The labeling machine is the last step before the newly bottled wine is loaded into cases and stacked. Reed prepares a batch of wine every three weeks, primarily in the wintertime. Production ceases almost completely during foliage season, the winery's busiest time of year. In September and October, the staff swells to 12 or 14 people, mostly working in retail, he says. As many as 100 people per day stop in on weekends, his wife says.
Some people come every year to stock up on several cases at a time.
One reason the winery avoids grapes is that they must be harvested in fall, Reed says. Another reason, he says, is that Vermont's clay soil is not ideal for grapes. Most of the fruits used at North River thrive locally, and can be fermented several times per year because they last for months in cold storage, he says. However, while grape wines tend to improve with age, North River's fruit wines only have a two-year shelf life, says Dix. At the close of the tour, she shows visitors how corks are punched from sheets of lightweight tree bark indigenous to Mediterranean countries.