Wine Entered in Topsfield Competition

Wine is made in the RootsLiving wine cellar without any preservatives.

It’s official. Wine from the RootsLiving wine cellar has been entered into the Topsfield Fair wine competition.

The fair doesn’t start until Oct. 2 but the deadline for submitting the wine is Aug. 12.

I started making wine 13 years ago with my father, following some old recipes that were passed down from his father. My favorite, and the one I submitted to the judges, is zinfandel.

I get the grapes from California and zinfandel is one of the better varieties produced there. The wine grapes that they send east are probably not the best in the lot. Those, I believe, are reserved for wineries out there. So my logic tells me that if I can get the worst of the best grapes from California, then I’m doing the best I can to produce a good wine.

Wine grapes are available only in the fall, so this year’s batch was made last October. The wine I make is a pure wine, free of all chemicals, which means no sulfates or preservatives of any kind. The 2008 vintage is a good one: a strong, mellow flavor of red fruits, featuring a dark red color with light raspberry-colored highlights, followed by good strong legs (the streaks that form on the wine glass when the wine is swirled).

I also entered the wine label contest at the Topsfield Fair by making a label using this photograph. Wine, under this label, is appropriately called, "Thatcher Island Zin."

This is the first time I entered my wine in any competition. I’d rather drink than compete. You know, make love, not war. But over the years friends and family have praised the wine and I thought it would be good to get the opinion of some impartial judges. (After all, I end up giving a lot of my wine away to friends and family. What else are they going to say?).

Last winter I had the pleasure of meeting another contestant, John Misuraca, and his wife, Sandra. His family has been making wine at his home in Gloucester the old fashioned way: by crushing it with their feet. We met over an unbelievably fabulous dinner (one worthy of being mentioned in any high-end food magazine, such as Gourmet or here on the virtual pages of RootsLiving) at Mary and Ray Hilshey’s house in Gloucester.

We both brought bottles of our homemade wine to sample. John’s red was great and took second place the last two years at the fair, so I know the competition is going to be tough.

Wish me luck.

(Photos by Mark Micheli)

Learn more about wine at MakingVino.com.