Wine Grape Production Guide for Eastern North America

We're hunkering down in preparation for Hurricane Sandy so blogging is going to take a back seat. I've pulled out Wine Grape Production Guide for Eastern North America to keep me company while I cross my fingers that what the forecasters call another "Perfect Storm" and Frankenstorm will not live up to expectations. Weather models project that the landfall may be in New Jersey. Regardless of the exact location, areas north and east of the eye of the hurricane will feel the brunt of the storm. If the storm coincides with the high tide, it could be bad for us. We dodged a bullet last year on August 28th when Hurricane Irene hit Connecticut. Since we are located at the eastern end of Long Island sound where it meets the Atlantic Ocean, the tidal surge could have been worse and we were spared. We are hoping for similar luck this time around.
The book's editor is Tony Wolf and it was published in 2008. The chapter listing is as follows:
1. Costs and Returns of Vineyard Establishment and Operation
2. Vineyard Site Selection
3. Wine Grape and Rootstock Varieties
4. Vineyard Design and Establishment
5. Pruning and Training
6. Grapevine Canopy Management
7. Crop Yield Estimation and Crop Management
8. Nutrient Management
9. Grapevine Water Relations and Irrigation
10. Spray Drift Mitigation
11. Disease Management
12. Major Insect and Mite Pests of Grape in the Mid-Atlantic Region
13. Vineyard Weed Management
14. Wildlife Deterrence
15. Grape Purchase Contracts and Vineyard Leases
16. Wine Grape Quality: When Is It Time to Pick?

Should make for great candlelight reading. (Still crossing my fingers that we have power).

Vine Density For Our Vineyard

One of the first critical decisions we made was to determine our vine density for our vineyard. We knew that we wanted to plant our north field which is approximately 4 acres with 3 varieties of grapes, Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Auxerrois. We plan to orient our rows in a north-south direction which will lead to the interception of the most sunlight. We decided that the vine density that would do best at our site would be a spacing of 4 feet in row (intrarow) by 7 feet between rows (interrow). We chose that spacing because we learned through reading the literature that an intrarow spacing of 4 feet will lead to the development of quality grapes and since we wanted to make the best use of our 4 acres, we choose to go with 7 feet between rows. In choosing the 7 feet interrow spacing, we need to bear in mind that we cannot violate the 1:1 ratio of canopy height to width ratio. If the canopy height exceeds the interrow spacing, the shade that is cast from one row to the next can have an impact on the quality of the grapes.
Deciding on our vineyard density then lead to the determination of how many vines we would need to purchase. According to the chart below, we would need 1556 plants per acre. ¹:

I am learning (relearning) that our close vine spacing within the row, according to Lucie Morton² will not necessarily mitigate against excessive vigor that we believe will be a problem on our site. However, Lucie Morton is stressing that for smaller vineyards, making the most of the available land is key.
The vine density decision is part of an integral look at the following critical determinants for creating a quality vineyard:

• varietal/clone selection
• rootstock
• irrigation
• trellis
• pruning system
• row direction
• rainfall
• the number of degree days of sunlight
• soil characteristics

1. Vines Per Acre Guide
2. An excellent and relevant reference for East Coast grape growers regarding vine density: Grape Press, The Quarterly Newsletter of the Virginia Vineyards Association, Vol. 27 No. 1 April 2011.

Fall Preparations on the Land

Jeff is working up on our land this fall in preparation for the planting of our vines in the spring of 2013. We've been working on our land since 2005. It began with just the two of us clearing the overgrown invasives such as autumn olive, bittersweet, multiflora rose and poison ivy. My husband was using his new tractor and I was doing manual labor. That was the year that I became intimately familiar with poison ivy. I could even spot it growing up trees and creating a lush green canopy on otherwise dead trees. We gathered up all of the invasives in a pile that kept growing and growing. This photo shows the growing pile situated on our land facing north. Now that I am looking at these 7 year old photos, it brings back such vivid memories of all of the vines and brush that we cleared only to find them growing again the following spring.

Undaunted, we continued working on the land as therapy from our day jobs until it became clear that we needed some substantial help. We received help in 2006 from Ed who made short work of all of the trees and climbing vines.
Jeff and my husband have been working on our land this fall. On Sunday, we went to see what Jeff had done in the week that he's been working on turning our soil to remove boulders. It's coming along!

