1989 Chateau Palmer and 1994 Ridge Montebello

We had our friends over for dinner. This dinner was our thanks to Barry for all the work that he is contributing to the land preparation. Barry is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so in his honor, we thought that we would prepare steak and baked potatoes and serve it with two wines, a 1989 Chateau Palmer and a 1994 Ridge Montebello.

My husband usually brings the wine up from his cellar a day prior to when we will be serving it so that the chill can come off of the wine. This evening, we decided to decant both wines about an hour before the arrival of our guests. My husband had difficulty pulling out the cork. When he did, I had a taste of the Chateau Palmer and to me, it had some notes of volatile acidity (VA) and I was a bit worried. By the time we served the wines, however, whatever I had initially discerned from the aroma had blown off and the wine tasted wonderful. I found information regarding the blend on Chris Kissack's blogpost about Chateau Palmer. The 1989 is comprised of Cabernet Sauvignon 52%, Merlot 41%, Petit Verdot 6% and Cabernet Franc just 1%.

The other wine that we had with dinner was a 1994 Ridge Montebello. The label on the Montebello is very informative. This wine is Cabernet Sauvignon 73%, Merlot 15%, Petit Verdot 9%, and Cabernet Franc 3%. Also on the label is a description of the vintage. Since we did a side-by-side tasting, we could discern the differences in the flavor of the Chateau Palmer and the Montebello. Both wines were still drinking very well and could still stand to be cellared.
To learn more about Chateau Palmer, visit this comprehensive and informative blogpost written by Chris Kissack: Chateau Palmer.

A Name Confusion: Our Introduction to Auxerrois

Nowadays, we've taken it for granted that we will be growing Auxerrois, but there was a time when we knew nothing about the variety and in fact confused it with a grape from the town in Burgundy called Auxerre. At the time this confusion occurred, I was reading a guide to Burgundy and Auxerre is one of the communes located in the northern region of Burgundy. I was with a friend at a wine bar when I saw a tasting of Auxerrois on the menu and decided that I must try it, though I normally default to Sauvignon Blanc. Unbeknownst to me, the person who gave me a taste was James Morrison, who I had met recently, but my mind had not processed the connection. I liked the taste that James gave me and decided to have a glass. I mentally remarked that it was a nice healthy pour and enjoyed the drink and the company of my friend. I then went home to tell my husband of my new found great white wine called Auxerrois and he asked me what it was I drank. Well, I didn't really know except that it was Auxerrois. My husband was curious enough that he went to our nearby package store (this is the New England term for liquor store) and met James Morrison who told my husband how he served me a glass of Auxerrois last night. Mystery solved. The maker was Clos des Rochers and we have since enjoyed many bottles of Clos des Rochers, enough so that we will be planting Auxerrois in the spring.
In the newly released book, Wine Grapes (to be reviewed in a separate blogpost) compiled by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and José Vouillamoz, there is an entry on Auxerrois. Auxerrois is a natural offspring of Pinot Noir and Gouais Blanc which makes it a sibling of Chardonnay, Gamay Noir, as well as Aligoté.

A Trio of Liquid Libations with Lasagne

Our son and daughter-in-law were passing through on Saturday on their way to spend Christmas in New Hampshire. We thought it was a good time to gather up our friends from afar and spend the evening by eating, drinking and making merry.

We had the drinking part covered with a Ravines 2010 Dry Riesling from the Finger Lakes with the appetizers and three different red wines all vintage 2010 with the lasagne.
The first in the lineup was a Pleiades made by Sean Thackrey of Bolinas, California. This Pleiades bottled in June, 2010 is a blend of Sangiovese, Viognier, Mourvèdre, Syrah, and Petite Sirah and as claimed on the label was fragrant and voluptuous. The next in the lineup was a Nebbiolo from Elio Sandri from the Langhe in Piedmont, Italy. The last in the trio was a Valpolicella from Brigaldara. I learned that this Valpolicella is made from the following grapes: Corvina 40% Corvinone 20% Rondinella, and Molinara e Sangiovese 40%. We've had the 2008 Elio Sandri Nebbiolo and the Valpolicello and we knew what to expect, but it was very interesting to be able to get our hands on a Pleiades and do the comparative tasting. All the wines paired well with the lasagne, it just depended on how much fruit/acidity ratio appealed to the individual's palette. I would say in order of most fruit to least it would be Pleiades>Valpolicella>Nebbiolo.

Tiling the Field

Work commenced on tiling the field this week. I went to the land yesterday to bring some lunch to the hardworking crew.

                               From the left: Barry, Bill, Gary and Jeff

Tiling the field is a tedious job. First, Jeff digs the trench and puts the topsoil on one side of the trench, the subsoil on another side of the trench and the excess is given to Bill to transport to another location. Then, the bottom of the trench is tamped and smoothed with the excavator bucket. Next, Bill and Gary transports gravel to the trench and Jeff "heels" (translation for me: using the bottom of the bucket) the gravel to make it flat in preparation for putting in the tile. Barry puts the tile pipe into the trench bit by bit and then about a foot more of the gravel is put on to the pipe and then this gravel is evened out. Barry lays the filter fabric on the gravel. My husband who was there had did to say about Barry's work: "Barry was the guy in charge of the most physically draining(pun intended) work of the day. He was shoveling stone, rolling and placing pipe(250 ft rolls), measuring depth of pipe & stone placement, and laying fabric."
Wait, we're not done yet. Then Jeff comes back to put on the subsoil, tamps this down and then puts on the topsoil and then tamps this down so that the field looks undisturbed once more.

