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The Grapes of Bill
This captain of industry's Clinton vineyard is no mere labor of love
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Business New Haven
9/8/1997
By: Paul Lehman
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Connecticut's wine industry was officially born in 1978, when the legislature passed the Farm Winery Act, which permitted winery proprietors to sell their products wholesale as well as to the public who could be offered tastings. Ten years later, a native Kansan with a country home in Clinton, William R. Chaney, chairman of Tiffany & Co., a wine enthusiast and collector, decided to create a vineyard and winery of his own.
Chaney purchased a 40-acre plot in Clinton less than two miles from Long Island Sound. The site benefits from a unique micro-climate with favorable temperatures and a lengthy growing season. The rich, stony soil and moderate climate provide an ideal environment for the growing of premium “vinifera” grapes.
Next, Chaney found winemaker Larry McCulloch, who at that time was vineyard manager for a small Hudson Valley winery. The two set about cultivating grapes on Chaney's land with a tractor, a small bulldozer, some basic farm implements and root stock from an upstate New York nursery.
Today, Chamard (an anagram of Chaney family member's names) Winery produces about 5,000 cases of wine annually, of which about 85 percent is Chardonnay. Production currently is concentrated on estate-bottled Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc.
The Franc is the newest addition of varietal wines, and McCulloch says he believes it is a rising star among red grapes in the eastern U.S. and other parts of the country.
“For us, the Cabernet Franc may be the best red grape for our region,” asserts McCullough. “It's winter-hardy and ripens earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon and the wines are good, especially when blended with a little Merlot and Cabernet as a Bordeaux-style red wine.”
Of Chamard's 40 acres, 20 are planted with slightly more than 18,000 vines. The winery was constructed in 1988 and today has seven full-time employees as well as six seasonal workers. The plant is equipped with a $29,000 German press, a $45,000 Italian bottling line and a quantity of French oak barrels costing $650 each.
The first commercial vintage yielded 1,575 gallons, or 632.9 cases, of wine, of which 1,300 gallons were of Chardonnay, 175 gallons Cabernet and 100 gallons Pinot Noir. The 1988 Chardonnay was released for sale on November 3, 1989. Annual revenues have amounted to approximately $500,000 and are increasing each year.
The winery employs a full-time salesman who calls on retailers and restaurateurs throughout Connecticut. Current products are the 1995 Chardonnay, which retails for $9.99 a bottle, the 1993 Cabernet and Pinot Noir and the 1994 Merlot, which sell for prices ranging from $10.99 to $14.99.
Chamard's prices are competitive with many Californian, European and Australian wines on the U.S. market, but one of the company's main challenges is convincing wholesalers and customers of the quality of a wine grown and produced in Connecticut - not yet widely renowned as a wine-producing state.
Chamard wines are considered by many to be the state's best, although good wines are also produced by the Haight Vineyard in Litchfield, Stonington Vineyards, New Preston's Hopkins Vineyard, DiGrazia Vineyards & Winery in Brookfield Center, and the newest addition to the state's wineries: Sharpe Hill Vineyards in tiny Pomfret. All of these labels, including Chamard, comprise the “Connecticut Wine Trail,” which winds through the state's viticultural districts.
The Chamard winemaking process incorporates hands-on care and state-of-the-art equipment.
The latter includes a computerized pneumatic press which squeezes the juice from the freshly picked fruit, which itself has been harvested by an “over-the-row” mechanical harvester pulled by a tractor. The juice is pumped into stainless steel refrigerated tanks to ferment. A portion of each vintage is transferred directly into the French oak barrels for fermentation and aging. Winemaker McCulloch and owner Chaney carefully monitor the whole process in what amounts to a labor of love for all involved.
During the coming winter months each vine will be hand-pruned to maintain proper crop levels and plant vigor. In the spring, the growing vines will be trained onto a trellis system where buds and later the clusters are thinned to an optimum level.
During the summer the vines are positioned along the trellis and periodically hedged to enhance growth and improve fruit quality. As summer wanes, the battle against predators is joined. The ripening fruit - a juicy snack for birds - has to be netted to protect the valuable crop.
”We are encouraged by the consistently high quality of our wines as each vintage year passes, and by the increasing interest in our products on the part of the public, the wine shops and the restaurants in the region,” says Chaney. “Many Americans have embraced wine as their beverage of choice with meals in ever-increasing numbers, and we feel that we are making a significant contribution to this trend in this part of the country.”
Visitors are encouraged to tour the winery and attend wine tastings. The Chamard winery is open to the public Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and both wine and wine-related gifts are available for sale. In fact, nearly 20-percent of the total annual production of wine is sold to winery visitors.
The newest gift items Chamard offers are custom-engraved wine bottles beautifully etched by a local artist with a name and message of choice. The comfortable and attractively furnished winery sales rooms also afford an excellent view of the vineyards, and the staff are friendly and knowledgeable.
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