THE WEIRS TIMES & THE COCHECO TIMES, Thursday, July 7, 2011
HERMIT WOODS, STATE’S NEWEST WINERY, PUTS EMPHASIS ON LOCALLY GROWN FRUIT
by Roger Amsden News Correspondent
SANBORNTON - Hermit Woods Winery, the newest win- ery in the state, opened its doors to the public the last weekend of June and is currently produc- ing non-traditional wines from locally grown fruit as well as traditional wine styles with grapes from California and Chile. The winery, located on
Taylor Road off from Steele Hill Road, is the joint ven- ture of three friends: wine- maker Ken Hardcastle, who is a geologist; Chuck Lawrence, an airline pilot and Bob Manley, an ar- chitectural and commer- cial photographer. Originally brought to-
gether by mountain bik- ing and their love of wine and locally-produced beer
Chuck Lawrence, Ken Hardcastle and Bob Manley, toast the success of a recent batch of wine made at Hermit Woods Winery in Sanbornton.
COURTESY PHOTO
boutique wines and de- cided three years ago, with strong support from their wives, to start their own winery. “It’s sort of a hobby run
amok,‘‘ says Lawrence, who says that this fall the winery will be making its first wine from its own four-acre vineyard where several varieties of hardy hybrid grapes, planted by Manley, are now growing. An airline pilot from a
Pathway at the Hermit Woods Winery leads to the tasting room on the second floor.
and cider, the trio ex- panded their horizons by incorporating a monthly wine-tasting gathering with their wives. Through sampling and seeking out a wide variety
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of wines produced in the Northeast and Canada and continuous experi- mentation with local fruit, Hardcastle, Manley and Lawrence got to know what would make good
family with longtime ties to the Lakes Region (an ancestor owned the land on Parade Road in Laco- nia where Tavern 27 is lo-
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cated and in 1768 signed a petition which led to the incorporation of the town of Meredith), Lawrence says that the quality of the wine produced from the new crop of grapes will go a long way toward determining the future di- rection of the winery. “We may concentrate
more on the non-tradi- tional wines using local fruit or go further in the direction of traditional wine-making with our grapes. What we do want to do is to make good, interesting wines from locally-grown products,’’ says Lawrence. The first batch of wine
the trio produced in 2008 was a crabapple wine made from fruit growing on the Manleys’ property, where the winery is locat- ed. The Dolgo crabapples, See WINE on 26
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