sauvignon added for color. Thus, it's dark than most rosés, but don't let that full you to think this is a sweet blush. There is only 1% r.s. and it is closer to a Provence-style as it drinks dry with strawberry characters and a refreshing acidic finish.
These are very nice examples of local NJ wine. Remember, $1 from each bottle sold is donated to Hometown heroes and if you use the coupon code HEROES up until August 8th, you receive 20% off of any What Exit Wine. During our #VirtualVines tasting Old York Cellars donated $1 more to the charity for every #VirtualVines tweet that night. $300 was raised; good for them. Cheers.
Hometown Heroes is a
501(c)3 nonprofit organization
whose main purpose is to foster an environment of goodwill, generosity,
and encouragement by supporting local communities in times of crisis.
We provide assistance with meeting unexpected needs in our communities,
and do not discriminate based on ethnicity, gender, or age. The
organization provides an opportunity for all of us to give back to our
neighbors through professional services, financial help, and advocacy.
Hometown Heroes assists those in need to find solutions to problems that
appear overwhelming. Our non profit has supported our neighbors through
the Restore the Shore campaign, as well as providing assistance for
individuals facing homelessness, domestic abuse, drug addiction,
disability, and more.
Down the Shore Exit Only White ($16); a blend of Chenin Blanc and Cayuga. An old world-new world wine. This creates a soft wine, with loads of apple flavors (thanks to the Cayuga), and finishes with decent acids. The Hometown Heroes Rosé ($22) is a blend of Chenin Blanc and Cabernet Sauvignon and weighs in at only 1% residual sugar. The wine starts with a subtle strawberry raspberry aroma; with plenty of red fruit. It finishes with prevalent acids although not as high as the white. Winemaker Scott Gares tried a dozen different blends to get the color and flavor profile he preferred. The Cabernet was the winner in this endeavor with the grapes lightly pressed - no saignee. And remember, for every Honetown Heroe wine purchased, $5 is donated to that charity. The final wine was the Greetings from New Jersy Red ($18), an interesting blend of 40% Barbera, 40% Merlot, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon. This is a summer red, so serve slightly chilled. There's sour cherries throughout and with the acidity, it's quite refreshing. Cheers to New Jersey wine and Old York Cellars. theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator Mobile App can help you plan a visit.