Long Dog Vineyard and Winery

As we left Mary on Friday after a bountiful and delightful Thanksgiving dinner, the beginning of the long Thanksgiving weekend in Ontario, she said, "Oh, you must go to Long Dog if you are in Prince Edward County." So, along with our short list which included Norman Hardie, Hinterland, The Old Third Vineyard and Winery, and our personal favorite, Exultet Estates, a visit to Long Dog Vineyard and Winery was also on our itinerary. After our visit to Exultet Estates, we found that Long Dog was just around the corner. We passed it once and then turned around and parked in their lot. There were signs that pointed us to the tasting room and once we got there, another sign that said, "Find me at the barn at the end of the driveway across the street."

Thanks to my husband's persistence, I followed him to the barn and peered in to find all kinds of fermentation tanks but no one around. Just as we turned to go, my husband said, "Wait, I hear a tractor" and indeed, James Lahti was driving up in his tractor. My husband and James immediately fell into a conversation about the merits of the John Deere narrow tractor, which was one of the stops we made on our trip to Ontario. As they talked, some people came up to the tasting room so we hurried to the tasting room. The woman said, "I'm not a fan of Chardonnay" to which James replied, "You've tasted nothing like this Chardonnay", when she tasted the wine, she said, "You're right, this is good, I'll take a bottle". James said, "You might as well take two because one won't be enough" and that was enough to convince her to buy two bottles. After serving another couple who came to do a tasting, James said, "I need to punch down my fermentation, would you like to come along?" I was thinking, "Oh, boy would I!" As we went back toward his barn,we passed what he called his "Swinery" because that was where the previous owner had kept some pigs. We watched James punch down his fermenting grapes and we tasted the evolving must. We also were privileged to sample an impromptu blend of his Pinot Noir that was still in the barrel---WOW!!!!

Then James showed us around his vineyard, just on the other side of the swinery. As we walked into his vineyard, he picked up the soil and said that it was all about the soil. He showed us his healthy vines and in less then a minute, he lowered one of the wires and clipped a cane and tethered it back to demonstrate how they bury their vines in preparation for the winter. We made our way back to the tasting room armed with all this education and had a wonderful taste of his 100% PEC grown Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. We bought two of each because we know from past experience that one is just not enough! Mary was right about visiting Long Dog, it was well worth the trip!

Connecticut Farm Winery

When I looked into the U.S. Appellation System, it made me wonder about the rules and regulations concerning wineries in Connecticut.

The History of Connecticut Wine written by Eric D. Lehman and Amy Nawrocki details the early days of winemaking in Connecticut. In fact, the Connecticut State Seal, harks back to Colonial times, when Colonel George Fenwick brought over the seal from England in 1639 for the Saybrook Colony. ¹
Fast forward to 1978, when the Connecticut legislature and then Governor Ella T. Grasso passed the Farm Wine Act that permits winery owners to sell their products wholesale and to the public.²
In order to find the exact references to the current law regarding the Farm Wine Act, I received help from Jean Kincaid-Ross³ at the Connecticut State Library who provided these references for me:

• Chapter 545 Liquor Control Act, especially Sec. 30-16. Manufacturer permit (e)
• House Bill No. 5453, Public Act No. 04-111, AN ACT CONCERNING FARM WINERIES. This is the 2004 act that created the 25% provision for Connecticut wine designation.
• A plain language summary of the above Public Act no. 04-111

What does this all mean? In order to be considered a Farm Winery, 25% of the grapes must come from the Farm Winery. In order for the wine label to say "Connecticut", Federal law requires that 75% of the grapes must be grown in Connecticut and in order for the label to read estate grown and bottled, 100% of the grapes have to be planted on the Farm Winery property. In addition, Federal law stipulates that when using "Estate" on the label, the farm must be in a designated AVA. ⁴
1. CT.gov The Official Website of the State of Connecticut, The Original Seal.
2. Amy Gagnon, Raise a Glass to Winemaking in Connecticut .
3. Thank you to: Jean Kincaid-Ross, Personal communication, Connecticut State Library.
4. Lehman, Eric D, and Amy Nawrocki. A History of Connecticut Wine: Vineyard in Your Backyard. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2011, pg. 86.

