SOUTHAMPTON — If you ask Edward Hamel, who spends quite a bit of his time outdoors among the grapevines, great wine is made in his vineyard. But if you ask any of his winemakers, they’ll tell you that great wine is made in the winery, of course.
The truth, however, is likely a blend of the two efforts.
In any case, Hamel and the rest of the team at Glendale Ridge Vineyard have proven yet again that they know the secret to making great wine after taking home eight medals at the largest wine competition exclusively focused on wines of the East Coast — the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association’s wine competition.
The goal of the Virginia-based competition is to help distinguish “the best of the best” with the palates of judges from all over the U.S. from within all aspects of the wine industry.
Judges scored 455 wines from 17 different states located between Maine and Florida, including Vermont, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
As the only award-winner from Massachusetts, the Southampton boutique winery and vineyard was presented with a medal for each wine they submitted, including the “best of” category and gold medal for their 2022 Estate Crescent White.
“This is quite an honor,” said Hamel, who owns and operates Glendale Ridge with his wife, Mary.
The win comes on the heels of loss from the following year. The western Massachusetts vineyard entered a handful of wines to the competition and when they looked at the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association’s results, Glendale Ridge’s name was nowhere to be found.
The vineyard has done rather well at the competition since first entering in 2014. One of the more notable wins of the past was a “best of” title and gold medal for its 2018 Estate Pétillant Naturel.
When not a single submission was recognized last year, Edward Hamel says his team was in shock.
“We were pretty stressed out over that. We kept waiting for results and nothing was there,” he said.
As it turns out, none of the wines that they had entered had even made it to the judges. It’s still unclear whether Glendale Ridge’s submissions were lost or stolen along the way.
After missing that year, the vineyard made up for it with this most recent competition.
In addition to the gold medal for the Crescent White wine, the vineyard walked away with silver medals for their 2019 Ridge Red, 2021 Estate Pétillant Naturel Blanc, 2022 Estate Traminette, 2022 Rosé, and 2022 Estate Vidal Blanc; and bronze medals for their 2022 Sauvignon Blanc and 2022 Pinot Blanc.
Hamel credits the weather with creating such favorable grape flavors in the 2022 wines.
“Last year was one of the best grape-growing years ever in the Northeast,” said Hamel. “The grapes thrived in that weather — a lot of sun, moderate temperatures, not too hot — and created really nice wines.”
What makes the 2022 Estate Crescent Wine special?
Glendale Ridge Vineyard, which is situated on a retired dairy farm at 55 Glendale Road, has rather conducive land for growing the Vidal Blanc grape, says Edward Hamel.
With 100% sun exposure — meaning that when the sun rises at 5:30 in the morning and sets at 8 p.m. — the grapevines are constantly having sunshine poured on them.
The vineyard also resides on an eastern slope, allowing a natural airflow down the hill that “freshens” the grapes and keeps them free of disease, said Hamel.
“Beyond that, we’re in an area of eluvial outflow from when the glaciers were here back in the day, and so consequently, we actually have deep gravel soil. It’s a lot of stony soil,” he said. “It’s a little bit different from what most grapes are grown in, I think. They seem to thrive in that soil. They dig deep for water.”
The combination of the sun, natural airflow and the soil produces a healthy grape.
The crescent wine is composed of mostly Vidal grapes, as well as a little bit of Traminette, Arctic Riesling and Aromella grapes, according to Hamel.
The 2022 wine was made “uniquely different” than years past as the team at Glendale Ridge made a dry wine, meaning there was no residual sugar, and yet there’s still quite a fruity flavor, he says.
“It also has notes very similar to what a Sauvignon Blanc might have, and we’ve never seen that here before,” said Hamel.
Glendale Ridge Vineyard is open Thursday and Friday, 3 to 7 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 7 p.m.
