Eat, Drink, Be Merry on the International Wine Trail
Breakthroughs in enology have helped to develop high-quality and disease resistant grapes that thrive in the Champlain Valley. Photo by Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership.
A new international wine trail was unveiled at Snow Farm Vineyards in South Hero, Vermont in late September. Linking many wineries extending from Middlebury, Vermont, to Plattsburgh, New York and to Dunham, Québec, the Champlain Valley International Wine Trail will provide information to casual travelers and wine aficionados alike.
Winemakers in the Champlain Valley cultivate hearty northern grapes that yield distinct, award-winning wines. The craft of winemaking is growing every year, due in part to the region’s unique climate and soils. There are more than three dozen vineyards and wineries on the Wine Trail, so whether you’re looking for a dry white, a full-bodied red or a lush dessert wine, stop by a local winery and taste the terroir! Click here for a map of the trail and click on the grapes to learn more about each vineyard.
“Visitors can now easily visit one website to learn about the tremendous offering of vineyards and wineries in the unique terroir of the Champlain Valley,” said Bill Howland, manager of the Lake Champlain Basin Program (LCBP). First proposed at an international summit to discuss how New York, Québec and Vermont could collaborate in implementing the new Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership (CVNHP) Management Plan, the international wine trail is a shared effort with partners in New York, Québec and Vermont. “The overall goal of the Champlain Valley International Wine Trail is to encourage partnerships that focus on enhancing the tourism economy around Lake Champlain and interpreting peoples’ interaction with the working landscapes,” said Howland.