Way back in June I located a video of How to Put Drain Tile in the Field created by Hans Walter-Peterson of the Cornell University Cooperative Extension, we now have our own videos for posterity.

Film: A Year in Burgundy

We bought the pre-release DVD called A Year In Burgundy as a Christmas gift to ourselves and watched it last week on a rainy day. For me, it was a transportive film with Martine Saunier, the French wine importer as guide taking us into the hidden Burgundy. Along the way, the film showed us an indepth look at three generations of winemakers, the Morey-Coffinets. In another segment, Christophe Perrot-Mino, owner of a high tech looking winery wears a wet suit to go into his fermentation, whole-body pigeage noting that he can tell by the resistance of the grapes how the wine will evolve. And then there is the vignette with Lalou Bize-Leroy. Lalou Bize-Leroy is an inspiration, as she fastidiously picks out every flawed grape berry from the sorting table before it goes into fermentation. She also climbs a ladder to see her fermentation, and she is in her eighties!
If you are so inclined, here is where you can learn more about the movie:
A Year in Burgundy.

Liming Our Field

Mother Nature gave us a gift last week of warmer than usual December temperatures, just in time for us to get the crew, Bill, from Fieldworks to come and spread lime on our land.

Because our soils are on the acidic side at around pH 5.5, we need dolomitic lime to bring our pH up to a more neutral level. My husband said that Bill was able to spread about 8 tons of lime in approximately 20 minutes on 4.5 acres.
The next thing we needed was to amend our soils with the micronutrients that were lacking in the field that include potassium, zinc, sulfur and boron. Dave and Brian from Crop Protection Services arrived to do that task.

Last, but not least, Bill drove his disc harrower on Colonel Ledyard Highway to get to our land to disc in the soil amendments.

We owe a debt and gratitude to all the hardworking people who are helping us with preparing our land. Thanks guys!

2000 Malartic-Lagravière Red

We chose this bottle of wine to drink with a dinner of steak tenderloin that we recently received from our good friend as a Christmas gift. It was divine. It is currently 12 years old. We knew that the 2000 vintage, the millennial was a good one. I found some documentation on the Malartic-Lagravière Website that provided me with more information about this specific wine. I found the 2000 Malartic-Lagravière Red 2000 to be everything that this wine's profile promised: Dark, deep ruby red with hints of coppery brown. The nose is intense and complex with mellow aromas of blackcurrants and plums followed by tobacco, and undergrowth. Fine minerality.
It is a blend of 50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Cabernet Franc. What's more, it is still available for purchase. I saw prices between $30-$40 on the Internet so in my book, this is one of the best buys.

The Art and Science of Wine by James Halliday and Hugh Johnson

I am currently reading this book called The Art and Science of Wine written by James Halliday and Hugh Johnson published in 2007. The book is divided into three sections:
          1. In the Vineyard
          2. In the Winery
          3. In the Bottle
I knew that one of the countries that was phylloxera-free was Chile, but this book also mentions that the entire island of Cyprus, part of Hungary, sandy seaside vineyard at Colares in Portugal and the Midi are also phylloxera-free.
The beauty of this book is that it provides generalized diagrams of the processes as well as equipment required in the making of either a white or red wine or champagne. This is followed by the choices that can be made at each step of the process, such as in the vineyard, crushing and pressing, fermenting and finishing. The varieties that are used for example in white wine making are also detailed and includes areas where that variety's expression has gained notoriety. Chardonnay is given it's own two page account of all the choices that can be made in it's vinification. The art of making wine can truly be a multi-factorial challenge.
For me, this will be a book to pour over during the upcoming winter months in order to understand how we will proceed when it comes time to making our wines.

December Update on the Work on our Land

We've been very fortunate that our fall has been relatively warm. Jeff and Ed have been working almost non-stop on clearing our field. I got a hold of my husband's camera and downloaded the photos that he took.

This is amazing! Way back when, my husband began digging around this boulder only to discover that it was like the proverbial iceberg, showing 1/10th above the ground and having 9/10th below the ground. In 2011, we had someone come to drill the rock to put in a few stress fractures and this is what Jeff used to break the boulder apart. The rock weighed approximately 40,000 pounds! We have a video of Jeff meticulously working on breaking the rock apart and burying it in the trench that he dug beside the rock.
What Jeff has been doing is turning the soil over with his bucket and sifting out boulders that are larger than 20 pounds. Then, my husband comes with his tractor and moves those rocks away. The entire field has been thus gently turned with the top soil put right back where it came from. That's what we have to do to prepare our soil because we do live in Stonington!

The end result of all this work has been a field that now looks like this, which is a view of the field looking north:

Ed has been working on clearing the underbrush and trees from the east side of the field in order to move back the tree line so that the morning sun won't cast too much of a shadow on the vineyard.

What we find that is just terrific is that both Jeff and Ed have made suggestions about how to enhance the vineyard. We had a rock wall on the east side of the field where Ed was working and Jeff said that he could bury the rocks so that we could have a smooth transition from the vineyard to the edge of the tree line.

