By Mary Schwager
TGV contributor
When you think of visiting “America’s Hometown,” Plymouth, Massachusetts what are the first places that come to mind? The Mayflower? The Rock? How about wine?
Right off Water Street along the main strip and the harbor, in a cute shopping center, is a great little gem called Plymouth Winery.
There’s no sprawling acres of vineyards behind the shop like some wineries. The vino here is made right in the back of the colonial-looking store by owner Linda Shumway. “Urban wineries are getting to be not as usual as they used to be,” says Shumway, who’s a one-woman show. She makes the wine, holds the tastings and runs the store with a bit of help from her sister.
Visitors can’t check out the inner workings of the winery but whatever she does back there, the vino ends up tasting pretty darn good. In fact she’s gotten a great review by the Boston Globe, www.plymouthwinery.com/Articles.htm and many of her wines have won national and international awards. For Shumway, a former environmental consultant, making creative wine out of grapes, cranberries, apples, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries, has been a bit of a career change. The shop has been around for 15 years, but she bought it in 2004.
The shop is generous with the samples and there are many wines to choose from, in fact if the author of this review didn’t have to drive home, she would have “sampled” a lot more.
The Bogart Blend: One of the shop favorites (and this reviewer’s favorite) was the “Bogart Blend”. The Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc grape mix is named after Shumway’s late chocolate lab. It’s light, sharp and has a rich finish. The winery literature describes it as a “traditional, medium-bodied, dry white wine that has a hint of oak, floral aromas, and pairs well poultry and veal.” Ole Bogart’s inspiration led to the wine winning a bronze medal at the prestigious 2008 IEWC, International Eastern Wine Competition.
Bug Light White: Plymouth Winery touts, there’s no oak in this wine, which is named after the Plymouth lighthouse and made from Chenin Blanc and Viognier grapes grown on Martha’s Vineyard. It’s got a sweet, smooth, rich taste. Shumway describes it as a, “dry white wine that’s low in acidity with a honeysuckle taste.”
Cranberry Blush This was terrific and a very unique blush wine. It’s a blend of 90% white grape wine and 10% cranberry. The cranberries replace red grapes for color and flavor. It was very smooth and tasty.
Mayflower Red: This wine won the bronze medal at the Big E Wine Competition. It’s called the winery’s medium bodied red table wine and it’s incredibly fruity and smooth, made with Cabernet and Zinfandel grapes.
The wines are all very reasonably priced, from $9.99 to $14.99. If you’re in the area, definitely stop in for a tasting! There are many other cute stores in the outdoor mall where the Plymouth Winery is located, including a chocolate store, clothing store and many more.
Check out the hours and location right on the website: www.plymouthwinery.com.