Exultet Estates---Our Second Visit This Year

We went to visit our favorite winery on Prince Edward Country (PEC) on our way home from seeing the EuroSelect in action. Our first visit to Exultet was in April where Gerry treated us to barrel tastings. Even though it was only our second time at Exultet, when we stepped into their tasting room, Gerry immediately recognized us. Joseph went to call his mother, Lia and we spent time catching up on what has been happening. The 2012 harvest at Exultet was already safely in barrels fermenting away.

The Chardonnay at Exultet has been winning GOLD for two years in a row. When we came in April, their 2009 Chardonnay "The Blessed" took Gold at the Ontario Wine Awards and was sold out and during this visit, we learned that their 2010 Chardonnay also took Gold. We know how delicious it was because we purchased a bottle during our April visit. Lucky for us that we did so because we learned that it too was now sold out. I'm sure the accolade is because Gerry makes his wine from fruit grown in their vineyard and because if the label says "Chardonnay" what is in the bottle is 100% Chardonnay.
We got a chance to try Gerry's Pinot Noir from the barrel. It was interesting to taste the differences in the samples, one had cherry characters while another had spicy characters. Barrel tasting is certainly an education for the palate!
In an earlier blogpost, I wrote about Our Wall of Fame and Our Rarest Wine. This wine is called Knucklehead Red and comes from Exultet. When we were there, Mario excused himself to check on the sugar content of the Pinot Noir grapes that were still hanging on the vines. Gerry is imparting a lot of good knowledge to his sons. We're looking forward to seeing a second vintage of Knucklehead Red!
If you find yourself on PEC, don't forget to go to Exultet and see for yourself what a gem of a place this is!

October Trip to Prince Edward County---Visiting Norman Hardie

This is the second time this year that we've visited Prince Edward County (PEC). This time, we were given a short list of "must see" places from Isaac and Laurie. Since we were approaching PEC from the west, it made sense to stop at Norman Hardie first, a winery that we read about the last time we were here but didn't get a chance to stop at.

Although the weather was a little blustery, the pizzas were baking in the outdoor oven and the place was bustling with people. As we made our way to the back entrance, we ran into Norman Hardie himself with his son Theo. He welcomed us to his winery and said that we should just go up the stairs to the tasting room. There, we were given tastings of his Niagara and County Chardonnay and his Niagara and County Pinot. What is it about County fruit? Those wines were steely minerality and agreed with our palate. As we left the winery, we saw Norman again, he was racking his Pinot Gris. It was that time of year when the grapes were being harvested and must was being fermented.

The U.S. Appellation System

The first time I learned about the U.S. Appellation System was when I took the Introduction to Winemaking, the online UC Davis Course that is open to anyone desiring to learn more about winemaking. It is also the prerequisite for the online Certification program.
In the United States, grape growing regions can be designated as an American Viticultural Area or AVA. The Wine Institute is host to the AVA database where all of the recognized American grape growing regions can be found. It is a handy database that lists the AVA by name, size, state, and effective date.This designation is modeled after the European regional system, however, unlike France, the AVA is only indicative of the geographic origin of the fruit and is not necessarily viticulturally or enologically distinct. The name proposed for the formation of a new AVA is one that is (or was at one time) known for the area locally or nationally and has recognized boundaries.¹
Here is a link to a really good introduction to the BATF regulations written so that anyone can understand it: The BATF, Wine Labels, Vintages and Wine Regions
U.S. Appellation Rules for Wine Labels:

• Political area                          --->75%
• AVA                                        --->85%
• Vineyard designation             --->95% from named vineyard                                                      requires AVA
• Estate bottled                         --->100% from vineyards owned or                                                       controlled by the winery                                                      (both must be in an AVA also named)
• Grape Variety                          --->75%
• Vintage                                    --->95% if year stated                                                      (since June 2006, 85% if county or                                                      multi-county AVA or state)
• Produced/Made and bottled by--->75% must be fermented, aged and                                                      bottled at indicated location)
• Cellared/Vinted and bottled by--->Not necessarily fermented at                                                      indicated location
• Reserve                                  --->no legal meaning in the U.S.
• California and Oregon have more stringent rules

The appellation that can be used on the wine is governed by the source of the fruit, not the location of the winery. But the winery location will also be shown, usually at the bottom of the label (“Produced and bottled by…”). For example in California, wines that are made from fruit from several different places are often given a “California” geographic indication (which by law would require only 75% California fruit, but by the stricter California law must contain 100% California fruit).
1. From Introduction to Winemaking (092VID251), U.C. Davis Online Course, 2009.