Ed saw a beautiful maple on the east side where he was working and instead of taking it down, mentioned that that tree would be one to keep to provide shade in the summer. We love that Jeff and Ed are thinking about the aesthetics of the vineyard while they are concentrating on running their attention demanding equipment.
When we first walked the property in March of 2005, we were aware of bees coming in and out of a hickory tree located at the north end of the field. Our neighbor also mentioned to us that we had a bees. But in subsequent years, we never saw the bees come back. During his excavations, Ed came across the tree and found a vacant hive. Instead of just demolishing the tree, Ed showed my husband the insides of the tree, complete with the remnants of an old hive. Totally cool!

1998 Hospices de Beaune Corton Cuvée Docteur Peste

On the same evening that we drank the Mystery Bottle of Cormey XXXGEA we also drank a 1998 Hospices de Beaune Cuvée Docteur Peste Meo-Camuzet. My husband who is very knowledgeable, especially about the wines that he purchases, told me that Cuvée Docteur Peste is made from the vineyard located in Corton (it helps to know how to read a Bungundian label!). A little research on the Internet brought up this information: Jean-Louis Peste was a doctor at the Hospices de Beaune for 30 years in the mid-19th Century. His daughter, Baronne du Bay, bequeathed a vast estate to the Hôtel-Dieu in his memory, in 1924.
Vineyards located in Corton Chaumes & Voierose, which is south and south-west facing land beside the road leading from Pernand to Aloxe, constitute 37% of this Cuvée. These vines were planted in 1976, 1982 and 1985.¹
I also located a map showing the vineyards that comprise this Cuvée Docteur Peste:²

When we opened the bottle and poured it into our glasses, there was an unmistakable aroma of barnyard that to me defines a wine from Burgundy. Barnyard is not necessarily bad when the wine is complex with soft tannins and earthy flavors with just enough fruit and you can imagine how well it paired with our mushroom and sausage stuffed turkey.
1. Corton Hospices De Beaune Docteur Peste
2. Corton Grand Cru Cuvée Du Docteur Peste Domaine des Hospices de Beaune

Glutathione is an Antioxidant

Here is the problem. We were always planning to do a "benign neglect oxidation" of the pressed must and then leave it to cold soak overnight to settle out the gross lees, but when I read in an older issue of Practical Winery & Vineyard (May/June 2010) an article called "Sauvignon Blanc: Impact of Fining Treatment on Juice Quality" I started to have second thoughts.
The article in Practical Winery & Vineyard presented experiments that showed the benefits of glutathione, a tripeptide consisting of glutamine-cysteine-glycine as being a better antioxidant than ascorbic acid or sulfur dioxide when the press fraction of the must is treated in a reductive environment.¹

In benign neglect hyperoxidation, the initial press fraction is left in an oxidative environment and the glutathione is free to react with the phenols in the must. The fate of the glutathione is enumerated in a previous blog called Hyperoxidation Revisited. There were five experiments carried out in South Africa and Bordeaux:

• Case Study 1: Reductive handling of all fractions
  (Durbanville, South Africa)
• Case Study 2: Reductive handling of all fraction
  (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
• Case Study 3: Oxidative handling of press fraction
  (Stellenbosch, South Africa)
• Case Study 4: Comparison between reductive and oxidative handling (Bordeaux, France)
• Case Study 5: Comparison between fining agents with reductive handling (Bordeaux, France)

In the above studies, it was shown that reductive handling in the absence of added SO₂ gave the best levels of glutathione. Oxidative handling of the press fractions resulted in the diminishing of glutathione levels. However, in the declining phases of fermentation when ethanol levels are increasing, the article written by Schneider, Must Hyperoxidation A Review, mentions that oxygen is key to enabling yeast survival.So, what to do. I'll have to read more about the benefits of glutathione (I'll report back), but we'll probably end up doing several "wine experiments" when we get our grapes!

1. Paul K. Bowyer (Technical Manager, Laffort Australia), Marie-Laure Murat (Lab Manager, Sarco, France), and Virginie Moine-Ledoux (Research Director, Laffort), "SAUVIGNON BLANC: Impact of fining treatments on juice quality", Practical Winery & Vineyard, May/June 2010, pg. 25-33.
2. Wikipedia image of Glutathione. All structures were drawn by the freely available drawing program from ACD Labs called ACD/ChemSketch Freeware.

More Progress on the Land---Our Way In

I haven't been up to the land for about 3 weeks and yesterday, I saw all the work that Jeff, Ed and my husband have been up to. Last year, we took photos of the way in to our property:

Now after Jeff's work, the way in looks like this:

It's amazing and we are getting excited about the reality of having a vineyard on our land.

Hyperoxidation Revisited

A few nights ago, I picked up an older issue of Practical Winery & Vineyard (May/June 2010) and read an article called "Sauvignon Blanc: Impact of Fining Treatment on Juice Quality". Reading the article brought to mind the lively discussion we had in the UC Davis Online Course, "Wine Stability" regarding the merit of hyperoxidation based on reading Must Hyperoxidation A Review, written by V. Schneider in 1998.¹
The discussion centered around the introduction of oxygen prior to fermentation of white musts in the absence of sulfur dioxide as a means of precipitating flavonoid and non-flavonoid phenols that are responsible for bitterness, astringency and browning during wine aging. The consensus reached by the class was that "benign neglect oxidation" is good for white wine making.
I've been rereading information regarding hyperoxidation because in making our white wines, we do want to expose our grape must to oxygen in order to precipitate out the phenols that will turn our wine brown, however, I'm learning it's much more complicated than that. According to Ribéreau-Gayon², unsulfited juices exposed to air consume a variable quantity of oxygen that is based on their caftaric acid and flavonoid concentration and is dependent on the grape variety.

