DeMarsico's Wine Cellar Pouring Fruitful Vintages
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — You can't go into DeMarsico's Wine Cellar, but you can find its assortment of fruit and grape wines at local retailers — and the occasional craft fair.
Owners Glen and Cheryl DeMarsico have been holding tastings about once a month at the Eagles Hall, which on Saturday coincided with the annual craft.
The couple were set up at a table offering several of their wines, including a Cheshire pumpkin-and-spice limited holiday run. But one of their more popular libations — a blueberry mead made with honey from the town of Florida and berries from Maine — sold out in the first half hour.
"We always liked wine and we decided to do it as a hobby and we looked at the different kinds of wine that were out there," Cheryl DeMarsico said. "We started giving it to our friends; they said they loved it. We gave it to our friend who owned a restaurant and he really liked it and wanted to sell it."
After about three years making wine as a hobby, the DeMarsicos, of Adams, were encouraged by the reception of their fruit vintages and entered them competition.
"We won a couple of medals out of it and that gave us the drive," Glen DeMarsico said. "One thing led to another."
They applied for an agricultural permit that let them sell bottle directly and set up their winery in the basement at 28 Marshall St. in a room below Grazie Italian Ristorante, which has their strawberry wine on the menu. The wine cellar opened for business in August with about 25 cases.
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Cheryl is behind most of the berry flavors, coming up with a tropical vintage for summer, the pumpkin special and variations on rasberry, strawberry and blueberry. She came up with two named for their cats, the popular Jazzy Berry (with all three berries) and a blueberry/raspberry mix. Labels have a little paw print.
The pressing and bottling are all done in the 15-by-14 foot wine cellar, which is not open to the public. The DeMarsicos say they can make between 400 and 600 gallons a year. About 40 gallons makes 18 cases of wine. It's really not a lot, Glen said, because once they drop off a couple cases at their vendors, there isn't much left.
And each type of wine has its own maturing time. Strawberry is the shortest at about a month, and other fruits run about five to six months. But their grape wines — they produce pinots, merlots and chardonneys — take up to a year minimum.
You can find their wines at the V&V liquor store in North Adams; Val's Pipe & Package Store and O'Geary's Package Store, both in Adams, and Kelly's Package Store in Dalton. The Freight Yard Pub also has their wines on the menu. Another tasting may be held before Christmas; check the Facebook page.
The winery is a part-time operation but the DeMarsicos see potential for growth and there's some demand for their product out of state.
"We're hoping in five years we can expand and go bigger," Glen said.
Tags: new business, winery,