Thanksgiving and Tawse

Although we've only met Mary twice at meetings and have since exchanged emails, when we went to Ontario last week, Mary invited us over to spend Friday evening with her family to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with them. Could we refuse her kind and gracious invitation---no way!!!! She mentioned that her husband was in Burgundy making wine, but her nephew and his girlfriend are in the business and it would be fun to get together.
When we arrived, we met Isaac and Laurie who are involved with Tawse Winery. The July-August issue of Vineyard & Winery Management featured Tawse Winery on their cover and I read the article with interest since we had been to Ontario in April. What a coincidence! Both Isaac and Laurie mentioned that we must go to Tawse. Unfortunately, we were heading off to Prince Edward County the following day. The evening and the company were delightful, the food was par excellence and Laurie made this pumpkin cake that was the hit of the evening.
When I came home, I reread the article which mentions that the owner, Moray Tawse is committed to organic and Biodynamic farming. Tawse Winery is concerned with building healthy soil in order to hold nutrients and water while enhancing the stability and structure of the soil. We subscribe wholeheartedly to this mindset and we agree that good soil is the key to growing healthy plants. Healthy plants in turn have the immune system to ward off a certain amount of disease pressure.
Our first introduction to Biodynamic farming occurred when we visited Southbrook Vineyards, located in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Brian Hamilton showed us how the Biodynamic preparations were being made on site. Our thought is, if people in Ontario can farm organically and Biodynamically, we should be able to do something similar in Connecticut. We are certainly going to give it a try!

The EuroSelect in Action

When the harvest season began, Gary contacted Darryl Fields and Natalie Spytkowsky about the possibility of seeing the EuroSelect in action. We visited them in April as part of our education on the various types of destemmer/crushers that are available. During that trip, Darryl took us to a small winery and showed us the layout. You can see that blogpost here: North to Canada---First Stop with Darryl Fields and the EuroSelect
This time, we were able to see the EuroSelect during harvest and this was very instructive. The winery that we visited produces approximately 1200 cases, which is what we hope to produce. The equipment was laid out to simulate gravity flow, which we also hope to build into our winery. Darryl, Sonia and Natalie have made their process at this winery very efficient. The grapes come from the vineyard in t-bins and are weighed on the blue scale shown below.

The t-bin is next arranged above the shaker table and Sonia removes the grapes from the t-bin onto the shaker table. During this process, Sonia will remove any MOG (Material Other than Grapes). Darryl mentioned that they were processing the grapes at about one ton an hour, which is on the slow side. The grapes were then transported to the EuroSelect which has a conveyer apparatus that moves the grapes into the fingers of the EuroSelect which gently removes the grapes from the rachis.

The destemmed grapes come out of a side shoot and are loaded onto a conveyor that moves the berries into a fermentation tank.

This is a picture of the Merlot grapes after picking in the lug, the grapes in the fermentation tank after destemming, and the rachis:

It's clear that a lot of thought went into the layout and design of the building to enable a smooth processing of grapes from the vineyard to the fermentation tank. We hope to emulate this design when we build our winery. Darryl, Natalie and Sonia were terrific! They allowed us to take photos and film and answered our many questions.

Our Wall of Fame and Our Rarest Wine

I'm skipping to the end of our trip to Ontario because I think you will love this story. We went to Exultet Estates to see how Gerry, Lia and their sons Mario and Joseph were doing since we last saw them on April 15th, 2012. During that visit, Mario and Joseph gifted us with their 2011 bottling called Knucklehead Red, which we shared with our friends over the summer.
When we went back to their tasting room, they remembered us and it was nice to be so warmly greeted. While I was catching up with Lia, Mario and Joseph presented Gary with another one of their bottlings. We learned that they only made 6 cases of their 2011 Knucklehead Red. Of all of the wines that we have in our possession or have already imbibed, Knucklehead Red is the rarest of them all. We told Mario and Joseph that the previous bottle that we've already consumed made it to our wall of fame, so this is for you, Mario and Joseph!
More about our visit to Exultet Estates and Prince Edward County (PEC) will be forthcoming in a future blog.

