NEWS & INFORMATION

We promise to be part of the solution

This past week has been tragic and filled with powerful emotions for individuals and communities all across our country. So we are not sending out our regular newsletter today. It's a small thing we can do to honor and make space for more important voices at this moment.

Hunt Country has always been a place where all people are welcome. We will continue to be a place where all are welcome when we reopen. But even more than that, we will be looking at what more we can do to help foster the systemic change needed in our country. We promise to be part of the solution, right here where we are.

We love you all. See you soon.

Reopening Update

You might have heard that the Finger Lakes region is "reopening" on March 15. Well, kind of. Different regions throughout New York will begin easing stay-at-home restrictions depending on when they meet certain milestones for managing COVID-19; the Finger Lakes has met these milestones and will begin the reopening process this Friday.

However, our region will be opening in phases. Phase One begins this Friday – but does not include winery tasting rooms. The best guess right now is that we will be included in Phase 3, later in June. We're definitely excited to begin welcoming visitors back to the winery, but it's looking like it will be a few weeks before that happens.

However, know this: We have already started making our plans to reopen! There will be some important changes to visiting the winery once we are open again – changes that are intended to keep everyone safe and to do our part to prevent future outbreaks of COVID-19. We'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, continue making the most of our front door service, keep ordering your favorite wines online, and Zoom with Karsten to get all your wine questions answered. And if you have any questions about reopening, please feel free to get in touch with us by email (info@huntwines.com) or phone (315-595-2812).

Our Rieslings score 90+ points!

We are thrilled and humbled to announce that our three current Rieslings have scored 90+ points with the tasters at Wine & Spirits Magazine!

• 2018 Dry Riesling: 92 points and a Best Buy
• 2017 Reserve Riesling: 91 points
• 2017 Semi-Dry Riesling: 90 points and a Best Buy

"Since arriving in the Finger Lakes in 2017, my focus has been on producing wines that display the signature characteristics of the grapes from our region, while also achieving specific personal and house stylistic goals," says Craig Hosbach, our head winemaker. "We have an extraordinary team here at Hunt Country that works tirelessly to produce consistent, high quality wines. We are really happy to receive these three 90+ scores from Wine & Spirits Magazine that affirm our passion and efforts."

"We are extremely pleased to have received 90+ scores on all of our current Rieslings from Wine & Spirits Magazine," says Joyce Hunt, co-owner and co-founder of Hunt Country Vineyards. "They are a testament to the talent, dedication and passion of our winemaker, Craig Hosbach, as well as to the knowledge, experience and lifetime dedication of vineyardist, owner and my husband, Art Hunt. Many thanks go to the winery and vineyard teams who work to produce our fine wines."

If you haven't had our Rieslings recently, you should put them on the top of your tasting list. The good people at Wine & Spirits Magazine have affirmed what so many of us already know: These wines are absolutely delicious!

 

Wine tasting at home, with Karsten and Nishant

Normally, "going wine tasting" would mean getting together with a bunch of your friends and hitting a wine trail or visiting your favorite winery. But since this isn't currently possible, we want to offer you a similar experience – a brand new experience – in your own home.

For a limited time, during the month of April, we are making our Wine Tasting series of videos available to you! These are the videos we created in partnership with Keuka College for our Wine of the Finger Lakes online course. They feature Karsten König, our tasting room manager, and Nishant Ceyyur, one of our stellar employees, giving you a personal wine tasting with all of the knowledge they have to offer. Both Karsten and Nishant hold a Level 3 Certification from the Wine & Spirit Educational Trust.

The first video in the five-part series is available for free! Grab a bottle of Riesling and taste along with Karsten and Nishant. The other videos in the series focus specifically on tasting Reds, Whites, Sparkling wines and Rosés, and Dessert wines.

To get access to these four other videos, simply purchase the special Wine Tasting Bundle we've put together with all of the wines featured in the series.