All this information was difficult to digest until I found this diagram in the Third Edition of Ronald S. Jackson's book, Wine Science that diagrammed the fate of phenols in the presence of oxygen.⁴ (For a larger version, please click on the diagram below)

The fate of phenolics differs when it comes into contact with oxygen at the must stage and then at the wine stage:

• At the must stage, the phenolics (caftaric acid is by far the most abundant) are converted to quinones by enzymes called polyphenol oxidases (PPO) and in Botrytis infected grapes, by the enzyme laccase. The resultant caftaric acid quinone can go on to catalyze three further nonenzymatic reactions:
• 1) Combine with glutathione to yield the Grape Reaction Product (GRP) 2-S-glutathionyl caftaric acid
• 2) After glutathione depletion, any excess caftaric acid quinone can oxidize other must constituents including GRP and flavanols and regenerate caftaric acid
• 3) Polymerize with its own precursor caftaric acid, regnerating the original reduced phenol form¹
• At the wine stage, the slow oxygen infiltration into barrels and bottles stoppered with cork allows oxidation and polymerization reactions to occur.

The Schneider review goes on to explain the technical application of hyperoxidation of musts and gives specific information on it's results in Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc, two grape varieties that we will be growing.
In addition to exposure to oxygen prior to fermentation, the yeasts also require some oxygen for survival during the declining phases of fermentation when ethanol levels are increasing. The Schneider review says that during this phase, oxygen aids in the removal of toxic medium length (C8-C12) fatty acid chains and accelerates the synthesis of C16-C18 fatty acids and sterols, which contributes to better sugar uptake by the yeasts. Also, and I did not know this, molecular oxygen (how much?) during this time allows for the use of proline as a supplementary nitrogen source for the yeast. So much to think about!
1. V. Schneider, Must Hyperoxidation A Review, Am. J. Enol. Vitic., Vol. 49, No. 1, 1998.
2. P. Ribéreau-Gayon, D. Dubourdieu, B. Donèche, and A. Lonvaud, Handbook of Enology, Volume 1, The Microbiology of Wine and Vinifications, Second Edition, 2006, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pg. 418-420.
3. Chemical Structure of Caftaric Acid. All structures were drawn by the freely available drawing program from ACD Labs called ACD/ChemSketch Freeware.
4. Jackson, Ronald S., Wine Science: Principles and Applications, Third Edition, Elsevier, Academic Press, 2008, pg. 298.

Mystery Bottle---1962 Cormey Figeac?

Last night, we had our friends over for dinner. This was the test: we had turkey for dinner. You know that they are your good friends if you offer turkey, only a week after Thanksgiving and they still come for dinner. Well, the turkey was driven by economics since I found it on sale for 59 cents a pound. Who could resist. What we did was to make a turkey roll with three-mushroom (shiitake, button, and baby Portobella) and sausage stuffing. The appetizer was different cheeses, the star which was a Maytag blue cheese which we paired with the Torrontes from Alta Vista and the Triomphe Chardonnay from Southbrook.

Each of our friends brought over a red wine for dinner and we anted up the Hospices de Beaune. The 2010 Cereja came from Hood River, Oregon and a mystery bottle.

What we can clearly see is the vintage: 1962. Blowing up the photo shows that the first word is definitely "Cormey" what we are guessing on is that it is "Figeac". Another thing that can be discerned is that the Proprietor is R. Moreaud. Upon uncorking, we found that the cork was flush with the top of the bottle, showing no signs of storage mistreatment, and although it was totally saturated, came out intact, a testament to the fact that it was a very good cork when it began it's life in the bottle. So, how did this 50 year old wine taste? The couple who brought the wine thought that it would die a quick and ignoble death once the bottle was opened. Well, the context is that it is 50 years old and for some of us, it still was hanging in there. For others, it was way past it's prime tasting more like vinegar, but personally, I had a sip at the end of the evening and I liked the wine which I thought still clung on to it's vinous origins.

Updating Information Under the Tabs

Today, I spent some time to update information under the "Starting a Vineyard" and the "Viticulture" Tab you see located just above the blogposts. Before I put a "Search" function on this blog, this was the way that I collated blogs with information on the same topic. Here is the new look under the "Viticulture" Tab. I hope that this will be another way to look at relevant information at a glance.
Grapevine Phenology
Eichhorn-Lorenz Grapevine Phenology
Vine Growth
The Mysterious Life of Grape Buds
The Perilous Journey to Fruitset
Cold Tolerance and Grape vine Phenology
Vine Balance
Approaching Veraison---Grapevine Internal Clocks
Chemistry of the Grape Berry
Grape Berry Composition at Harvest
Assessing a Vineyard's Optimum Ripeness
MOG and the Grape Harvest
Periderm Formation
Grapevine Hormones
Partial Rootzone Drying
Assessing Grapevine Nutritional Status
Grapevine Pests
Grape Pest in Connecticut---The Spotted Wing Drosophila
Brown Marmorated Stinkbug---A New Vineyard Pest
David Gadoury's Presentation on Grape Powdery Mildew
Grapevine Genetics
Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay: Where Do They Come From?
The Fox Grape
Teinturier Grape Varieties
East Coast Weather and How It Affects Grape Growing
Recapping the Growing Season in 2011
Assessing and Managing Cold Damage
Effect of Heat Wave on Grape Leaf Stomata
Soil Texture and Water Holding Capacity---Part 1
Evapotranspiration and Irrigation---Part 2
Precipitation in Connecticut
Ways to Measure Vineyard Water Status
Video on How to Use a Pressure Chamber

