Recapping the 2011 Growing Season in the Northeast

We haven't started growing our grapes yet, but we are becoming very conscious of the growing season in our area. Last year, 2010 was a terrific year for the Northeast with sun, sun, sun and it is reflected in the vintage.
The word for this year is not so good. In fact, David Paige of Shinn Estates on Long Island writes:
"Nature has been particularly angry this growing season. May and June were both very wet causing some interruption in the early growth and flowering of our vines. We were encouraged by a warm and dry month of July, but the rain returned with a vengence in August. Severe thunderstorms, lightning, a hurricane followed by a tropical storm and more rain throughout September have kept us on edge - yet somehow our grape harvest has not been decimated. The sugar content in the grapes is lower than average, but flavors are good. We won't be able to fully evaluate the quality of the harvest until after all the grapes are picked and fermented, but this will certainly not be a repeat of the great 2010 vintage of last year."
The situation for the Finger Lakes is similar, as reported in an article in the New York Cork Report.
This is how I will remember 2011, a year that was wet and challenging for winegrowers and winemakers. How will the challenges of the growing season be reflected in the wine? It will be interesting to taste the wines from 2011.

Adventures on the Wine Route

I've been hearing a lot about "natural wines" and have read some recent books about it but it was only when I read Kermit Lynch's book, "Adventures on the Wine Route" that I realized that "natural wine" is not a recent trend. Kermit Lynch began importing wine from France in the 1970's and this book is written about his interactions with certain winemakers in the various wine regions of France. I can tell when Mr. Lynch is enthused about a particular region because the chapters are long. It's interesting that Bordeaux is one of the shortest chapters and you guessed it, his Rhone chapter is divided into southern Rhone and northern Rhone. He is also a Loire aficionado. What popped out at me as I read his book (for a second time, as I usually do books I review) was that Mr. Lynch was already lamenting the fallout from wines that were being scored. One of the first things he comments on is that the proliferation of certain styles of wine in a region was because of the pairing of that wine with food, such as a Chablis with oysters. Scoring a wine or having a blind tasting was totally missing the point, in Mr. Lynch's opinion.
In the 1980's however, Mr. Lynch was dealing with the ramifications of wine scoring as he traveled the French countryside. He encountered the changing of the guard from the traditional winemakers to the new generation who brought in technology and changed the way the wine was made in many cases to chase after the high scores of the wine reviewers. The new generation using mechnical harvesters, stainless steel, and new oak treatments changed how wine was made and the proof was in the (lack of) flavor and aroma in these wines.
This is a good book to read if you have any interest in how Kermit Lynch selects his wines and who the major players were in the various French appellations that appealed to Mr. Lynch's palate.

Etienne Terlinden's Wines

We were able to do so many things when we were in California. After meeting Bob Hurlbett in Santa Barbara at the Boathouse, we went down the road a bit to a small town called Summerland where there was a tasting room featuring Etienne Terlinden's Wines. Bob is making wine with Etienne so he urged us to go there to do a tasting. The server was named Michelle and although she said that she had only been with Summerland Winery for a week, she was very knowledgeable about the wines. We liked the Pinot blanc and the Trio and bought those bottles to take home with us to Connecticut. I liked the Pinot blanc because it had some good acidity. The Trio was a well made blend of Syrah, Grenache and Mourvedre.
Here is more info on Etienne .

