Berkshire Wine Tasting

After hoisting 35 pound backpacks for three days, we decided to hoist something a little lighter. It was time to hit the trail again, only this time, it was the Massachusetts wine and cheese trail!  We never realized when we booked this campground that we were within 20 miles of five different wineries.

Here is Kathy talking to Gary of Mount Warner Vineyards in Hadley, MA. Gary is a retired professor from UMass Amherst. He planted grape vines in his front yard and built a garage next to his house which holds his wine making business. He gives tours and tastings by appointment. In his small two acre vineyard, he has 10 varieties of grapes.  All of his wines were really good, but we were impressed with his raspberry port.  We've never tasted anything quite like it.

After leaving Gary's place, we drove through downtown Amherst - a very picturesque college town. We next stopped at the Amherst Farm Winery.  This winery has only been open for about a year.
When they took over the location of a former restaurant in a large 19th century post and beam red barn, they also inherited the giant foot.

Amherst had a much larger operation which included a gift shop.  Fruit wines seemed to be their specialty and we tried a dessert wine made from pumpkin. While different, it wasn't "pumpkiny" enough to warrant purchase.

Next we drove to Mineral Hills Winery in Florence, MA. Here is Dave looking over the tasting notes in the gift shop.

Before opening Mineral Hills, the gift shop was part of Godard's Red Hen Farm and they still sell apples and honey grown on the farm. Mineral Hills uses their home grown honey in a mead. Mineral Hills mead is a true honey wine and very unique.

Our last stop was Black Birch Vineyard in Southampton, MA. This was the first year of operation. While they made wine last year, their tasting room only opened in April. Since Massachusetts is a colder climate than California, they had to grow grapes that could withstand a cold winter. We really liked the Blaufrankisch, a nice dark spicy red wine.

While the trail was long, it held many rewards. We even found a 1950's style diner just outside Amherst for a delicious lunch along the way.