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Vine Best BY SUSIE WALL
s soon as Paddy Fleming flicks on the glorified blow dryer to seal the foil onto a single bottle of wine, you know you are witnessing a man dedicated to the craft of
Fleming will repeat this approximately 9,000 times each year, earn- ing him a top spot among a hearty group of individuals doing what many said could not be done. Wine and Western Montana are not words people put together. High altitude and freezing winters hinder growing the grapes found in the traditional wines of Napa and Columbia Valley. But with inge- nuity and local ingredients, three Montana vintners have successfully shunned tradition to make bottles of unique wines that reflect the natural bounty of the treasure state.
The people standing in line at the tasting room of Missoula's Ten Spoon Winery could care less that they are miles away from Califor- nia wine country as they flock here to savor delicious wine made in the heart of the Rattlesnake Valley. The tasting room is cozy and wel- coming, but step outside and you will see what really matters. Seven acres of French-American Hybrid grapevines line the property and provide the entire crop of grapes needed to make two of Ten Spoon's most popular wines, Range Rider and Saint Pepin, proving that you really can grow grapes in Montana. At first glance, Andy Sponseller's and Connie Poten's Ten Spoon may seem like a traditional winery producing the names any novice would recognize such as Pinot Noir and Zinfandel, but look closer and you will find something quite different. They insist on only us- ing organic fruit and grapes and they refuse to add sulfites to their wines. "Not adding sulfites makes the process harder but makes the wine taste fresher," Sponseller says. "We think that organic food is largely better. It tastes better without a doubt."
www.distinctlymontana.com
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