Host Carlo DeVito wanders up into New England to visit Caleb Barber of the famed artisanal farm winery La Garagista is one of the hottest all natural wineries in the industry today. Rustic and all handmade (hand picked, hand crushed, low-to-no sulfites) La Garasta is all about terroir and vintage. So impressive.
La Garagista is on Mount Hunger, not far from Bethel, VT. Founded in 1999 by the husband-and-wife team of Diedre Heekin and Caleb Barber. They are farmers. Deirdre Heekin is winegrower, organizer, writer, photographer, flower farmer, would-be designer. Caleb Barber is gardener, cook, designer, builder, mechanic, factotum, philosopher, farm manager. Camila, the assistant winegrower, is grower, organizer, creator, systems manager, right hand. Their work at the farm and winery, both in the field and in the cellar, is guided by regenerative, permaculture, and biodynamic thought.
Deidre Heekin
Caleb Barber and Deirdre Heekin
If you're a wine geek, you will love La Garagista. And if you just like wine, you will be very happy too! The fruit is handpicked and sorted, foot crushed, and made in small lots using glass demijohns and old barrels, flex tanks and an anfora. They rely on the wild yeast. They use little to no sulphite at bottling. It depends on the wine and the season.
Caleb Barber
Their land has been part of small homestead farming for more than two hundred years. They farm four separate parcels. There’s Two adjacent vineyards are separated by a seasonal country road, and the other two are remote but near by in the Champlain Valley.Their mission is to make quality wines and ciders that express their terroir and their individual vintages. LaGaragista makes natural wines and ciders as hands off as possible.Diedre and Caleb believe that local wine goes with local food. They believe that well grown ingredients make for well made food and wine.
Vinu Jancu is the old Scicilian styled wines made in the orange style. This is an orange wine, made from Vermont estate grown La Crescent. The grapes were picked by hand and sorted. They were then pressed like red grapes and the wine was aged in the skins. The resulting wine had a big, big mouthfeel. It was a big chewy white filled with apricot, Seville oranges and orange blossoms, dried pineapple, and other tropical notes. But there was a great amount of acidity of this wine, which made it perfectly balanced. The wine was immensely layered, and intricate with it's flavors. Loved it.
House Music is a field blend of the wine from the home vineyard at La Garagista. This was dark and inky with notes of blueberry and cassis. A lovely smoothness in the middle and a long lingering red fruit that is born by acidity. A lovely effervescent wine with tremendous taste.
In A Dark Country Sky is named for Taurus, one of the oldest constellations named in the early Bronze Age. This is a wine made from estate Marquette grown on clay and limestone and fermented whole cluster with wild yeast. This is a bright, fruity, spicy , medium bodied red. Young and vibrant, and with good, mouthwatering acidity. No sulfites. You might like it chilled, Deirdre and Caleb suggest. But I had it room temperature at lunch and it was wonderful wine that went great with pork or fowl, cheeses or pastas
Ci Confonde Rosso 2019 (750ml)/Chi•con•fond•ay/. Rosso is among my favorites of their wines. This wine is A Marquette pet nat, old-style… first fermentation in the bottle. Hand-harvested from their Vergennes vineyard in the Champlain Valley, and unfiltered, The wine is bottled shortly after harvest and left to finish under a crown cap. this alpine wine medium with notes of cherry and red currant. A big fruit forward nose. Lovely fizz. Wonderful!
Check our Deidre and Calebs wines. Se what all the fuss is about. It's well worth it.