BASHAKILL VINEYARDS

BashaKill Vineyards is Sullivan County’s first commercial winery which opened its tasting room doors in December 2007. BashaKill Vineyards is an eco-friendly vineyard that produces “certified naturally-grown” grapes. The vineyard lies on a slight slope that flows down to the 2,000 acre BashaKill wetlands. This marsh provides an ideal micro-climate to grow world-class organic grapes, and the loose, sandy soil offers excellent farming conditions. The land around the wetlands has a long history of farming dating back to the 1700s. It was initially inhabited by Native Americans and by the mid-1700s European settlers migrated to the area. One can still find old clay drainage pipes in some of the fields.

The northern fields of the vineyard, planted in 2005, are home to both our Cayuga White vines as well as a red variety named Noiret. We use the Cayuga White grapes to produce our Estate White Tail varietal white wine. Since we use no additives and a very low sulfite level in our wines, we need to sterile filter the yeast from the wines that have any residual sugar to prevent refermentation in the bottle. Some of our white wines have an effervescence due to this natural refermentation. We were pleased with this outcome and received good feedback, especially with our 2009 Estate White Tail. We decided to make this our official sparkling wine using natural fermentation. In 2010 we will put our Estate White Tail in a sparkling wine bottle and use natural fermentation to recreate the sparkling quality. In 2006 we took a chance and planted a newly released red hybrid from Minnesota, named Marquette, which has Pinot Noir as one of its grandparents. Marquette promises to be a hardy, disease-resistant grape that will produce a high quality wine. In 2009 we were able to take a small harvest for a test batch and could not be happier with the outcome! We are blending our Marquette with our Noiret and calling it Bald Eagle. In 2010 Bald Eagle will be our first Estate red wine and will be sold in a black bottle with a white top. This wine will be a full-bodied, heavy red wine with spice, oak and hints of black pepper, and made from organically grown grapes!

New in 2009 is our Coyote made from 100% Cab Sauvignon grapes. Our 2009 reds will be released by mid-summer 2010, check our website for details. At the end of 2009, we started a few projects with artist and designer Elwood Ennis (www.ennisdesignstudios.com). We built our favorite new toy, a brick oven! We now serve brick oven pizza that we pair with our wines, free of charge. Check out our cooking dates under the “Directions” tab on the BashaKill Vineyards website. Plans are also under way for a wine cave which will be set in the mountain on our property. The cave will have four arched rooms which will allow us to expand our wine capacity and give us the perfect temperature and humidity for aging our reds, all from the earth!

White tail is our sweetest white wine and can be paired with desserts, salads or enjoyed on its own. It is sweet, highly aromatic and bursting with fruit flavors.

Our first full crop of our organically grown Cayuga White grapes! Our Estate White Tail has a refreshing effervescence and pairs well with salads, antipasto and perfect for sushi.

Made from the noble Gewurztraminer grapes. This wine has both fruit and spice on the pallet and best served with seafood or fish dishes.

One of our most popular whites, this Germanic style semi-sweet wine has flavors and aromas of honeysuckle, pineapple and grapefruit. Enjoy with light pasta dishes and desserts.

One of our most popular reds, this cab is very smooth with soft tannins and a hint of oak.

Made from 100% Chancellor grapes, this wine is full-bodied with aromas of cedar and spice. It pairs well with Italian foods and spicy dishes.

Made from Lemberger grapes this soft red pairs with poultry dishes and also is very nice on its own.