Miss Chaves Gardens? Its legacy lives on in Newport Vineyard's food and beer

Newport Vineyards uses over 100 pounds of garlic per month, and all of that garlic is now grown and dried on-site thanks to the recent expansion of their culinary garden into the former Chaves Gardens greenhouses.

Executive chef Andy Texeira’s goal to be 100% garlic-sustainable is just one example of the benefits of the expansion. Beyond being farm-to-table, with fresh herbs and vegetables being grown for use in the kitchen, Newport Vineyards is also “farm-to-tap:” the culinary garden is growing lemon balm, watermelons, hot peppers, pumpkins and 14 varieties of hops for use at the Taproot brewery.

The vineyards have boasted an outdoor culinary garden at the Wyatt Road end of the property for several years, but the greenhouses have enabled new growing efforts and subsequently new menu items.

“The greenhouses have allowed us to grow more and expand our dining menus. It’s very cool to see Chef Andy and our culinary team pick herbs and vegetables to be used same-day,” said John Nunes, co-owner of the vineyard.

Cultivating fresh ingredients right on the restaurant property

In the former Chaves Gardens greenhouse, Texeira can now literally walk next door to clip fresh herbs including basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, chives, tarragon and rosemary.

“You’ll find many estate-grown ingredients on our menu right now,” he said, “including spring onions, Swiss chard, garlic, herbs and mushrooms. We’re excited to harvest tomatoes and figs next, with much more in the upcoming months.”

The peppers are also close to harvesting, and eggplant, radish, various squash, watermelon, cantaloupe and crenshaw melon, and multiple fig and lemon trees have been planted – but not all of those are destined for your plate.

Farm-to-tap: homegrown ingredients for Taproot Brewing original beer offerings

The hot peppers are being used for, of all things, a milk stout, the watermelons for a sour, the lemon balm for the summer wheat ale and the cantaloupes and crenshaw melons for a beer that may not have been invented yet. Pumpkins have also been planted in anticipation of the Wicked Squashed Pumpkin Ale’s fall release date.

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“We also planted 14 varieties of hops and they look great. The centennial hops just started to produce cones,” said brewer Kevin Beachem.

Unrelated to the garden but also worth noting is that all of the breads for the sandwiches, brewery pretzels, and pizza dough are made in-house by the Newport Vineyards’ onsite bakery team.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Newport Vineyards transforms Chaves Gardens to sustain restaurant