Laser Guided Planting of Tall Grafted Vines at Rathfinny

My husband and I are always on the lookout for people using tall grafted vines in their vineyards. Recently, he came upon a video that showed tall grafted vines being planted on Rathfinny Estate:
Rathfinny is located in the UK. I went to their website and sent an email and received a very nice response from Elizabeth O'Neill, PA to Mark Driver who gave me permission to use the video.
Our feeling is, if tall grafted vines can be planted in the UK, we should be able to get someone to help us with that here in the States.

Long Island Wine Lineup in Saveur

Innocent of turkey on this Thanksgiving 2012, struck down by some insidious version of the flu, I consoled myself by flipping through the November Saveur and came across an article written by Betsy Andrew called 37 Great American Wines, subtitled, Nowadays, our favorite bottles don't only come from the West Coast. The 37 featured wines came from the Viriginia Mountains, the Texas Hills and Plains, the New York Finger Lakes and Long Island, New York. And there among the bevy of wines, was Paumanok's 2011 Chenin Blanc!

This is really well deserved recognition of the wineries and some stellar wines being made on the East Coast and Texas. Congratulations to Charles Massoud and his family and all of our vino-oenophile friends on Long Island!

Deconvoluting the Meaning of Our Soil Tests

It's one thing to get the soil tested, it's another thing to understand the results and what to do about it. We first got our soil tested in 2009, but recently, with all of the work going on to prepare our land for spring planting, we decided to get our soil tested again. We took a sample from our North field before the onset of derocking commenced and then took another sample after the top soil had been turned and the rocks removed from the top soil. We sent our soil samples to two different laboratories and were really perplexed at the different numbers that came back. In order to try to figure out what was going on, I turned to the Internet and found a really good presentation called Grapevine Nutrition presented by Mark Chien of the Penn State Cooperative Extension. The first number that is really important is the pH of the soil. This is because the availability of the macro- and micronutrients to the vines are very pH dependent as shown in this diagram:

In Mark Chien's presentation, he recommends that the pH for growing grapevines be between 5.5-7.0.
Our soil analysis also included values of the phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, boron, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, aluminum and organic matter content of our sample. Mark Chien recommends the following values:

We will use the above information as a guide to amending our soils this fall. (I know, it is getting late!) The other thing was that because we had analyses done by two different laboratories, the information for one came back as pounds per acre and the other one as parts per million (ppm). How does one do that conversion? I looked at the chapter on Nutrient Management in Wine Grape Production Guide for Eastern North America and found out how to do it on page 157. I'll try to summarize the information:
In metric units there are:

1,000,000 milligrams (mg) in 1 kilogram (kg)
1,000,000 micrograms (μg) in 1 gram (g)

Therefore, 1mg/kg = 1μg/g = 1ppm (1 part per million)
One acre-furrow slice in agriculture is defined as 2,000,000 pounds of soil, so, to get the conversion from metric to pounds/acre, or pounds/acre to metric do the following:

ppm x 2 = pounds/acre
pounds/acre ÷ 2 = ppm

Now, back to looking at our soil analysis results.

Mysterious Flavor of One Bottle of Chardonnay

On October 6, I wrote this blog on the Wine Flaws Aroma Kit and mentioned a Chardonnay that had a fruity aroma but was undrinkable and wondered what was the cause of this phenomenon. I came across what might be the answer to this mystery on a Cornell Site called Ask Barry Waite:
Dear Barry Waite:
I have a 2009 Chardonnay I made this year that tastes unlike any Chardonnay I have ever made or tasted and I don’t mean in a good way. I know it is 100% Chardonnay, but it taste like it has some strange but fruity aromas and flavors. Can you help me with this puzzling dilemma?
Signed, Funky Fruit in Fredonia
Dear Funky:
Thank you for your question. First, it is always easier and more accurate if I can smell and taste your wine. Sensory analysis is gratis to New York State Wineries at the New York State Wine Analytical Laboratory. That being said, I believe from your description that you are describing a non-Saccharomyces yeast fermentation. Spoilage yeasts such as Kloeckera and Zygosaccharomyces like low temperatures and Saccharomyces do not. If you encourage the growth of Kloeckera you will also end up with a wine with a high acetic acid content and a fruitiness that does not come from the grapes, but instead from acetic acid esters. Starting fermentation temperature for white wines should be 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) and for red wines 30 degrees C (86 degrees F). I believe your wine was fermented by non-Saccharomyes species giving it the fruity esters and non-varietal aromas and flavors.
May the Chardonnay you might drink today be fermented by Saccharomyces cerevisiae or S. cerevisiae bayanus.

2009 Philippe LeClerc Bourgogne

We had this Bourgogne with the best pizza in our area on Sunday, our ritual while watching the Sunday night football game. I already forgot who played but I loved the combination of this Bourgogne with the plain tomato and cheese pizza. It was inky, purple in color and even though it's still young, the flavors were a perfect balance of fruit and tannins. I recognized the cork and I when mentioned to my husband that we've had this wine before, he told me that we brought a 1990 Philippe LeClerc with us to California in 2006 when we went on a tour of wine country. It's kind of sad to admit that while I recognize the cork and forget the wine, my husband has a steel trap memory of wines that he has had. This wine is an excellent buy at between $20-$26.

