This Rocky Farm Land

The Mrs. had been mentioning it since the day I returned.  There is a winery nearby. Let’s go have a look.  My expectations were low.  My assumption was that it would all be rather common and unappealing.  But fortunately, I was about to be proven wrong. 

I wasn’t in the mood.  Halfway through a busy afternoon my wife reminded me that I’d acquiesced to visiting this local winery.  I imagined I knew where it was and what it would taste like and why it would all be pointless.  But I’d said I would and so somewhere around 3:00PM I suited up and fiddled with my phones and went out to the passenger’s seat of the car.

This involved a drive up the Wallkill River.  It’s a slow, winding river at this section of things.  Everyone seems to have a house there along the Wallkill.  We darted left along off 299 and on to the Old Albany Post Road and road along until she felt she’d almost missed it and then there, up to the right there were the twisted grape vines all in a row.  Not the vast miles of such grapes one might see in Napa but clearly a boutique collection from the tough Ulster County soil. 

They have two wines they grow on the vineyard.  Others are sourced from elsewhere in New York and only from elsewhere in New York.  I don’t know where they find all these smart young people with a surfeit of varietal adjectives to describe wine with.  There are a few at the local wine shop.  This guy was not to be underestimated.  We signed up for a shared tasting and got started on the driest wine which I kinda new from the outset would be the one that we’d secure.  He served to make me proud of this rocky farm land we have here. 

One the way home we stopped in a farmer’s market.  I had promised to make dinner and we reckoned we could get what we wanted inside.  They did not have meat, but they did have sausage.  The asparagus looked appealing.  “No sir, we don’t carry heirloom tomatoes when they are out of season.”  I got a box of “fresh” angel hair pasta and I had what I needed.  My wife ran back to get grapes.  They were $8 a bushel.  Is that right?   Yes, that’s right. Here is your change on a ten. 

Thursday, 12/12/19