Club Newsletter March 2022

Club News with Faith

Faith Cunningham, Wine Club Concierge

RiverWalk Tasting Room Wines As we spring forward to warmer weather and away from the deep freeze, we have some exciting things ahead! Get ready for your Spring Release Wines, which will be announced next month. Now is an ideal time to update any information on your profile such as your address, phone number, pick up or ship-to details, credit card information, etc. You can do this by logging on to your account or by emailing [email protected].

There is still time to sign up for our Spring Release Party coming up next month too! Post haste 🙂 You may purchase your tickets online at www.sevenbirches.com/shop. Tickets are $109.00, which includes three fun-filled days of activities, starting with our Friday night social in our Atrium location. Saturday will be a busy, educational, and fun day of tasting, trivia, and some education on wine labels and a labeling demo! AND…….we have an exciting surprise for you on Sunday when you come to the RiverWalk Resort to pick up your wines!

There’s still time to grab your ticket to our Spring Release Party! It’s all starting Friday, Apr 8, 2022. Here are the details:

FRIDAY APRIL 8TH – Welcome!

7pm – 9pm – Welcome Wine Social

Handout welcome packets and itinerary
Small appetizers
Open cocktail hour (one complimentary glass of wine)
Familiarization game
Announcements

SATURDAY APRIL 9TH – Wine Activities

10AM-12:30PM – Wine Labels Explained

Production Tour and Label Education
Mini tasting during tour (new items)

12:30-1:30PM – Lunch on your own

1:30PM-4:00PM – Blind Tasting Experiment

Blind taste test activity-understanding wine characteristics with blind tasting
Wine trivia

4:00PM-6:00PM – Free time

5:00PM-7:00PM – Club Release Tasting

Wine tasting of release wines
Hors D’Oeuvres
Cocktail hour

SUNDAY APRIL 10TH – Club Wine Time

11:00AM

Pick up release wines at RW
Gift bag

$109 pp - RESERVE Now!

Wine Tidbits – Growing Hybrid Grapevines in NH

Seven Birches White Grapes RiverWalk Resort 2 Very often, our customers ask us where we get our grapes from. The short answer is always, well “all around the world.” Many customers seem surprised that we tell them that we get some of our grapes from our own vineyard, right out back. Of course, everyone knows that there are certain growing regions around the world that are famous for their vitis vinifera (European grapes). But, most don’t know that we can and do grow grapes right here in NH. Now, we do have colder winters (and longer), and much shorter growing seasons, so we are not able to grow the same types of grapevines that you might find in California, or in France, for example. But, we can grow them.

Thanks to some very smart people at the University of Minnesota and Cornell University, among others, we are able to grow a species of winegrape known collectively as “the hybrids.” You guessed it, they are actually crosses between vitis vinifera (the classic European grapes like, Merlot or Chardonnay) and native cold climate grapes like Concord grapes. These hybrids grow very well in our climate here in NH and are frankly becoming known as the vines of the future. Since they are cold-hardy to -35F and ripen their fruit in the summer faster, they are good candidates for NH and are what we have planted in our vineyard. The white grapes that we grow are slowly earning their place in wine fame as they produce some of the most pleasant aromatic white wines you’ll ever try. They are, in many instances, beating out their vinifera cousins.

They are new. They are young. They are misunderstood. But, the hybrid varieties like Brianna, LaCrescent, Marquette, St. Croix, etc. are all gaining popularity. They take much tending and training, and a lot of talking to and singing around for them to grow into amazing wine grapes. But, as we get back out into the vineyard now to prune them, we are reminded that we are working on the vines of the future and we are excited to see how they grow into amazing new wines for Seven Birches.

Production News with Nate

Nate Maser, Assistant Winemaker

Mark Nate McKenna Pruning Vineyard at Seven Birches Pruning Time!

Among all of the “normal” everyday work of making our classic wines, craft ciders, hard seltzers, and meads… we are also making our way outside, to the backyard vineyard at RiverWalk Resort at Loon Mountain. The nearly 500 vines that have been planted over the course of the last 3 years are in different stages of development. The first block will be in its 4th growing season and should produce a small crop. The rest are younger and may produce a small crop this year, though we do not expect much. But, every year, they get bigger and stronger.

McKenna Pruning the Vineyard at Seven Birches Over the winter, the vines go dormant. In the summer, as leaves grow, they literally suck water and nutrients out of the ground, up the trunk, out the canes and shoots toward the sun. But, once the leaves fall off in autumn, that “evapotranspiration” stops and all of the water and nutrients flow back into the ground and the roots of the vine, where it is stored over the winter. We take this dormant time to prune off the majority of last year’s growth, leaving behind only a couple of hardened canes with around 10 buds that will shoot up this summer. This process of pruning allows us to train the vines to grown on the trellis and produce a proper canopy and fruit set. We do this before the vines warm up and start to grow again. Every year, the roots grow deeper, the trunk gets stronger, and the vines mature.

Tasting Room News with Brian & Katie

Tasting Room Managers in Training

Peach & Blueberry Hard Seltzers Spring is on its way to White Mountains! Here at Seven Birches, we take this time to prepare for the arrival of southern hemisphere grapes, clean up the vineyard and tend to the buds during this delicate stage of the growing season, and establish a game plan for the upcoming summer and fall seasons (which is our busiest time of year). Something we’re looking forward to bringing back are events and activities for locals and tourists alike. We have only hosted one wine club event since COVID hit, and we are excited to be collabing with local business, artists, and regional experts to bring a full schedule of fun with events to please everyone! Keep a look out for posts about what we have coming up. Have any cool ideas you’d love to see us do? Drop me a line, I’d love to hear it! [email protected]

Rhythm Studio Options Our Honey Pride Cider and our Blood Orange Cider have been a huge hit on tap already as we look forward to adding Peach and Blueberry Hard Seltzers to our menu! Come on in now to have a complimentary taste of both of our newest releases! The Studio is meant to be our space for creativity and diverse flavor and as we quietly add new ferments we are seeing fantastic development. Our traditional White Wine and Red Wine Flights sit nicely alongside our Craft Cider Flight. The Fruit Flight and the Variety Flight are our showcase flights. The Fruit Flight may contain Fruit Wine or fruity Ciders, as well as some of the fruitier Seltzers and Meads we have yet to release, look here for newer beverages with a touch of sweetness. The Variety Flight is made up of our top picks from the other flights on the menu! If you only are going to try one of each category, we have chosen the samples that will make you want to try more! This time of year is a little bit slower for us, meaning you can get a personal, intimate experience in our tasting room and very prompt service. Come join us soon! and bring your Rhythm gear to get a free sample of something new!