The Importance of Nitrogen in Wine Fermentation

After hearing Dr. Sara Spayd speak about "Nitrogen Nutrition in Fermentation", it recalled to mind the UC Davis lectures on nitrogen, so I went back to my lecture notes as well as the internet to find references regarding nitrogen in ferementation.
It is important to know the initial nitrogen status of a juice or must, because it affects the growth of yeast and the fermentation of sugars, and contributes to wine flavour. When talking about the nitrogen content in grape must or juice, you might run into the following acronyms:

FAN = Free Amino Nitrogen -- all amino acids except proline
PAN = Primary Amino Nitrogen - same as FAN
YAN = Yeast Available Nitrogen = [FAN or PAN + Ammonia]

The amino acid proline can be one of the major nitrogen containing compound in the must, but because proline is a secondary amine and not a primary amine, the nitrogen is not available to yeast under aerobic conditions.

Both the total available nitrogen and the balance of amino acids and ammonia can significantly affect the production of different groups of fermentation-derived volatile compounds.

When adding diammonium phosphate (DAP) to the must, it is important to add the appropriate amount. The amount of DAP to add is dependent on the Brix level of the must or juice. Too little nitrogen may lead to a stuck fermentation, while too much addition of DAP will lead to the over production of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) as well as ethyl acetate, leading to unwanted organoleptic characteristics in the finished wine.
Additional reading:
1. AWRi Report: Nitrogen management is critical for wine flavour and style
2. FAQs About YAN Chris Gerling, Enology Extension Associate, Cornell University - NYSAES.

Notes from the Eastern Viticulture Workshop---Part 4

The last two lectures were given by Dr. Tim Martinson from Cornell University who brought us up to date on the "Northern Grapes Project" and Dr. Paul Domoto from Iowa State University who spoke on "Grapevine Nutrition".
Dr. Tim Martinson provided an update on the Northern Grapes Project.

He also provided information regarding webinars that are held monthly at noon and 7 p.m. The archived webinars can be found here: Recorded Webinars.
Dr. Martinson also mentioned that Viticulture 2013 will be held in Rochster, New York during February 6-8.
Dr. Paul Domoto's talk was on "Grapevine Nutrition". He began his talk with the properties of soil and the importance of soil analysis before planting the vineyard. He recommended that petiole analysis can be taken when the vineyard comes into production. Dr. Domoto gave detailed information on the macronutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as well as information on the micronutrients including calcium, magnesium, sulfur, boron, copper, manganese, zinc, and iron. The nutrients also can interact with each other. For example, high magnesium blocks potassium uptake. This information was extensive so members of the audience asked Dr. Nail if the presentation could be circulated. Once I receive the presentation, I will summarize it and put it on this blog.

Notes from the Eastern Viticulture Workshop---Part 3

Following a nice break for lunch, Charlie Koines spoke about "Risk Management and Crop Insurance Programs". He gave us a handout that summarized all of his presentation so that it was quite easy to follow. He asked if any in the audience had crop insurance. This was a trick question because he knew that no one in Connecticut currently has crop insurance for their grapes. Connecticut growers do have the ability to insure their crop if the grapes are grown for wine or juice. At this time, table grapes are not insurable. The insurance period begins on November 21. The information sheet provided by Charlie Koines can be accessed at: Grapes New York Risk Management Agency. This pdf is a concise summary of the information regarding grape crop insurance.
Dr. Sara Spayd gave the only enology talk of the session. Her presentation was entitled "Nitrogen Nutrition in Fermentation." Nitrogen is important for the following processes:

• Yeast require nitrogen for growth
• Vitamins including thiamine and biotin necessary for yeast growth contain nitrogen
• Fusel alcohols that contribute to wine flavor contain nitrogen
• Pyrazine compounds contain nitrogen
• Amines contain nitrogen

The must should be tested for nitrogen content. Yeast assimilable/available nitrogen (YAN) is a measure of ammonium and α-amino acids. The appropriate amino acid measurement is important because proline can be one of the more abundant amino acids in the must, however, proline is not a primary amino acid and the nitrogen is not available to yeasts. It is also important to know the arginine concentration of the must because arginine metabolism leads to the formation of citrulline and ornithine, which can form urea. Urea in combination with ethanol forms ethyl carbamate or urethane, which is a minor carcinogen.
YAN necessary for fermentation:

• Minimum 150 mg YAN/L for white wine fermentation at 55 ^oF
• Healthy 400 mg YAN/L
• Australian standard 600 mg YAN/L

Nitrogen can be added to fermentation in the form of diammonium phosphate (DAP). Most enologists that Dr. Spayd spoke with preferred to add DAP rather than correct nitrogen deficiency in the vineyard. She mentioned that in addition to having a pH meter in the laboratory, a spectrophotometer can be very helpful in measuring amino acid concentration as well as phenolic content of the must.