Normally, these videos are part of a $400 course, plus the cost of wine. But since social distancing is requiring all of us to do things differently, we've decided to change things up.

It's another small thing we and our partners at Keuka College can to do bring some fun into the adjustments we're all having to make these days.

The Fine Print

These wine tasting videos and the Wine Tasting Bundle will be available April 2 through April 30, 2020.

The first video (Wine Tasting - An Introduction) is free to access and taste along with. Grab a bottle of Riesling and taste along right now!

Access to the remaining four (4) tasting videos will be provided with the purchase of our Wine Tasting Bundle. Important note: Due to rules and regulations beyond our control, this specific bundle of wines cannot be sent to all states. Please phone the winery to see how we can adjust the bundle for you.

Links and passwords to the remaining four wine tasting videos will be included with the Wine Tasting Bundle when it ships to you.

The videos are hosted on a third-party platform, Vimeo.

TECH REQUIREMENTS: Viewing the videos should be pretty straight forward. You just need a computer or mobile device that can play web-based videos. Make sure you can play the introductory tasting video. Where you able to see everything okay? Were you able to hear everything okay? Then you should be all set, technology-wise.

ACCESSIBILITY: The videos are not yet closed captioned. However, we have complete transcripts available. If a transcript would be helpful to you, just let us know when you order your Wine Tasting Bundle. We'll get you the transcripts at the same time we send the links and passwords. We'd also love to know how we can make these videos even more accessible in future iterations.

If you have any questions at all, please get in touch with us by phone (315-595-2812) or email (info@huntwines.com).

Front Door Service for You

As you've heard by now, the governor of New York has ordered all bars, restaurants and other places serving food or beverage to temporarily close to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. This is a smart decision and we're happy to do our part.

However, practicing good social distancing does not mean you have to go without wine. So here's our Front Door Plan to continue serving you. Starting today:

1. We're providing front door pick-up at Hunt Country Vineyards, Tuesday - Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.
• Call in your order (315-595-2812) and make payment over the phone.
• Schedule a time to pick up your order or call when you arrive.
• Wait in your vehicle and we'll bring your purchase to you. (Have your ID ready because we may need to check it.)
• Return home and enjoy your wine.

2. Our online store remains open 24/7.
• Go to HuntWines.com.
• Order your favorite wine. Have it shipped straight to your front door or to a friend's front door.
• We're currently offering FREE SHIPPING on orders of 6 or more bottles.

Our Front Door Service will be in place through April 15 May 15 for the foreseeable future, per the governor's orders. But, obviously, things are going to continue changing over the next few weeks. So we'll keep you posted with our newsletter, website and social media. If you have any questions at all, please get in touch with us by phone (315-595-2812) or email (info@huntwines.com).

Be good to yourselves. Take care of your family, friends and neighbors. And let us know how we can help you out!

Coronavirus update

Hello friends and fans,

We want to take just a few moments to touch base with you about the continuing spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and the steps we're taking at Hunt Country in response.

First and foremost, we hope you're all doing well! If you're feeling ill, we hope you're able to stay home for a few days and take care of yourself. Keep washing your hands. Stay supplied with the items you'll need for several days. Stay informed with the most accurate information. And let's be sure we're taking care of our family and neighbors, too!

Second, we plan to remain open during the hours currently posted on our website. In our tasting room, we're implementing best practices to keep the tasting experience safe and enjoyable. We're washing our hands preventively and often. Staff are staying home when ill. We're regularly cleaning all of the high-use surfaces (like our serving bar and door handles) with EPA-approved antimicrobial products. We're sanitizing our glasses and other serving items according to guidance from the New York Department of Health, and we're doing the laundry according to guidance from John Hopkins Medical.

One specific change we are making is temporarily limiting the size of group visits and tours. Please give us a call for more details.

