5 minute read
Growing home
By Michael J. DeCicco
Greenvale Vineyards in Portsmouth has a big answer to the question, “what's new?” It recently opened a new 8,000-square-foot farm building that will house a winery, farm equipment, and wine storage. Nancy Parker Wilson owns and manages the vineyard along with her husband Bill and son Billy. Until now, she explained, Greenvale brought the grapes it grew to Newport Winery to make its wines. Now, Billy will be the winemaker in Greenvale’s own facility, located off the long driveway that extends from Wapping Road and leads to the vineyard and barn and open entertainment area. For four years, her son learned the trade under Greenvale’s first winemaker, hired in 1997, Richard Carmichael. Both the son and the new building are already at work, turning the Cayuga grapes it grows for the popular Stepping Stone wine it sells.
Greenvale typically produces three to four thousand cases of wine a year, she said. This new facility will allow it to produce at least two thousand cases more, she boasts. “We will now be able to deliver our music, delicious prepared foods (supplied by visiting food trucks), and fine wine at the same location,” she said. “It’s great to have our wine produced at our own place.”
Bill Wilson elaborated on why Greenvale will be improved by the new facility. The new building, he said, will have three components: a winery, storage for the wine and storage for Greenvale's chemicals, vehicles, and tools. “It will be a counterpoint to our historic tasting room. It's functional and on one level.”
The new facility will save Greenvale five weeks per year on its time making wine, he said. “Now we're making our own wine,” he explained. "Before, it was stored in Portsmouth, made in Newport, and retailed here. Three different places! Now we will be able to make better wine. Before, we were tenants, making the wine on Newport’s schedule. Now we have more control over the process. Now we’re able to supervise the vineyard and make the wine ourselves. We have a much higher relationship to the wine we are producing all-around.”
Vintage Entertainment
Both Greenvale and its customers will like the change, he said. “The staff is excited by the change. Visitors will now be more knowledgeable. They can see the process. No one could see our process before. On our tours, they’d ask to see our winemaking tanks. We couldn’t. Customers can walk by the tanks now.
The customer is 300 percent better now. Our quantity will increase. We will go from four thousand cases to eight thousand cases per year. But it’s also all about quality. We believe that too. We’ll be able to experiment with our flavors more.”
Greenvale's ultimate goal, he said, is more achievable now. “We want to be the premiere vineyard in New England, and this will help us do that. This is an essential step to doing that.”
The new operation means some good news for Greenvale after a winter that saw a deep frost in February that lowered its yield of viable grapes below last year’s, Nancy Wilson said. The new facility will now allow Greenvale to uphold its status as an important part of the Portsmouth and Aquidneck Island nature community, she is proud to note.
Greenvale is a sixth-generation farm steeped in history since 1863, and recognized as a landmark of the area. Founded as a 60-acre agricultural utopian farm, following a concept described in a popular book “Country Life” by Robert Morris Copeland, Greenvale was a farm retreat. Greenvale began growing its grapes in 1982 and was incorporated by vintner Nancy Wilson in 1988. It brought its grapes to the Sakonnet Winery until it started turning its grapes into wine on its own in 1992. In 2000, the 6,000-squarefoot horse stable on the property was renovated into multiple uses by the winery, for its offices and a public space for wine tastings and live entertainment. The bathrooms are former box stalls. The offices are in the upstairs hayloft. Greenvale’s other new attraction, she said, is a Quarterly Wine Club. Two weeks prior to the Club Selection Release Date, members can receive an email to access the available and limited-release wines to customize their bottle selection. “Four times a year, members can come by and pick up their selections,” she said. Greevale also ships their wines, for members’ convenience.
Put it all together and you've got a great combined attraction: fine wine and live music in the barn or outdoors on the vineyard lawn weekends from spring to December.
For more information or to join the wine club, visit Greenvale in person at 582 Wapping Road in Portsmouth, or go to Greenvale.com-WineClub.
Michael J. DeCicco has worked as a writer for over 30 years. He is also the author of two award-winning young adult novels, Kaurlin’s Disciples and The Kid Mobster. He lives with his wife Cynthia in New Bedford.
