Schmetterling Wine Shop

11/06/2023

Good afternoon,

Let’s get to brass tacks here. Are you cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving? You can order with Momma’s. We’re getting Misty Knolls turkeys. I have been to this farm, it’s neat as a pin & smells good. Not that farms can’t smell, they can but, farms that don’t stink are remarkable & most farms I’ve been to don’t. When you spend a lot of time in Vermont, you start to know when to roll up the windows: CAFOS (please google if you don’t know what that means.) You might also know, if you’ve lived alongside animals or processed animals/your meat category food, that processing can smell, it just does, not a terrible smell but: guts are smelly & warm (jeez… I’m really selling these turkeys, huh?!).

Misty Knolls raises their birds & they have a USDA inspected facility on their property, it’s all picturesque, in the VT farm way (see the very vintage photo below). They’re in New Haven, VT & they’re sweethearts with brisk service. They raise the best turkey I’ve eaten. The turkey thighs are so fatty & the meat is so nice & rich that you might be fooled into thinking it’s pork. I cooked 2 thighs on an early winter night last year, in a big pot with beans grown at Morningstar Farm in Bellows Falls, VT & it braised just like pork, dark meat chunked off into the stewy beans. I added a lot of vinegar at the end, reminiscent of Filipino adobo like my aunt makes. I’m ordering some thighs just for this purpose. (The parts will be in the shop but are not pre-order-- if you're like: I want to make many legs, breast, wings, whatever, definitely email me so I can get you a special order.)

We did some events in VT last summer & had their chicken wings on the menu, always & of course. I asked the farmer, upon loading my wings into my Honda Civic, why do the birds taste so good?! He said that there’s a fancy hotel that a bunch of years back asked them to raise birds just for them. They did a lot of work together, chef & farmer, on feed, maturity of bird & breed & ended up with what they have. In addition to letting birds get big enough, in other words, reach full maturity, (this is a massive difference in poultry raising/production). For example, one of the most popular breeds raised: Cornish Cross, are mature in 6-8 weeks, they were bred to be that fast… it doesn’t mean they taste great, it means you can grow em fast, they hardly have a chance to get sick & also time = money (ugh, I like small farms). You know, fast isn’t always better? The birds at Misty Knoll have space to move & flap & scratch their dino feet in the dirt & time to grow & they are not transported for processing. A lot of experts say that diminishing stressful conditions leads to better meat (among other things). One very famous example of minimizing stress here. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hug_machine)

So, we’re doing a pre-sell of turkeys. I need you order by November 14, it’s not a whole lot of time but, then this [big] part of the meal will be done. I might, maybe, probably, I don’t know yet, get some birds to have for the folks who don’t pre-order but, we’re small so, I’m not sure how much space we will have. I wouldn’t count on that. Click here for pricing & sizes. (https://www.mommasgrocery.com/product/misty-knolls-turkey/2094?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false) $50 is just a deposit. We’ll settle up in shop when ya get your bird (we will charge you the remainder). Can’t guarantee exact weights but feel free to make a request.

Other table needs:
We are stocking cream, butter, sugar (fair-trade), flour (organic AP & org pastry), lemons, limes, olive oil, vinegar, cranberries, honey, candles, bouquets (dried & fresh), cider, WINE (so. much. wine), beer, dessert wine, amari... squashes, pumpkins, brussel sprouts, glassware, tinned fish, cheese & crackers... honestly, if I didn't list it, then tell me because we are going to be up to the roof come next week in food & fixings. We also have toilet paper. Honestly, it's a great thing to bring when your friend says: we don't need anything. It's tree free (bamboo-baby, a very freaking sustainable grass).

We're doing a pre-order with Breadboard Bakery for a few things. That ends Nov 12. We will have bread on Wednesday before but if you know you need a lot of something, please tell me: [email protected] I want to have enough for every little belly to get nice & big

06/21/2023

It’s still June! We’re celebrating PRIDE every day but especially this month. Together with we’re hosting a Q***r Wine Tasting featuring q***r winemakers. Please come! It’s free to taste the wines, suggested donation: $5-$10 will go to

Come hang out Friday June 30 4:30-6:30pm & taste wine at Schmetterling.

05/23/2023

Wine CSA sign-up is back open for July-December.
Buy in 6 month increments, like a CSA. 
Pick-up your bottles every month. 
Half shares & full shares available.
Must be signed up by the end of 2022. 

Half shares / 2 bottles a month
$210 ($35/month)

Full shares / 4 bottles a month
$400 ($66/month)

Always expect natural wines, seasonally appropriate. 
Simple wines, good for any night of the week. (Sign up in our bio)

05/11/2023

We did some Spring cleaning, come say hello.

