family-owned farm winery on the Niagara Escarpment USA
established in 2011, Long Cliff is the testament of a lifetime of love & labor from the three generation DeMaison Family Farm
Read MoreOur Lemberger is finally here! Finished softly in French Oak, it is the perfect wine for people just switching into reds. For the past nine months this one has been Kevin’s baby while it aged in the barrel… Meanwhile, Don has been keeping vigilant watch over our (yet to be released) 2011 Pinot Noir. Between…
Read MoreWe’re checking “brix” daily here at Long Cliff! Kevin took Danielle out in the vineyard today to get some practice with the refractometer. This allows us to test the sugar levels, or “brix,” in our grapes so we know when it’s time to start picking! It won’t be much longer now- harvest season is almost…
Read MoreSeptember 7-9, the wineries of the Niagara Wine Trail will celebrate the beginning of the harvest season with their annual Harvest Festival Weekend event. One of the most popular events for the trail, wine and food pairing will be featured at each participating winery. Each winery has selected a food from a local vendor to…
Read MoreAfter so much anticipation, our Birthday Blowout has come and gone… We had an amazing weekend in the tasting room, wine was flowing and friends were laughing! All in all it was a huge success, and a record breaking sales weekend since our opening last November! Thank you so much to everyone who stopped out-…
Read MoreYesterday marked the first day of our Birthday Blowout, and the first event Long Cliff has hosted ourselves, apart from the Niagara Wine Trail! Thursdays are always a slow day in the tasting room, but this weekend we managed to break our record for Thursday Sales! Thank you to everyone who stopped out- we had…
Read MoreThe streamers are hung and the balloons are ordered! Join us this coming weekend, August 16-19 for a wine and dessert event, in honor of Danielle’s 21st! We put in extra hours this past weekend, setting up decorations and putting together guest bags (with free gifts from our friends at Schulze Vineyards & Winery, Sweet…
Read MoreAfter a slight delay, Blauer Himmel FINALLY hit the racks yesterday! The labels were supposed to be available for pickup Wednesday, but a slight hiccup caused a delay, and they weren’t available until noon on Thursday… Two hours after opening. When Don finally walked through the tasting room door with labels in hand at 3pm,…
Read Morehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u6AYl9dksA&feature=plcp
Yesterday the Long Cliff boys spent the day filtering Blauer Himmel. The red wine ran through tubes straight from its barrel, through a filter, and into the steel tank from which it will be bottled sometime later this week!
Rumor has it, we may be launching and selling our first bottle of “Long Cliff Vineyard and Winery’s 2011 Blauer Himmel” THIS WEEKEND… But you didn’t hear it from me! (;
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After an operation earlier this month, Don was ordered to 6 weeks of rest and recovery time, light work only…
So imagine our surprise when looking out the window of the tasting room yesterday, we caught him washing one of the tractors fresh from the vineyard. We have to ask ourselves, “Does that count as light work?!”
We’ve been reminding him he needs to rest, but the man can’t stand idle hands… Looks like his recovery is coming along just fine, Doc!
And that’s not the only thing making swift progress at Long Cliff! Our 2011 Vintage Sauvignon Blanc is now on the rack! If you haven’t already, stop in and taste the difference a year can make! 2011 Semi Sweet Riesling is also available & Blauer Himmel will soon be released! The Lemberger we have set to release this fall is coming along VERY nicely in the oak barrels in back.
AND, “party plans” to celebrate Danielle’s 21st this August are well underway. Long Cliff Winery Presents “A Birthday Blowout,” a Wine & Dessert Event, is sceduled for 8/16-8/19. Desserts were ordered this past week, and donations for our basket raffle have started coming in! We can’t wait to see everyone that weekend! Save the Date!!
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OUR 2011 LABELS HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY THE TTB! Not only does this mean we will soon be able to start selling our 2011 vintage, but we can finally launch our long-awaited “Blauer Himmel.”
The name, which is German, translates to “Blue Heaven,” and a taste of heaven is exactly what you get with this red wine. A blend of three different grapes, it is composed primarily of the Blaufrankisch variety, and has a 1% sugar content- making it the perfect pizza/pasta wine.
Blauer is extra special to the Long Cliff family however, not just for its unique taste- two years ago we lost “Grandma Judy,” Don’s bride of 21 years, and though she’s not with us today, she stood beside us as the grapes were planted & supported the opening of Long Cliff Winery as the ultimate goal. We couldn’t let the vision Don & Judy had together come to life without some dedication back to her.
While we’re not quite ready for an official label reveal yet, we don’t mind dropping a few hints… The labels (blue obviously, which was also her favorite color, not so coincidentally) feature her name scrawled in grape vines across the top, as well as a halo and angel wings in each of the four corners. Each time a bottle leaves the rack and goes out the door, we know it’ll be Grandma Judy (Mom) patting us on the back and saying “Good Job Boys!”
Our 2011 Estate Grown & Bottled “Blauer Himmel” will be available sometime this August.
Subscribe to our Blog & Follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/longcliffwinery) for up-to-date details on the OFFICIAL release!
Long Cliff Vineyard & Winery, Inc. 