Of course, some of the best advice to minimize exposure to the virus is to avoid public places and crowds – which could mean not visiting our tasting room. If that's the case for you, we'll definitely miss seeing you for a while but we completely understand spending more time at home. Our online store is always open, and we're thinking up some fun new ways to interact with everyone through our newsletter and videos.

Monitoring the coronavirus situation has become like watching the weather here at the farm: we're paying close attention every day. Depending on how things progress, our hours could change, planned events might be rescheduled, and new events might pop up. We'll keep you posted through our newsletter, social media and website.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to get in touch with us by email (info@huntwines.com) or phone (800-946-3289).

We look forward to seeing all of you soon!

The Hunt family and team

Our new online course about Finger Lakes wine!

 

We are thrilled to announce that we're partnering with Keuka College to offer a fully online certificate program about the art, science, history and tradition of wine and winemaking in the Finger Lakes!

The instructors for the program include some of your favorite members of the Hunt Country family and team: Art Hunt, Suzanne Hunt, Karsten König (tasting room manager), and Craig Hosbach (winemaker).

The ten lessons involve wine tasting, video instruction, curated reading materials, and online discussions with classmates and instructor. The program content is original and produced right in our own vineyards and winery. The wines you'll be tasting as part of the instruction can be shipped directly to your doorstep.

And upon completion of the program, Keuka College will award you a Wines of the Finger Lakes certificate!
 
The Wines of the Finger Lakes program begins Feb. 3, 2020.
 
Click here to learn more and register. (It might just make an excellent gift for that particular wine lover on your holiday list.)

 

Our Reserve Wines are getting some love

Check out this outstanding review of our 2017 Reserve Cabernet Franc and 2017 Reserve Riesling by the amazing Annemarie Morse over at The Cork Report.

"I felt a real sense of family, dedication to creating great wines and a sense of environmental awareness strongly illustrated in this visit and I look forward to tasting more of the wines that Craig and the Hunt family continue to create."

Lovely!

The Trevor Irby Memorial Scholarship

A little over a month ago, we shared the tragic news that Trevor Irby – a former employee and a friend of our family and staff – was killed during the mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California. Trevor made a true difference in the lives of everyone who knew him. He never stopped helping in ways both big and small. We all miss him very much.

So to honor him and the person he was, Trevor's long-time girlfriend, friends and Keuka College are creating the Trevor Irby Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship will be awarded annually to a student who embodies the same qualities, compassion, energy and love for life.

To create this endowed scholarship, Trevor's friends and Keuka College are seeking to raise $50,000. If you are interested in helping to make this happen, here's how you can do it...

Contribute online

1. Go to https://www.keuka.edu/give.

2. Click on the "Make a gift now" button.

3. Fill out the required information on the first page.

4. At the top of the page, under "Please use my donation to support...", select "Other" and then type in “Trevor Irby Memorial Scholarship.”

5. Click "Submit" to complete the first page. Then enter your payment information on the following page.

Contribute by check

1. Make your check payable to "Keuka College".

2. Write “Trevor Irby Memorial Scholarship" in the memo section of the check.

3. Send your check to Keuka College at the following address:

Keuka College
Development Department - Attn: Billy Jo Jayne
141 Central Ave
Keuka Park, NY 14478

If you have any questions or need help making a contribution to the scholarship, please contact the Keuka College Development Department at 315-279-5684.
 
Thank you so much for your consideration.

Hunt Country learns tragic news this week

It is with profound sadness that we’re sharing the news that many of you may have already heard. Trevor Irby – a former employee and a friend of our family – was one of the people killed in the senseless shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California this past Sunday.

Trevor was one of the finest people we've ever had the pleasure to know and work with. His incredible smile was defining and contagious. He had a way of making every day a great day. Trevor was a helper, he was committed to taking care of others in both big and small ways. He was exactly the kind of person we need in this world, which makes his loss all the more difficult.

We send our sincere condolences to Trevor's family, friends and to everyone who knew this exceptional young man. He will forever have a special place in all of our hearts. We miss you, Trevor.