Lopez de Heredia

Another thing that we scored when we were in California were Lopez de Heredia wines. I read about the wines in Alice Feiring's book The Battle for Wine and Love and wanted to try it because I knew from reading her book that this wouldn't be what Alice calls a "spoofolated" wine.
We found the current releases of the Lopez de Heredia wines, the 2002 Bosconia and the 2000 Tondonia. We came close to tasting a 2000 Tondonia at our friend's home, but the person who brought the wine, took it back with him. Now, we were face to face with the objects of our desire. We also bought the 1991 Tondonia Red Gran Reserva.
We had a chance to drink both the wines in California. We drank the 2002 Bosconia with vegan (my husband's sister is a vegan) eggplant parmesan in not quite wine glasses and the deliciousness of the wine refused to succumb to less than ideal glasses. There were fruit flavors balanced with acidity and because it was almost 9 years old, soft tannins. All this for around $30.00! We drank the 2000 Tondonia with Bob Hurlbett when we met him in Santa Barbara. We were at a seafood restaurant so perhaps the pairing wasn't as perfect as it could be with a Tempranillo. Overall, we preferred the Bosconia to the Tondonia (a bit more in price at $35.00, but it is 11 years old!).
If you can find this wine, try it, it will be worth it. If you need more convincing, please see the video of Gary Vaynerchuk interviewing Maria Jose, the current winemaker at Lopez de Heredia carrying on the tradition begun by her great grandfather in 1877!
Part 1 of interview with Maria Jose (about 30 minutes long)
Part 2 of interview with Maria Jose (about 15 minutes long)

The Certificate---What does it look like?

One of the best things that I did was to take the online certification course offered by UC Davis in Enology and Viticulture. I began in the fall of 2009 and finished up in June, 2011.
There were some trials and tribulations during the time I was taking the course. For example, during the Viticulture course, I came down with shingles! I thought people who were stressed came down with shinges? At first, my friend thought that it might be sciatica because the pain began in my lower back. When I broke out in small pustules, my husband told me that it didn't look like sciatica, more like shingles and I went to the outpatient clinic, spent $500.00 to get it confirmed. I took the anti-viral but chose not to take the Vicadin since I was in the midst of listening to the lectures and taking the final. When I was taking the Wine Stability course, I got a cold and went through 5 boxes of kleenex, once again, during the final.
For anyone who is interested in winemaking, I highly recommend taking these courses offered by the University of California, Davis. Not only are the "lectures" educational and informative, the classmates taking the course with you are another source of information often leading to great online friendships and perhaps a personal meeting.
You can find more information about this on their website located here: UC Davis Online Enology and Viticulture Certification Program

2010 Domaine Huet Clos du Bourg

We were fortunate enough to find this wine at the Wine Exchange in Orange, California. We enjoy the wines from Domaine Huet. But, after reading Wine and War by Don and Petie Kladstrup, I am beginning to understand what is meant by the French term "terroir" and vintage. The Kladstrups were inspired to write the book when they did a tasting with Gaston Huet. Huet poured his wine and asked the Kladstrups to guess what year it was. It was a 1947 Vouvray and Huet had a story to go with that vintage. It was about his experiences during World War II.
As aspiring viticulturists and enologists, we are coached to have a story that goes with our wine, but how can a newly minted winemaker have a story?
When I drank this Vouvray, I tasted the lemony fruit and the delicious mouthfeel, but most of all I remembered the great story told in Wine and War about Gaston Huet and his struggle for survivial during World War II and his return to his vineyard after the end of the War. Now, that is a story! And this is a great wine!

A Visit to Mercier Grapevine Nursery

We were following Kristen Lowe's advise: Get to know your grape vine supplier. So, on our recent trip to UC Davis, we contacted Mercier Grapevine Nursery and met with Sebastian. Sebastian showed us around their facility which included a callousing room, a cold room, and an area for grafting the rootstock to the scion.

He also showed us how a graft is made.
We went to the vineyard to see where the rootstocks were grown and also saw how they grew the FPS scions. Sebastian picked some FPS chenin grapes for us to taste. Next, we took a trip to Woodland to see the Entav clones. Here we sampled grapes from the Entav Chenin grapevine. We took the clusters back to our hotel, put them in the refrigerator and then did a taste test. The FPS clone had much less flavor, although when we tasted them in the field, we thought they were more flavorful.

Sebastian graciously spent most of the day with us. In fairness, we need to go and see some other nurseries before we decide where we will buy our grapevines, but we learned a lot from Sebastian's tour of the facility and nursery blocks, it was time well worth spending.