04/30/2023

Hi! Here Danielle & Erika here just saying hello & happy Spring!

We’re bringing new wine through the shop, some of it is hitting the shelves & gone for good in the same week! There are little gems everywhere… from all over. (Most on website, some only in shop.)

You can go to our website (click in our bio) to see what’s available & order ahead, you can pull up right out front & we’ll run it out to your car.

Tastings are every Saturday 12-6 (open til 7).
Come through & say hi soon.

04/27/2023

The Schmetterling Flyer

Welcome back to our irregular newsletter.

Has it been a while?

Has it been a while since you've been into Schmetterling? Drop by!

We're open Wednesday through Saturday 12pm-7pm. We taste every Saturday from 12pm-6pm. $5 per person, unless you're in Zusammen and then tastings are free. Sam Lipin is leaving us for the summer so you have the next 3 Saturdays to catch him! We will be tasting some wild Italian wines this Saturday.

We're clearly a wine shop but, I thought (oh, hi this is Danielle) it was relevant. We too need to sell a certain amount of bottles to stay open. Just a little something to consider when making your shopping choices.

Some New Wines!

We have some new wines in the shop! For example, the 2021 Las Fermentadas 'La Sangrada' from Itata Valley, Chile.

Las Fermentadas is a project headed by Alice L'Estrange, open to any women who would like to make natural wine collaboratively at her winery, as a team. In 2021, Alice worked with Coline Marre, a French Oenologist & Isodora Munita, a Chilean raw milk cheesemaker. They purchased grapes from an organically farmed, chemical-free vineyard in Quirhue, in the Itata Valley farmed by Miguel Antonio Melo Henriquez who had been selling the farm's grapes as table grapes due to the lack of a market for wines from the area. In the future the participants in the project will change & they may work with grapes from different sources but Las Fermentadas will always be about collaborative women-made wines.

This cuvee is 100% Pais from a vineyard at about 150m, dry & grassy & warm. This wine is lighter, characteristically peppery & would love to be chilled a bit. Only 2500 bottles in the world... we have 5 bottles in the shop. $25 on the shelves.

Special Edition Cheese Newsletter

Look out for a piece from Sam Frank on natural wine & natural cheeses.

The teaser:

In the United States and beyond, there is a burgeoning natural cheesemaking movement taking place. In many ways, it's analogous to natural winemaking if you look at it from the perspective of minimal intervention happening in the cellar i.e. relying on the native yeasts found on the fruit to spontaneously ferment fresh juice into wine, which describes all the wines we carry here at Schmetterling.

We hope to see you soon in the shop. You can shop online anytime. (https://www.schmetterlingwine.com/s/shop) If you haven't taken a look at our website, please do. We're working hard to write descriptions for every single bottle... & yes, we're doing that hard work of tasting them all too!

Click here for an update from Schmetterling Wine Shop!

04/06/2023

This Saturday 4/8 join us in the shop with Beth Hankes of Earth + Salt. Beth is bringing book, s*x toys, l**e & more. 1-4PM

We are also tasting wine for the holidays 12-6PM. Wines that are good for groups or for any night.

See ya Saturday

04/04/2023

The Schmetterling Flyer

Welcome back to our irregular newsletter.

Shop Updates

Our Current Hours
As the sun shines later in the day we've adjusted our hours.

Our hours are: Wednesday through Saturday 11pm-7pm.

For those who came into the shop in the last couple of months, thank you. Your patronage of small businesses is what keeps our downtowns vibrant at all times of year. Please come through & say hello! Erika & I (Danielle) will be in the shop this Saturday the 8th too!

Tastings Every Saturday
TASTINGS ARE BACK. As many of you know, the state only allows 48 tastings per year. The statehouse is really active right now, so feel free to write your reps if you'd like more tastings and, if those tasting permits would be free, we'd do tastings every day.

But for right now, we're doing tastings Saturdays from 12pm-6pm.
$5 per person, unless you're in Zusammen (https://www.schmetterlingwine.com/wine-clubs) and then tastings are free.

We're still considering doing longer format classes for $20 per person, thank you for your feedback to those who let us know they'd be interested. I promise we're working on a few things in the background that we hope to launch this summer... you know we love collars & events.

So, Speaking of Events...

We have a few events coming up!
Plus we have some beautiful bottles in the shop for Passover & Easter (or any given day)!

This Thursday, April 6th, Phoebe Judge, owner & farmer at Sparrowhawk Farm will be in the shop selling bouquets. She grows flowers In Charlotte, sustainably & organically.

