Winery's new setting has a past

Winemaker and owner Alan Hunt now offers his wines at the former home of Henry Rose. Rose built the mansion in 1838, just a few miles down the road from where his brother John Rose had Esperanza Mansion built.

The majestic building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Henry Rose House, Hampstead. The house has a dozen tall columns and a spacious porch across the front. Like many homes of the day, the rooms have very high ceilings. Recessed pocket doors, once used to divide two large front rooms, still operate after 165 years. The first-floor entrance and rooms have been painted and wallpapered with shades of purple that mimic the colors of grapes and wine.

This spacious setting is a far cry from the booth at the Windmill Market, south of Penn Yan, where he began selling his wines in the spring of 2002.

How did Alan get into winemaking in the first place?

After leaving Upstate Milk in Manchester, where he worked for several years, Alan got into the grape-growing business in 1996. He began planting different varieties of grapes to supplement the ones he already owned. As his cabernet and pinot noir grapes began bearing fruit, Alan thought that he would like to make wine from part of the crop.

"Since my 20s, I've dabbled in wine," Alan said. Although he sells a majority of his 25-acre harvest to Bully Hill Vineyards, Alan still has plenty of grapes left to make his own wine. Last year, he handpicked all of the grapes used to make his Yates Cellars wines, even those from other growers' vineyards. He will need a lot more time in the vineyards this year for picking because he expects to increase his production from last year's 400 cases to 1,000 cases in 2004.

"The situation was right for me," Alan said when I asked how he came to purchase the Henry Rose House. "The whole place is in great shape." The size of the facility and the large, dry basement for storage were contributing factors as well.

While Alan is out working the vineyards, he has the capable help of Darlene Cronk to manage the tasting room. When she first came to him looking for work, Alan told Darlene that he thought he was looking for an older woman. He wanted someone who wouldn't take any guff. She, in turn, told him that he could not open until they washed the windows. It turned out that she had the attributes he was looking for.

Darlene first poured Double Barrel Seyval. It is a blend of 2000 and 2001 seyval wine aged in American and Hungarian Oak. It a good, dry white wine with some oak taste and a clean finish.

The 2001 Gewurztraminer has a nice spice flavor, typical of the grape type, and ends with a clean, dry finish.

The Niagara is a blend of 2000 and 2001 Niagara wine. It has the nose and taste of sweet Niagara grapes but finishes surprisingly dry.

And the Sailor's Red Delight is a 2001 cabernet franc wine that has good plum and berry fruit flavors.

Although Yates Cellars' hours were limited to weekends in late April, they soon will begin operating seven days a week.

Jeff Richards' wine column appears Saturdays. For comments or questions, he can be reached at 607/271-8279 or 800/836-8970, ext. 279, or e-mail: jrichards@stargazette.com.