Winery Visit- LaBelle Winery

On Monday, my mother joined me for a day trip to LaBelle Winery, located in Amherst, NH. Yes a winery in New Hampshire! Who would have guessed such a cold climate could have such a thing. LaBelle is actually just one of the 22 located in this state I call home. LaBelle is located about an hour and a half away from my home in Hanover, NH. Most of the wineries in NH are not open this early so this is one of the reasons why I choose to visit this one in particular. The growing season here is from the end of May-October. This was my first winery experience but I hope to visit some once I return to Virginia in the summer.

 (a map of NH with 20 of the winery locations marked- LaBelle is marked as #11)

 (LaBelle Winery, Amherst, NH)
 (my mom standing in front of the entrance of LaBelle) 


LaBelle winery is a rather new facility, opening its doors the fall of 2011. It is 20,000 square feet and grows 7 different grape varietals. There varietals are; Cayuga, Chancellor, Nioret, Petite Amie, Seyval Blanc, Petite Pear, and Brianna. 




Not only does LaBelle produce wine from grapes but also various fruit wine. Some of the fruit wines include a blueberry wine, raspberry wine, pear, apple and more! 


If interested to learn more and follow along you can check out this self-guided pamphlet: http://www.labellewinerynh.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/SelfGuidedBrochure-Final-revision2.pdf. 



 (Arboleda vineyard at LaBelle)

  (Vertical Shoot Positioning vines to help with harsh weather conditions)

At LaBelle they have a restaurant inside where my mother and I had a lovely lunch together. For lunch I had a fresh bowl of soup and salad. We sat in this room shown below that was overlooking the huge tanks and oak barrels. 

 (me sitting down for lunch)

They're very creative and artistic here at LaBelle- even their menus are used from recycled cork! 

 (The Bristo at LaBelle)

 (custom made tanks)

These tanks shown above are 23-feet tall and hold 3,300 gallons. These tanks allow the winemaker to control the temperature of the wine at all times with the use of the glycol chilling system. "Our state-of-the-art bottling line is able to cork, seal & label 1,500 bottles per hour", according to the LaBelle pamphlet. They produce over 25 different wines at LaBelle and many have been given awards. The Indy International Wine Competition, The Best of New England Wine Competition, International Women's Wine Competition, The U.S. National Wine Competition are some of the competitions their wines have been a part of and awarded in. 


LaBelle offers a meeting place, a great room for big events, a restaurant, tasting room retail shop and a Winemaker's Kitchen. After lunch I toured around myself and got to briefly meet the owner Amy, who runs and operates the facility with her husband and is living her dream as she continues to learn more and more about wine. She started her dream of winemaking in 2005 and has grown tremendously since then. She loves to learn and continues to take classes. Her newest project the making of a Rosé Sangria. 

 (The tasting room and retail area of LaBelle)


I finished my afternoon lunch and tour of LaBelle with a tasting. I sampled a variety of their wines with recommendations to try some of their most popular ones. 

Gewurztraminer: "An easy to drink, fruit forward wine based in the German style, featuring notes of tropical fruit and soft species." This wine is a semi-sweet wine that is light and tastes of pineapple and spice.
pair with: asian fare, a cheese course, sausage and sauerkraut

Blueberry: "Made with local blueberries and aged in French oak, this wine drinks like a light Merlot in body and style." This wine is aged in 3 months oak aged-to age this oak they used infusion cubes. This wine definitely tastes of blueberry! Amy started her career off with the making of a blueberry wine.
pair with: grilled meats and pasta. 

Red Alchemy: "Winemaker Amy LaBelle blends three red grapes to create this crowd-pleasing, easy red dinner wine full of fruit, spice and woodland notes that is neither too light nor too heavy." This wine is the only semi-dry wine made at LaBelle. The wine smells of pepper and plum with a light body and long finish made with the noiret varietal.
pair with: poultry, beef or salmon

Verano Sangria: "Versatile, refreshing, slightly sweet and bursting with fresh fruit flavor, this bright sangria is perfect as is, or with an added touch of brandy and soda water for a different twist." This wine is made from the chambourgin grape varietal. This wine smells of citrus fruits and tasted of smooth berry jam.
pair with: Fine cheese course or spicy foods

Corazon: "An off-dry blend of our award-winning Seyval Blanc and Red Raspberry wines." This wine is there closest to a Rosé.
Pair with: seafood, chicken, or creamy pasta dishes

Red Raspberry: "This sinfully indulgent desert wine is sweet but balanced by fresh raspberry acidity." This is the wine that LaBelle uses to flavor their cheesecake, by pouring a little on the top. It is a very rich and sweet wine, with 4% residual sugar.
Pair with: Cheesecake, créme brûlée and chocolate

Overall had a wonderful time at LaBelle and was a gorgeous day to visit and a great way to start of the warm weather season! I was surprised by the amount the winery produces from the size of it. I have driven past many wineries before in VA but this was my first experience visiting one. I would have never guessed NH would have so many! I would definitely go back there again!