Get holiday bouquets, they pair nicely with wine!

Throughout the summer we'll be a pick-up location for their flower CSA. You can sign up now or you can learn more this week at her pop-up in our shop.

Come meet Phoebe this Thursday 4/6 1PM-5PM.
Sign up here for her CSA (https://www.sparrowhawkfarmvt.com/csa-shares) : there are options like, Dahlias only or 'Build-your-own'.

On Saturday, April 8th, Beth Hankes, owner of Earth + Salt in Burlington (https://www.earthandsaltshop.com) will be in the shop. She is bringing wares from her shop like: books, s*x toys & more. She is an ambassador of pleasure wellness & working to remove stigma on this topic. Please come by, meet Beth & taste wine with us!

Here's a good read in Seven Days about Beth's journey. (https://www.sevendaysvt.com/vermont/earth-salt-brings-s*x-toys-and-positivity-to-burlington/Content?oid=37545596)

Beth is in the shop 12-4PM on Saturday.
Schmetterling Wine Tasting 12-6PM.
(We're open until 7PM.)

More beauties from Sparrowhawk Farm.

We hope to see you soon in the shop. You can shop online anytime. (https://www.schmetterlingwine.com/s/shop) If you haven't taken a look at our website, please do. We're working hard to write descriptions for every single bottle... & yes, we're doing that hard work of tasting them all too!

Click here for an update from Schmetterling Wine Shop!

04/01/2023

April 8

On April 8 we are hosting Beth Hankes of Earth + Salt in Burlington in the shop from 12-4PM. There will be s*x toys, l**e, books & more! We will be tasting wine too!
Sexual wellness & fun is for everyone. Come through & ask questions, touch the stuff & hang out.

03/29/2023

IT'S MUD SEASON!

To get you through Mud Season we're sending out this 10% discount toward your wine purchases March 29 - April 1 (sorry, not good for records or clubs).

Spend $50 & take 10% off.
Remind us at check-out, or shop online & come pick-up.

Shop online anytime, or Come into the shop!

Tastings every Saturday!

From 12-6pm come taste wine with us in the shop. We open 3-4 bottles & then we pour them into your glass. They are fun! Come by!

Hours update!

It's lighter later so we are staying open until 7PM.
Our hours are Wednesday - Saturday 12-7PM.
We plan on opening 6-7 days over the summer! (PS We're hiring!)

30 under $30

We've got over 30 bottles under $30. All selected by us, all tasted by us, all natural. Come by! We are happy to work within your budget to find what you want to drink.

Click here for a free 10% coupon at Schmetterling Wine Shop!

03/15/2023

We’re hiring!
We’ll be expanding to 7 days this summer!
Just in Vermont for the summer? That’s ok! Looking to relocate (Great idea).
Quitting your FT & want to relax at Schmett this season (we have a nice couch).
*
Visit our website, schmetterlingwine.com/jobs for the complete listing.

03/13/2023

The Schmetterling Flyer

A special edition!

We've recently welcomed someone new to the Schmetterling team! Meet Sam Frank. Here's a little note from him & some notes on a wine he's digging right now.

Hi folks! Sam Frank here, the newest member of the Schmetterling family. Not to be confused with my far more seasoned colleague, Sam Lipin, or as I like to refer to him, "Better Sam" (Sam L knows the wines better, he knows how to talk about wine better, he's Better Sam! I hope to eventually graduate to "Not-So-Bad Sam").

I've recently moved just across the pond to Port Henry, NY, a beautiful little town on the shores of Lake Champlain and nestled in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains. Not such a bad place to be! My background is in cheese and dairy. I've pretty much done everything under the sun that one can do professionally in regards to cheese, except run a cheese cart for a fancy restaurant. Hoping to cross that off my bucket list when Erika & Danielle decide to make a foray into fine dining...fingers crossed! When the pandemic started, I decided I needed to learn to be a dairy farmer and have spent the past three years working for various dairies in Vermont, Massachusetts, and even New Jersey of all places! I'm now in the process of getting a farm off the ground with some very dear friends of mine who recently purchased 60 acres in Port Henry. In fact, I’m finally getting my own herd going of American Milking Devons, a critically endangered heritage breed cow genetically distinct to the Northeastern US. Our herd matriarch, Ruby, just had a healthy little bull calf, who we affectionately call Dave. Next up, Alice is due to calf March 13th! Stay tuned...

