Vineyards may spring up in Middlebury

#MIDDLEBURY

The flourishing grape vines in the background were planted in Middlebury in 2012. They already produce wine grapes in quantities that can be sold to a vintner. (Submitted photo)

 
By MARJORIE NEEDHAM

If two Middlebury residents proceed with their plans for wineries here, they will join the Department of Agriculture’s list of 35 licensed wineries already operating in our state. Jon Bosman and Dean Yimoyines both presented preliminary winery plans to the town last year, with Bosman presenting his plans to Middlebury’s Economic and Industrial Development Commission in July 2016 and Yimoyines presenting his plans to the Conservation Commission in November 2016. Meanwhile, another Middlebury resident, Maggie Stocker de Belcher, has been successfully growing wine grapes here since 2012. She, however, has not presented plans for a winery.

Bosman hopes to establish his Connecticut Yankee Winery partly on his own Shadduck Road property and partly on land the old Nichols Road house sits on. Little has been done with the house since it was saved from demolition in 2011, and Bosman sees his plan as a way to help preserve town history while providing an aesthetically pleasing site for a winery. His plan includes reconstructing up to two barns on the Nichols Road property.

Bosman and his wife own seven acres on Shadduck Road, and he said he has cleared about three acres of his property. He planted a small plot of 100 wine grapes there in 2016 and plans to plant more this year. He said of growing wine grapes, “This is something I have a passion for.”

The Middlebury Land Trust has a conservation easement on most of the 133 acres the Nichols Road house sits on, and that could preclude putting a winery on the property. However, Middlebury Historical Society President Robert Rafford said part of that land is not covered by the easement. It seems at first to be a small amount of property, a circle with a radius 300 feet from the house. But when you calculate the area, Rafford said, you find it is at least 6.50 acres and possibly more. Rafford said the road into the property also is not part of the easement.

Yimoyines’ proposal is for a larger project on property that was once part of the Whittemore estate. The 35-acre tract slopes down to Lake Quassapaug from Tranquility Road. “Before we bought the property, we had decided to farm it,” Yimoyines said. “That is the highest and best use of this property.”

A vineyard, however, was not the first thing he thought of when he thought of farming. He considered vegetables, but he wanted the property to be self-sustaining and decided a vegetable farm wouldn’t work. He will grow some vegetables, but they will be to supply the Cafe at Middlebury Consignment with fresh vegetables.

What cemented the idea of a vineyard for him was attending a wedding in a vineyard at Niagara-on-the-Lake in Ontario. “It was so beautiful,” he said. “It just crystallized the idea.”
What will actually go where on the property has not yet been determined. People with various areas of expertise are advising him on how best to lay out the property. Yimoyines said the first order of business is to figure out what is needed for the vineyard.

He plans to start planting root stock in May and hopes to have 5 to 7 acres planted in 2017. He expects those vines to be in full production in five years. At some point, blueberry and elderberry bushes also will be planted on part of the property.

Whether the winery will be open to the public or not hasn’t yet been decided, Yimoyines said. But he’s sure of one thing. “I intend to restore the property, including the buildings, to make it a beautiful, scenic, bucolic location. We only want to make Middlebury better,” he said.

De Belcher, a master gardener, said she thinks the idea of growing grapes in Middlebury positions it to become a lovely community to visit and to drive through. “I don’t know of anyone who is making wine commercially, but if that happens in the future, it will increase Middlebury’s draw,” she said. “Interest in coming here translates to spending money here. All our small businesses need our support. I see that as a potential positive income.”

She said of her vines, shown in the accompanying picture, “The grapes are just a pleasure.” She said she planted 300 root stock from a New York state vineyard on two acres in 2012. In 2015, she was able to harvest about 20 percent of her crop and by 2017 she anticipates harvest will be at 60 percent.

De Belcher said she thinks the potential for wine grape growing in Middlebury is very good. She said her soil tested at a very balanced pH. Topsoil in Middlebury ranges in depth from 10 to 18 inches , she said, and grapes send their roots deep.

She said the topsoil on the property where Yimoyines plans to plant his grapes is 18 inches deep. “It’s prime planting acreage over there,” she said.

Noting that grapes historically have been been grown on hillsides with sloping landscapes like the property Yimoyines acquired, she said, “I think it’s a lovely vision to plant a vineyard on that property. The property would be put to good agricultural use. It would be a good visual plan to see, and it would produce a product.”