By Mary Schwager
TGV contributor
Bring the kids, bring the neighbors, and bring people who could care less about wine, because there’s plenty to do at Russell Orchards Farm and Winery. Nestled along Cape Ann, just a short distance from Crane’s Beach in Ipswich is a family run vineyard, that’s filled with family fun.
It’s a very fruity vineyard and we’re not talking about grapes. In fact there’s no wine made of grapes on the premises. Sound intriguing? Then stop by for free tastings on weekends to sample vino made from apples, pears, blueberries, red raspberries, and if you can believe it, dandelion flowers. Russell is a fully bonded winery and offers great hard ciders too.
How did the Winery start creating such unique wine? It all started back in 1979 when Max and Meredith Russell bought the farm, and Max decided to look right to what he grew on his land for inspiration and ideas.
Today Max’s son, Doug and his wife Miranda Russell run the operation. Miranda says Max tried all sorts of fruit concoctions before coming up with their signature wines. “It’s funny how the snowball effect started. He would plant anything he thought it would be fun to make wine out of,” Miranda says laughing. And except for the blueberry-based wines, all the fruit is grown right on the farm.
Miranda is used to hearing surprised sounding comments from visitors about the “berry” different wine they make. “People say to us, ‘Don’t you have to have grapes to make wine?’” Miranda repeats her mantra, “No, we have fruit wine.”
Today Max’s other son, Jason carries on the tradition of creative wine making. The steel tank fermenting room is in the cellar and Jason gets up very early in the morning to start mixing, measuring and tasting. (Miranda did not reveal if he’s also early to bed after starting the day in the fermenting room.) Aging is done in either glass carboys or most often in plastic barrels, which are more sanitary than wooden barrels. Different styles of oak chips are used for aging certain wines.
The Russell Orchard pear wine is bubbly at first like a Champagne, and then hits you with a dense Chardonnay like taste. The word “dry” in Russell’s “Dry Blueberry Wine” says it all. It’s dry as the desert. If you’re looking for a mellow dry wine this one is it. The red raspberry was interesting, very intense and sharp. Winery employee, Stephen Cocca, suggests it’s best served as a dessert wine and would pair very well with something rich and chocolately.
The dandelion wine was an experience, it took a minute to get your head around the fact you’re actually going to taste a product made out of weeds that grow in the yard. The wine was a little sharp, but had body. Russell Orchards Farm and Winery specialty "brew" is their selection of hard ciders, which contain 7-8% alcohol:
Dry
Sweet
Slightly Sweet
Cider/Perry (made from the farm’s Bosc pears)
Perry
Sparkling Cider
The Slightly Sweet Cider was the only one available for the tasting. It was a very fun, smooth cider– great for summer and fall.
Enough about the beverages, another other fantastic Russell feature is its award winning apple cider donuts. The aroma of the donuts cooking hits you right when you enter the adorable store, and when you find out you can buy them piping hot, warning: You will want to throw your diet out the window. A big yums up !
The store is housed in a 18th century barn with original barn boards and few renovations. Inside is like a deluxe farm stand, so much to pick from: Fresh apples, fruit, apple cider, pies, jams and jellies, maple syrup homemade honey, old fashioned penny candy and homemade bread and ice cream. There’s a cute gift section with specialty pancake mixes, toys and t-shirts.
If you want to sample the wines and ciders and bring the kids along this farm and winery is the perfect place. The grounds are beautiful and it offers apple, strawberry, raspberry, blueberry and blackberry picking, a playground and a barnyard filled with animals that kids can feed. Just don’t touch the pig
, he bites! Russell also offers festivals and school tours. Check its website: www.russellorchards.com for more info.
The good news for the community is this land will always remain a local treasure. The property was originally owned by the Goodale family and sold to their then farm manager, Kenneth MacLeod in the 1950′s. When the farm was up for sale in the late 70′s a group of concerned neighbors called the “Friends of Goodale Orchards” bought the land from MacLeod. They petitioned the Essex County Greenbelt Association to put an agricultural restriction on the actual deed so it could never be developed– and soon sold the property to the Russells.
The Goodale Orchards name remained until the year 2000 when it was officially changed to Russell Orchards to reflect all the changes, improvements, and diversification under the years the family’s ownership.
Russell Orchards was a pleasure to visit, close to Boston and New Hampshire and would be a fun stop on the way to Crane’s Beach.