Suffice to say, I'm quite excited to be a part of the team here at Schmetterling. A seasoned cheese nerd, I've naturally been interested in wine for quite some time…see what I did there? I'm eager to expand my knowledge in the wide world of natural wine, not least of all because there is a burgeoning movement of natural cheesemaking, very much in its infancy and absolutely inspired by the accomplishments of the natural wine movement (for those interested, Parish Hill Creamery in Westminster West, VT and Bobolink Dairy in Milford, NJ, both places I’ve worked for, are two of the US’ leading examples for natural cheesemaking).

I’m currently holding down the shop all day Wednesdays and Thursdays til 4 (that’s when Better Sam comes in to clean up my mess). Come say hey! We’ll chat wine, cheese, cows, records and inevitably the weather in this wacky, wild winter we’re riding through.

Free Tastings

Typically we charge $5 for tastings on Saturdays. That's because we pay $25 for each tasting license (plus more for the yearlong liquor license), we pay our staff $18/hour & we typically have 2 folks working on Saturdays. We also pay for the cost of wine, of course. So, $5 for us feels fair to cover expenses.

That said, we tried a free (with purchase) tasting last Saturday & it seemed to be a hit. We're going to try it again this Saturday.

Details:
Tasting is free if you purchase something.
Zumsammen Club members taste for free, no matter a purchase.
Of course, you can come in & taste w/o purchase for $5.
Saturday, 11:30 - 5:30PM

Sam & herd teenager, Jo.

La Garagista | Damejeanne | 2021

As an aspiring farmer learning about natural wine in the State of Vermont, I feel compelled to write about La Garagista. For those not already indoctrinated to the gospel of La Garagista, come sail with me. These folks are true visionaries. Thanks to their hard work, dedication, and incredible wine production since their first vintages were released in 2010, Vermont is now on the global stage for natural wine...seriously!

Deirdre Herkin and Caleb Barber first began their farming endeavors in what would eventually become La Garagista Farm & Winery back in 1999 in Barnard, VT. At that time, they were running their restaurant, Osteria Pane e Salute in Woodstock, so they began farming to provide ingredients for the restaurant. I know that it may have sounded a tad hyperbolic when I said "these folks are true visionaries" in the preceding paragraph, but...like...they were growing food for their restaurant back in the 90's! "An Inconvenient Truth" wouldn't be released for another seven years, thus kicking off the environmental and subsequent local food movements we know and love today! But I digress...

There are some gaps in the story for me that need filling in (I still need to read Deirdre's book "An Unlikely Vineyard" available from VT fav, Chelsea Green Publishing), but from what I can gather, grapes eventually came into the picture, as did a wonderful chance encounter with a French family...who just so happened to be pioneers in organic, single-vineyard wine production in Burgundy, Domaine Guillot-Broux. As mentioned above, the first vintages were released in 2010, and Deirdre and Caleb decided to close Osteria Pane e Salute in 2017 to focus full time on farming and winemaking.

What sets their work apart and makes them trailblazers is their use of cold-hardy, newly developed hybrid grape varietals. The wine world had long held their noses up towards wines made from such grapes...that is, until they tasted the wines coming out of Deirdre's cellar. Nobody believed it was possible that wines of such depth and complexity could be made from these varietals, but Deirdre's winemaking proved them wrong. And to prove my point, their wines are now exported to Europe! Wines made right here in Vermont are getting shipped across the pond.

So the wine! We're currently carrying the 2021 vintage of the Damejeanne at Schmetterling, a Vermont red wine. It's made from 100% Marquette grapes. Marquette is the cousin of Frontenac, a well-known French-American hybrid, and the grandson of Pinot Noir. For the Damejeanne, here's what Deirdre had to say about the production process: "2 days whole cluster, destemmed, footcrushed, and then open vat skin fermentation before pressing. The number of weeks of skin ferment depends on the vintage." She went on to explain that the 2021 vintage had approximately 5 1/2 weeks on the skins. Skin contact is responsible for the coloring, body, and tannins in the resulting wine, as well as a whole slew of other subtleties, don't you worry! all of the fruit was sourced from their vineyard right up the road from Schmetterling in Vergennes, whose soils are defined by clay, limestone, and shale.

The Damejeanne is a medium-bodied, dry red that I got a lot of lovely, tart raspberry notes from, and better tasting minds than my own have described it as having notes of sour cherry, pomegranate, rhubarb, and thyme, to name a few. Suffice to say, there's a lot going on with this wine! As the Brits would say of one of their finest cheeses, "it has a long, lingering finish". You can't rush a wine like this. Give your palate the time it deserves to really take this one in. It's a perfect example of what the soils of Vermont have the capacity to produce if the grapes are tended to by the right individuals. And it's incredibly delicious! Come in and see for yourself.

Click here for an update from Schmetterling Wine Shop & Momma's Grocery + Wine!