Notes from the Eastern Viticulture Workshop---Part 2

Dr. Bruce Reisch from Cornell University was the third speaker on the agenda and his topic was "Breeding New Cultivars for Cool Climates". Dr. Reish said that not all hybrids are crosses between Vitis lambusca x V. vinifera. Here in the United States, we also have Vitis riperia, V. cinera, and V. aestivalis to use in creating hybrid cultivars. One of the successful releases has been Cayuga White which is a cross between Seyval x Schuyler released in 1972. It has good disease resistance and if harvested early, the labrusca character can be minimized. I also learned that Traminette, released in 1996 has Gewurztraminer as part of it's parentage. There is a new release called NY76084424 which was created from a cross between Traminette and Ravat 34. Dr. Reisch said that they are currently in the process of selecting a name for this new release. Dr. Reisch's current research is focused on developing disease resistant varieties. More on this research can be found at Vitisgen.org, which is a federally funded project.

Next on the agenda was Dr. Imed Dami from Ohio State University who spoke on "Cold Hardiness and Winter Protection". Dr. Dami's talk was a very timely one. He began by asking if anyone had the publication entitled, Winter Injury to Grapevines and Methods of Protection. What a coincidence, I thought because that was one of my blogposts prior to coming to the Eastern Viticulture Workshop. Dr. Dami is one of the authors of the publication and it was great to see and hear his talk in person. Dr. Dami began with defining cold hardiness and freezing injury and walked us through the U-shaped curve of cold acclimation and deacclimation. Dr. Dami said that there are cultural practices such as creating vine balance and limiting overcropping that will enhance the cold hardiness of the grapevines. His current research involves using abscisic acid for getting grapevines to enter into dormancy earlier. Much of what Dr. Dami spoke about is contained in the publication "Winter Injury to Grapevines and Methods of Protection". It costs approximately $15.00 and is a must have for Northeastern grape growers.

Notes from the Eastern Viticulture Workshop

On November 13, 2012, William Nail hosted the Eastern Viticulture Workshop at the Mystic Hilton in Connecticut. Dr. Paul Read was the first speaker and he spoke about "Fifteen Years of Evaluating Cold Hardy Grapes in Nebraska". Dr. Read mentioned that growing grapes in Nebraska poses the following challenges:

• Spring cold weather events
• Disease
• Phenoxy herbicide drift i.e. 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid or 2,4-D (See Grapevine Hormones for the chemical structure of 2,4-D)
• Abrupt and early fall temperature drop
• Winter temperature minima---this determines what grapes can grow

Dr. Read's talk was focused mainly on hybrid varieties and their budbreak and hardiness characteristics. He mentioned that although Frontenac has a good hardiness rating, the budbreak occurs in early spring and therefore can be susceptible to spring frost events. He also mentioned that wines made from the hybrids have done very well in competitions and the combination of Marquette and Frontenac can taste like Cabernet Sauvignon.
The next speaker was Ms. Sue Sim from the UC Davis Foundation Plant Services. She spoke about the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN). Ms. Sim runs the tissue culture lab where they test grapevines for virus diseases which include the following:

• Nepovirus
• Leafroll Virus
• Rugose Wood Virus

Ms. Sim mentioned that the National Clean Plant Network (NCPN) was created in Farm Bill 2008 section 10202. There are 5 NCPN sites in the United States that include facilities in California, Washington State University, Florida, Missouri State and Cornell. The NCPN is charged with pathogen diagnosis and elimination.
More information from the Eastern Viticulture Workshop will follow in future blogposts. Please stay tuned.

New Print Widget on Blogposts

This morning, while we were getting ready to go to the Eastern Viticulture Workshop, I thought that it might be a good idea to print out the agenda on the blogpost, but much to my dismay, I discovered that the output was WYSIWYG, so the EnoViti header as well as all of the information on the right hand side of the blog was part of the printout and was distracting. So, the first thing that I did after coming home from the workshop was to put a Print Friendly Widget on each blogpost. This way, if you ever want to print out any one blog, you can. The Print widget is at the bottom of the blog post as in this example:

Information on what I learned from attending this workshop will be presented in future blogposts. It was a very good workshop to go to, not only for the scientific content but also for the opportunity to meet and connect with people in the business.

Winter Injury to Grapevines and Methods of Protection

If you live in the eastern half of the United States, a handy publication to have is this one from Michigan State University Extension called "Winter Injury to Grapevines and Methods of Protection".
This has been an unusual weather year for the Northeast, to say the least. Prior to Hurricane Sandy and the Nor'easter there was a freeze event on the early morning of October 13th that caused damage to grape leaves that were still green and photosynthesizing and I wanted to know what effect if any, this loss of leaves would have on the grapevine entering into dormancy. I turned to this publication that explains the process of cold acclimation of a grapevine for some answers. Cold acclimation is the process of transition of the grapevine from a cold-tender to a cold hardy state.
The potential for a grapevine's cold hardiness is determined by:

• The environment
• Cultural practices
• Genetic makeup of the cultivar

There are two stages of cold acclimation: (1)The first stage occurs in the late summer to early fall before any freeze events and is a response to the shorter days and lower temperatures. At this time, buds have not reached their maximum cold hardiness. (2) The second stage is induced by below freezing temperatures and coincides with the first killing fall freeze when temperatures drop below 32 ^oF.
As the temperature drops, the grapevines prepare for dormancy by:

• Formation of the periderm
• Mobilizing carbohydrate reserves to canes, trunks and roots
• Isolating dormant buds from the vascular tissues in canes and trunks
• Redistributing water in bud tissues leading to dessication

This is a very comprehensive publication that runs the gamut of topics from the economics of winter injury to how to manage winter-injured grapevines. Certainly a good book for me to read before we plant our grapevines and begin to deal with reality!

