Club Newsletter October 2023

Fall is in full swing here in Lincoln! Come join us for a warm glass of mulled wine or cider! As usual, this time of year is very busy with leaf peepers, and preparing our fall release wines for you! We are in the final stages of bottling and labeling. Check out the list of what you’ll be getting and be sure someone 21+ is home to sign for the package! Credit cards will be processed on October 17th, so please update any payment details with us before then. More detailed descriptions of the wines you’ll be receiving are available on our blog. We have some awesome new red wines to share with you. We are sold out of our jingle bells winery bus tour, we’re looking forward to seeing you all there!

It’s here again and we love it. Fall, with its leaves changing, sweatshirts, flannels, scarves, outside fires on a chilly night, but most importantly it’s harvest season at the winery. We have received our fall harvest grapes coming in from California. All the grapes looked and tasted fantastic as they arrived. We quickly crushed the grapes and got them into our stainless steel tanks to begin fermentation during the first week of October. As this harvest season gets underway we are having some bitter sweet moments. Fall 2023 will be our last harvest to happen in our current facilities. While we are bursting at the seams in the production room, and cannot wait for our new upgraded, LARGER production space, we find ourselves full of reflection; where we started, where we are now, and where we plan to be in the future.

Starting a quaint winery in 2010 at Windy Ridge Orchard Mark didn’t have much more than passion, drive, and a steely reserve to MAKE something with his hands. Fast forward six years; he moved the entire operation into the Riverwalk Resort during the tail end of the construction on phase one of the resort, becoming the first winery to be located solely inside a five star resort. Mark knew that getting into Lincoln, NH was key to making this, almost hobby winery, into a full fledge successful and thriving business. So when Dennis offered the opportunity to move his production and tasting room into the brand new Riverwalk resort, Mark boldy took that next step. When we look back on that first year in the Riverwalk Resort, in 2016, we can’t help but ruefully laugh at our younger selves. We thought the production room was so BIG with our few small stainless steel tanks and four oak barrels in the middle of the floor of the current production space. Year by year we have grown at a steady rate. Leading to building out of the production room onto the patio space outside the production room’s sliding glass doors, in 2019. By throwing up a few walls and taking down two sliding doors we had enough room to purchase 36 additional oak barrels; which allowed us to produce more red wine and in turn let us age more of our reds out longer. Before 2019 we were averaging 9 months on oak for our reds, and post 2019 we were able to keep most of our reds on oak for at least a year and a half. Happy to say that we are now able to age select varieties two full years or more in oak.

We are a company that is and will always be looking forward. This idea was molded and solidified into each employee at Seven Birches and Rhythm Ciders by our founder, owner, and leader Mark LaClair. In 2020 we were unable to receive our spring harvest due to covid. So instead of scaling back in order to compensate for the loss of inventory, Mark’s entrepreneurial spirit decided to look forward and he started a new brand called Rhythm Ciders. Now rounding on the third official year of Rhythm Cider we have won best cider overall at the Big E fair in Massachusetts. We also won a bunch of other medals for our cider and Seven Birches wine, but who needs to brag. Above all this is who we are. We start small, we dial in, improve whenever we can, and we put out the best products and experiences we can. While we are always happy with our products and service we are never satisfied. We will continue to improve our wines, ciders, service, and experience. Which brings us to 2024.

We have done what we can with the space we have. When we run out of production space we built out where we could, when we ran out of tasting room space we expanded to opening the Atrium Wine bar event space and later the Rhythm Cider Studio tasting room. Well, I can honestly tell you folks we are out of space, we are out of creative ways to maximize what we have. So once again instead of settling, being happy at what he built, happy at the success of the business Mark is looking forward. Forward to what we can become, so by this time next year I will be writing this newsletter, to all of our beloved wine club family, in my very own office, not on a white plastic folding table shoved into a corner of the production room,  which will be located in a six thousand foot production space. You folks will be enjoying a glass of wine or cider in your very own club lounge, incorporated, but separate, in our four thousand foot tasting room space. Our vineyard out back of the Riverwalk resort will start to be used for a backdrop to weddings, and will produce a small amount of estate wines as well. Our club, as you all know, is traveling around the world with Mark to taste and experience different wines and cultures.  With this new production space we will begin canning our cider and picking up a distributor. Soon you’ll be able to have the cider you love from the seacoast to, above the notch, in Littleton; in a few years we might even be at your local watering hole. The future starts now and we here at Seven Birches and Rhythm Ciders are excited to have you with us for the ride. So, next time you’re in Lincoln and see Mark give him a pat on the back, shake his hand for his passion, drive, and a steely reserve. He has strived to make a product we all love, an experience we want to brag about, and a place where we can all feel at home.

Here’s the list of what you will be receiving:

Mostly Reds Club
2021 Satori/Pinotage
2021 Classique/Cab Franc
2021 Carmenere/Karma
2021 Tempranillo
Legacy
2021 Kismet (Red Blend that was Co-fermented) (Cab Sav, Merlot, Tempranillo, Syrah, Pinot Noir)

Mostly Whites Club
2022 Rumor (Riesling)
2021 Chardonnay
2022 Alto (Pinot Grigio)
2022 Symphony (Chenin Blanc)
2022 Angel (Rose)
2022 Apple

Variety Club
2021 Sunset Red
Rebel
2022 Alto (Pinot Grigio)
2022 Symphony (Chenin Blanc)
2022 Angel (Rose)
2022 Apple

Fall is back and so is our Mulled Cider and Wine!  Our beloved Wine Slushies go into hibernation to make room for Mulled Cider at Studio, while Sangria bows out in favor of our latest Mulled Wine at the Seven Birches Wine Club Tasting Room, inside the RiverWalk Resort.  We are using both Red and White Wine to make one of the most delicious versions of our Mulled Wine yet.  If you prefer our classic Mulled Apple Wine, fret not!  You can purchase any 2 bottles of wine with our Mulling Syrup and save with our new build your own Mulled Wine Bundle.  Grab yourself a warm flannel and a friend to sit outside, watch the leaves turn, and enjoy a hot cup of joy at either of our tasting rooms.  You won’t be disappointed.

This month we had a bit of technical difficulty with our Monthly Live Update. We have worked out the kinks, so please join Mark’s next and final ZOOM Live! Download the ZOOM app if you plan on using your mobile device. See you there!

SAVE THE DATES:

November 1– 7:00 pm ZOOM update with Mark

November 3-5– Fall Release Party and Murder Mystery Dinner

December 2– Jingle Bells Bus Tour!

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