Obscured by the imposed formalities of drinking wine and the mystique of making it, we sometimes forget that wine is an agricultural product. Winemaking is farming, and like all farmers, we are at the mercy of Mother Nature and her increasingly unpredictable behavior. We work hard to embrace her whims, adjusting our farming practices and winemaking decisions to best represent each growing season. It’s a wonderful thing working so closely with Mother Nature, but sometimes she can just be mean.

The 2023 growing season in northern New England was historically difficult. A hard freeze in mid-May wiped out vineyards and orchards across the region, including 80% of our crop at Lincoln Peak. Farmers were forced to look elsewhere for their fruit, a sad reality when you’re focused on expressing local terroir, but a great opportunity to collaborate with other growers and work with some new fruit.

Starlight was born from this collaboration. Gently pressed Marquette from the Finger Lakes, a wonderful winegrowing region with a lot of similarities to ours, was fermented and blended with Vermont-grown Petite Pearl to yield a darker spin on dry rosé. In the glass, look for aromas and flavors of wild strawberry, cranberry juice, vanilla bean, and a distinct herbal note reminiscent of amaro. Come by the winery this weekend to check it out!

And please take care of Pachamama so she’ll take care of us.