Welcome to the Bridge - Monthly Newsletter of Grand Island Vineyards

Have You Tried our Sparkling Wine Lately?

Written by Winemaker, David Shattuck

As the holiday season is winding down we want to wish you all a happy new year. 

I wanted to take a moment to revisit one of our most versatile wines for pairing with dinner: The Bridgehead Bubbles. This sparkling wine is made in traditional champagne fashion, which means that the fermentation that creates the signature sparkling effervescence is done in the bottle rather than a large tank. 

The advantage of this method is it allows the sparkling to wine to have softer, smaller bubbles and it also adds complexity to the sparkling wine. I highly recommend reaching for this sparkling wine next time you are having dinner out or don't know how to pair wine to a variety of food options. The high levels of acidity and soft palate allow the wine to pair with such diverse foods as oysters, steak, cheese, pasta, and fish. 

The Bridgehead Bubbles pours a soft pink hue with small abundant bubbles. The initial aroma from this wine is a delicate dried cherry with some hints of angelica and brioche. If you allow the sparkling wine to warm up to cellar temperature, the glass fills with the flavors that come from the champagne method including custard, challah bread, ginger, and allspice. The sparkling wine is well balanced and provides a clean finish with a burst of goji berry and oyster shell at the end. 

Goodbye to 2022 and a BIG HELLO to 2023!

Written by Tasting Room Manager, Tess Jonson

Wanted to give a huge thank you to all our members and guests who helped make 2022 such a success.

It was so nice to see everyone enjoying themselves at our live music events and pickup parties. And it was really nice to see any COVID restrictions fade away, allowing us to come back to some sense of feeling normal and being outdoors together.

Speaking of pickup parties... our first event of 2023, Wine and Chocolate and Music will be our winter pickup party on February 18th, 1-4pm. But you don’t have to wait until then to come out and visit.

Grand Island Vineyards is open Friday-Monday, 10-5pm with many options for seating. Make your reservations today! 

First the Work, and then the Rest!

Written by Winemaker, Ed Seikel

I hope everyone had a happy holidays! This past month was a busy time in the cellar while we prepared for our mid-December bottling, so it was nice to relax once we knew our new wines were tasting great and safely in the bottle.

We bottled 9 separate varietals: Four 2022 whites, our 2022 Rose, and four 2020 reds. The whites bottled were our Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Symphony, and brand new Pinot Gris. The reds bottled were our Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, and Petit Verdot. Overall, we are very pleased with these wines, and I think they will be great examples of their respective varietals and well represent what GIV has to offer.

These wines will all be released throughout the new year, so keep checking the newsletter for more information on when they will be available, along with David's excellent tasting notes!

Happy New Year from all of us at GIV!

Written by Operations Manager, Joe Salman

Happy New Year everybody! 

In the vineyard, I already feel like it's a completely new year, with nothing but promise abound. 

The vines are deep in dormancy now, as it seems like we are getting quite a winter this year. Frost, rain and fog have been a common occurrence, which are actually a plus when these things happen in winter for vines and other deciduous crops.

Mid-December marked the time we started pruning the vines and really started the process for vintage 2023! Besides some mechanized downsizing of the vines, this is still a very manual labor job with workers doing about 25 vines an hour. 

The pruning varies by variety, site and some market considerations, but the good part is we have all winter to get the job done. As I write this our workforce stayed home due to rain. But just because the workers have been discouraged today, wine tasters should not be. Unlike many other "winery tasting rooms" you can actually taste indoors at GRAND ISLAND VINEYARDS in our wonderful climate control tasting room, watch the rain through our many windows and even just be cozy on the couch. 

We look forward to seeing you soon!

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