Our wine making journey began with determining if we had the right kind of soil.  So we sent some samples to a lab and as it turned out, our soil was in fact the optimal composition of nutrients and organic matter for certain varietal grapes grown in the Northeast. 

It takes a minimum of three years before your first crop of grapes can be harvested and made into wine. So after planting the vines, we know they would not be ready to be made into wine until the fall of 2010. So we decided to purchase some grape juice in order to start the process. We chose La Crescent since this was one of the varietal that we would be growing. This allowed us to begin learning the intricacies of making wine so we will be ready when we harvest our own grapes.

Over the period of time that the first plant was put in the ground, the vineyard has progressed and grown before our eyes. Every spring we have been meticulously pruning to shape the vines into strong sturdy plants that hold all the grapes used for creating the wines.

Special thanks to Dr. Peter Oldak, owner of Jewell Towne Vineyards in N.Hampton, NH.  who shared a wealth of knowledge on the subject of growing grapes in NH with us.

Our goals for the future include continuing to maintain the vineyard and to create new varieties of wines.  We also have a dream to build a larger tasting room on the vineyard grounds. You can follow the progress we have achieve so far and hopefully one day soon we can raise a glass of Black Bear wine with you and toast together.  Follow us on Facebook to stay current with new developments and announcements.