Wine and War

Wine and War is a book written by Don and Petie Kladstrup and published in 2001. This is a book that recounts how World War II impacted the wine growers in France. The second chapter of the book, entitled "To Love the Vines", summarizes the stories that follow. These stories are about Gaston Huet of Domaine Huet, Bernard de Nonancourt of Laurent-Perrier Champagne, Maurice Drouhin of Burgundy, the Hugel Family of Alsace, and the Miaihle Family of Bordeaux.
The book is a compilation of personal recollections of events during the war from the perspective of winegrowers and wine and champagne makers. From the sealing of expensive wines in hidden underground caves, to the clandestine ferrying of Resistance fighters in wine barrels, this is a book about survival, ingenuity, triumphs and celebration making it a most compelling read.

Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Institute

On September 10th and 11th, my husband and I went to UC Davis's Robert Mondavi Wine and Food Institute to attend a Winemaking course taught by Chik Brenneman. There were about 30 people in attendance and Chik and Scott Frost showed us how to make red and white wine in 2 days.
The course was both a hands on and lectures explaining the difference in handling white and red grapes. Some of our classmates came from Idaho, Texas, Michigan and Kansas and are hoping to grow their own grapes in those states and make wine.
I'll be putting more content regarding the course on Enotalk, so please check it out.

Passing the Todd Test

You never know when your UC Davis Enology and Viticulture training can come in handy. I was at my sister and brother-in-law's home in LA when my husband and I went to their neighbor's home to see how his renovation was progressing. The renovation was beautiful and you could actually see the ocean from the second floor master bedroom!
We met a neighbor named Todd and when the topic of wine came up, Todd said that he'd been in the wine sales business for nine years. We finished looking at the home renovation and while we were outside, my husband chatting with the neighbor,
Todd said to me: "What do you drink?"
I think he thought that it was too general a question so he followed it up with:
"I didn't know that there were any wineries or vineyards in Connecticut."
Me: "Well, there are a few in our area growing vinifera. Our land is also part of a designated AVA."
Todd: "So, what are you going to grow?"
Me: "We're thinking of growing Chardonnay, Chenin blanc and Auxerrois. So on this trip, we will visit some nurseries to see what kind of rootstocks and scions are available."
Todd said: "So, do you have phylloxera?"
Me: I gave the short, none academic answer "Don't we have it in all states now?" (Phylloxera doesn't thrive in sandy soils.)
Todd: "So, where don't they have any phylloxera?"
Me: "Chile."
Todd: "That's right!"
"Do you know why Chile will never get phylloxera? Because they are bounded on the north by a desert, on the east by the Andes and on the south by Antartica."
Me: Nodding my head.
Thankfully, after a few more minutes of this chitchat, my husband corralled me and said, "Time to go."
Later, while we were in the car together, I told my husband of this little exchange with Todd and said I felt like I was being interrogated but also felt as if I passed the "Todd test".

Hurricane Update

Update from California.
My husband and I had to travel all the way to California in order to take a hot shower and have a REAL cup of morning coffee. Hurricane Irene came through Connecticut on Sunday morning, August 28th, leaving us with no power after 7 a.m. Just an hour and a half before that my husband was up watching the TV and Irene's progress and we decided to go back to bed. Before going back to bed, however, I uttered some words to my husband which would turn out to be a regrettable lost opportunity:
"Do you want me to make some coffee?" He declined, wanting to go back to bed since he had been up since 3 a.m. Too bad for us because the power went off at 7 a.m. and didn't come on until after we left for the West Coast.
Thankfully, the hurricane wasn't as bad as we were lead to believe. We escaped without any water damage in our basement, which was our greatest concern. After Sunday, however, every day that passed with no power left us wanting to have the simplest things, like a hot cup of coffee in the morning.
We are on our way to attend the weekend winemaking hands-on course at UC Davis's Mondavi Institute of Food and Wine Science. I'll take notes and report back here. Stay tuned.