Southold Farm and Cellar Foregone Conclusion Alicante Bouschet 2017
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Regan and Carey met, lived and worked in Manhattan prior to returning to Carey’s hometown (Cutchogue) in 2011 to forge this venture and pursue a life in wine. They’ve spent their time since leaving by working in numerous cellars (including Lenz and Osprey’s Dominion) and renovating the entire derelict property from house to land. Through it all, their focus has been on telling our story on the North Fork through its ability to make wines of great pleasure and meaning with the help of Carey’s father, Steve O’Connor.
Located in Southold, New York, on the North Fork of Long Island, The Farm + Cellar is a 24-acre homestead and winery on which they raise a family, a winery and vineyard, and everything in between. Currently there are nine acres of vineyard planted and the wines are made in various borrowed spaces with plans to construct our own cellar soon.
The Dream is to make wines that speak of place and time, that thrill and delight our friends, family and ourselves. As for this site, it is an attempt at transparency, which we hope to carry through into everything we do. And like the land, it is a work in progress, something we expect to change over time.
The most famous of the rare, red-fleshed grape varieties, Alicante Bouschet is known as a Teinturier grape. While most red grapes have red skin but clear flesh or pulp, the French, Alicante Bouschet and the Georgian (country) variety called, Saperavi, both have red. These make intensely hued, full-bodied red wines that take to oak well and can stand some time in the cellar. Somm Secret—While originally the product of a French crossing (Petit Bouschet and Grenache) of the late 1800s, today Alicante Bouchet grows widely in Spain and is gaining notoriety in Portugal.
Maintained by a long history of knowledgeable grape growers and a current generation of persevering winemakers, modern Texas wine production continues to flourish. Today Texas ranks fifth in production volume and boasts a number of variations in climatic conditions and terrain suitable for viticulture.
The Spanish planted the first vineyards in the state in the 1660s in Ysleta Mission near what is now El Paso. Texas is also home of the famous taxonomist, Thomas Munson, who led extensive research in the 1880s on vine breeding and is credited with saving Europe from complete phylloxera devastation. His results led to the French importation of huge amounts of American species phylloxera-resistant rootstocks, which when grafted onto their non-resistant Vitis vinifera species, prevented the spread of the disease.
Today Texas boasts over 275 bonded wineries and eight official American Viticultural Areas (AVAs). Some of the main AVAs include Texas High Plains, Texas Hill Country, Bell Mountain, Escondido Valley and Fredericksburg.
After experimentation with popular California varieties yielded mixed results, many growers have turned their focus to heat and drought-resistant Mediterranean varieties. Grapes such as Syrah, Tempranillo, Sangiovese, Viognier and Vermentino are well-suited to the Texas environment, especially the Texas High Plains AVA in the northwestern Panhandle of Texas where vineyards are planted at 3,000-4,000 feet. This AVA receives of plenty of sunshine and cool nighttime temperatures support acid retention.