Eastern Viticulture Workshop

We recently received some information regarding a workshop to be held in Connecticut convened by Dr. William Nail of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. Here are the details:
EASTERN VITICULTURE WORKSHOP Tuesday, November 13, 2012 Hilton Hotel, Mystic, CT
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the Connecticut Farm Wine Development Council, the USDA Risk Management Agency, and the University of Rhode Island are hosting a viticulture and enology workshop on Tuesday, November 13 at the Hilton Hotel in Mystic, CT. We will have some of the preeminent scientists in the field gathered for a project meeting, and we are unlikely to have such a “dream team” assembled in New England in the foreseeable future, so I hope we get a good turnout for such a unique event. The speakers have well over 100 years of combined experience in viticulture and enology. I strongly encourage multiple representatives from vineyards and wineries.
The registration fee is $60, and includes lunch and break refreshments in the morning and afternoon.
The final schedule and titles are subject to change, but confirmed speakers and approximate topics are:
8:30     William Nail---The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
          Welcome and introduction
8:45     Dr. Paul Read---University of Nebraska
          Fifteen Years of Evaluating Cold-Hardy Grapes
9:30     Ms. Sue Sim---Foundation Plant Services, UC Davis
          The National Clean Plant Network
10:15-10-30  Break
1030-11:15   Dr. Bruce Reisch---Cornell University
          Breeding New Cultivars for Cool Climates
1:15-12:00    Dr. Imed Dami---The Ohio State University
          Cold Hardiness and Winter Protection
12:00-1:00   Lunch
1:00-1:45    Charlie Koines---University of Rhode Island
          Risk Management and Crop Insurance Programs
1:45-2:30     Dr. Sara Spayd---North Carolina State University
          Nitrogen Nutrition in Fermentation
2:30-2:45     Break
2:45-3:30     Dr. Tim Martinson--- Cornell University
          The Northern Grapes Project
3:30-4:15     Dr. Paul Domoto---Iowa State University
          Grapevine Nutrition
The registration deadline has passed, but you can still come and pay at the door, but please e-mail your registration form in ASAP or e-mail me to let me (William Nail, information follows) know that you will be coming, as we have to let the hotel know final head-count by Thursday, Nov. 8.
I hope to see as many of you as possible next Tuesday!
Thanks,
Bill
William R. Nail, Ph.D.
Assistant Scientist II
Department of Forestry and Horticulture
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
123 Huntington Street, P.O. Box 1106
New Haven, CT  06504
(203)   974-8491
FAX   (203)   974-8502
Many thanks to the Connecticut Farm Wine Development Council, the University of Rhode Island, and the USDA-Risk Management Agency for their sponsorship and support.

2002 Schleret Riesling Herrenweg

We had that 2002 Riesling recently. For a 10 year old wine, it was decidedly youthful and tasted of green apples and was not in the least bit cloying. We knew even before opening the wine that we would be in for a treat because Neal Rosenthal is the importer. If you like the wines of a known importer such as Neal Rosenthal, it's a good bet that even if you are not familiar with a specific wine, chances are that if you find a wine that he imports, you will like it as well. And this Charles Schleret Riesling was a case in point for us.
On the Madrose Group Website (Neal Rosenthal Wine Merchant), there is more information on Domaine Schleret. Herrenweg is the name of the vineyard where this Riesling has been planted. The website mentions that the vineyard is characterized by well-drained alluvial, silt and granite soil that lies on relatively level land where it benefits from exceptionally long hours of sunshine. The soil warms very quickly which leads to precocious growth and homogenous ripening. Charles Schleret retired in 2007 so if you want to taste a Charles Schleret wine you need to get one where the vintage date is 2007 or earlier. The cost of this Riesling was approximately $25.00! I definitely would buy this wine again.

The Great CT Wine Swindle

I was surprised to receive an email from Jean Kincaid-Ross who recently helped me to get information regarding the Connecticut Farm Winery. She sent me a link to an article from The Hartford Advocate entitled The Great CT Wine Swindle?. According to the law formulated in 2004, it requires that only 25 percent of a winery's wine be made using in-state fruit. This law also gives growers seven years from the time they get their winery permit to reach that 25 percent mark. In addition, if a change of ownership occurs, a winery's 25 percent-Connecticut-grapes clock is restarted and the new owners get another seven years to meet the standard. This was something that I wasn't aware of.
What this indicates to me is that consumers of Connecticut wines must be aware of the implications of the label. So, to reiterate:

• For a Farm Winery, 25% of the grapes must come from the Farm Winery
• For the wine label to say "Connecticut", Federal law requires that 75% of the grapes must be grown in Connecticut
• For the label to read Estate grown and bottled, 100% of the grapes have to be planted on the Farm Winery property. Federal law also stipulates that when using "Estate" on the label, the farm must be in a designated AVA.

Back to Work

Although our power is still out, we were really spared the worst of Sandy. There was a bit of seawater in our basement and it had dried when we checked yesterday, Halloween. When we went to check on our land on Monday, we learned that Jeff had been there on Sunday! My husband and Jeff are back turning the soil to pull out the larger boulders, working on preparing the soil in order to put in the tiling.
Regular blogging will return shortly. Meanwhile, we've been spending the time with our friend who had power all throughout hurricane Sandy. We are totally in her debt.

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!