(I am still catching up on long-deferred posts from a prolonged busy period at work. This one is from September!)

After prowling the fields of dealers at the big annual Brimfield Antiques Fair (scoring some cool barware and kitchenware there) we headed west to Northampton and onward into the Berkshires. We didn't know what we'd find there; we were really just looking forward to a relaxing drive before we had dinner and headed for home. 

There's a lot of farm country in those rugged, rural hills. Livestock is abundant and varied. There are fine horses, or course. Dairy farms are common, and Black Angus beeves grazing in rocky fields. There are also many sheep and alpacas raised for their wool. Goats make their appearances everywhere. Geese and ducks stand their wet ground, wary of the hens closer to the farmhouses.

We see most of these critters on the rocky hills where you might not want to drive a tractor. The valleys are full of corn, for the most part, and apple orchards. Cider, once the mainstay of New England taverns, is coming back in a big way, with new cidermakers across New England, and ever-bigger crowds at the annual Ciderdays event in Franklin County in the northern Berkshires.

But we did find a few hillsides supporting a special crop that we don't think of very often in New England: wine grapes! We saw a sign for the Mineral Hills Winery at Godard's Red Hen Farm in Florence, MA and had a little time yet before 5pm, so we figured it was worth a detour to see what they had in the works.

Boy, was it worth it! Godard's is a great example of a farm squeezing every bit of artisanal goodness out of their 60 acres of hillside. They grow apples and cold-weather-hybrid grapes and they keep bees. Out of this they produce cider and grape wine, including the traditional but seldom seen May Wine, plus honey and mead. They also produce beeswax lip balms and other products.

Their creativity exceeds their acreage, so they bring in local blueberries as well. We tried (and bought) the blueberry wine and their apple wine.

Some people wrinkle their noses at the thought of buying a wine that isn't some fancy French or Italian label, or at least a reputable California vintage. They take it a step further: "Why for the $12 I would spend on a Massachusetts farm wine, I could buy a Cotes du Rhone!" they sniff.

Sure you can. It's not a very good wine, but that's your choice. You won't find terroir in those $12 wines, and you won't cellar them for 15 years. But you might plan to quaff it with some favorite meal, maybe a spaghetti dinner or a meatloaf.  

Well you can do the same with your local wines. You can visit the winery and sample the wines. When I tasted the blueberry wine, I thought it would respond well to sage, maybe with turkey. The apple wine was sweeter, with good acidity - it would go with a BBQ pork sort of flavor.

In the end we bought the wines and kept my notes, and we served them with foods that matched their flavor profiles...just like you might do with a $12 California pinot noir. And you know your farmstead wine never spent a hot afternoon in a tanker truck!

Don't be afraid (or too snooty!) to sample the local wines. Sure, some are not real good, but others really are good. Take them as they are and use those flavors as a springboard for your culinary creativity!