(Click on image to see a larger version)

On to Canada and Hidden Bench

After visiting the Lakeland John Deere Dealership, we drove to Buffalo and the Canadian border. By the time we arrived in Jordon, it was around 2:30, we dropped off our luggage and headed to Hidden Bench. This was one of the wineries that was recommended to us by Mike Grammer of Toronto that we didn't have a chance to visit when we came to Ontario during the spring.

Matt at Hidden Bench poured for us their Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. He had an extensive knowledge about each wine and the different vineyards where the grapes came from and the nuances that resulted from the different vineyards. Matt mentioned that Hidden Bench uses indigenous yeasts which results in a slow and long fermentation. On their website, they mention that they have a non-interventionist, minimalist approach when making their wines. We also got a tour of the winemaking facility and thank Matt for his gracious hospitality.

Wine Faults Aroma Kit

In the online UC Davis Course offering called Wine Production, we were advised to purchase a kit called Wine Flaws sold by Le Nez du Vin. We have it lying around our livingroom and every so often, our friends will open it up and take a whiff of it and try to identify the smell. It can be a fun parlor game.
We recently came upon a bottle of Chardonnay that was very aromatic but the flavor was just off. It tasted very synthetic to me. This reminded me of another Chardonnay vintage 2006 that had the same characteristics and I took a sip and couldn't drink it. At that time, I was in the midst of taking another online course called Wine Quality and Stability and asked my classmates and instructors if they were familiar with that type of off flavor. It's very difficult to describe and put into words what I was tasting, but I think I will revisit the Wine Flaws kit and see if I can figure it out.
If I figure it out using the Wine Faults Aroma Kit, I'll update this blog. If you can help me with this identify what I am smelling and tasting, please drop me a line. Thanks!

Visit to Lakeland John Deere Dealership

The reality of planting and taking care of approximately 6500 grapevines is prompting us to drive long distances to check out vineyard equipment. We were just west of Seneca Falls, New York at the Lakeland John Deere Dealership looking at narrow tractors that would fit in our layout of 4 x 7, that is 4 feet between plants and 7 feet between rows. This would be a moderate density planting and special equipment designed to fit into the row would need to be purchased. We spoke with Chris at the dealership who showed us both the new 5093 EN and it's predecesor 5525 N. Both are Deere's most recent narrow model vineyard/orchard tractors. The 5093 EN has been remodeled to comply with the new tier IV emissions criteria. The required motor change in the design has made the front hood of the 5093 EN a little taller than the 5525 N. Thus the impact to the operator is that it takes away a little of the line of site of the front window of the cab. Chris let us sit in the cabs to get a feeling of what it would be like when we drove it. He even offered to let us take the tractors for a drive.

Fall Update on Tall Grafts at Mercier

Recently, Sebastian from Mercier California sent us some photos of our tall grafted vines.

We are very fortunate to have Sebastian updating us on the progress of the tall grafts since he is on the West Coast and we are on the East Coast. The plants look very healthy and strong. Sebastian even sent us a photo of the root system that is developing on these grafts as well as a photo of the graft union. Soon, the plants will be put into cold storage to simulate winter and then we will receive them in the spring of 2013!

For more information on our search to locate a grapevine nursery and our decision to have our vines be tall grafts please check out the following blog posts:

• September 15, 2011: A Visit to Mercier Grapevine Nursery
• January 29, 2012: The Clones are Coming
• May 7, 2012: May 2012 Update on Tall Grafts at Mercier

In looking back at the past blogposts, it's amazing to see the vine cuttings transformation into plants. We hope that we have an opportunity to go back to Mercier this fall to see the little grapevines in their dormant state. Sebastian and his crew at Mercier have been phenomenal. Any excuse to go back to California and wine country is a good one!