2015 Paumanok Chenin Blanc

We recently drank this 2015 Paumanok Chenin Blanc. Paumanok Vineyards is located on Long Island in Aquebogue. As far as we know, Paumanok is the only other vineyard growing Chenin Blanc in "our area". In 2011, when I was taking the U.C. Davis online course for Viticulture and Enology, I reached out to Charles Massoud of Paumanok and he emailed back immediately and from that time on, we have become friends. But, Charles and Ursula make everyone feel like part of the "wine family", they have a corner on hospitality.
Last November, we brought our first vintage, our 2015 Chenin Blanc Sec and 2015 Chenin Blanc Sussreserve to share with Charles and his son, winemaker Kareem. In return, we tasted their 2015 Chenin Blanc as well as the 2015 Minimalist Chenin Blanc. We brought home with us 3 bottles of each. When we opened this 2015 Chenin Blanc, the aromas that wafted from the glass was of pineapple and peaches with a touch of honey. The flavor was well balanced mix of fruit and acid. It was delicious!

Gruet A Méthode Champenoise from New Mexico

In 2014, we were on a sparkling/champagne self-education journey and I blogged about Gruet and Billiot Champagne Tastings. Somewhere along the way, we felt that the sparkling was not the same sparkling that we tasted in 2014 and it seemed to be a bit oxidized. But, recently, we tried the Gruet again. First, it was back to being Gruet, somewhat acidic and refreshing without any hint of oxidation. My husband also noticed that they had changed their label. I forgot what the label looked like so I searched on my

blog and sure enough, my husband was right. Back in 2014, the label looked like what is shown to the right. In looking on the Internet, I learned that Gruet entered into a partnership with Seattle-based Precept Wine in 2014. I learned much more about Gruet online.
Founder: Gilbert Gruet
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico at 4300 feet of elevation
Soil: Sandy loam
Growing season: mid-April to end of July
Vineyard:Gruet Vineyard Varieties: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
Vineyard:Luna Rossa Vineyard Varieties: Chardonnay and Pinot Noir
Vineyard:The Pueblo of Santa Ana Varieties: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier
The Family: Three generations. Currently, Laurent and Nathalie Gruet and Nathalie's son Sofian Himeur
The bottle of Gruet that we purchased was less that $20.00 so it will go under my tab, Wines Under $20.

Chenin Blanc Styles

One of the grape varieties that we are growing is Chenin Blanc. We fell in love with the flavor and range of styles that Chenin Blanc wines can achieve, so we planted it. We also planted Chenin Blanc because we wanted to make a wine that would pair well with the local foods and since our local foods increasingly includes oysters as well as the long established seafoods, scallops and lobsters, Chenin Blanc is a natural.
Chenin Blanc is a grape variety associated with the Loire Valley, France. Jancis Robinson writes in Wine Grapes that it was initially planted in Anjou, but likely got its name from being planted in Montchenin, a monastery near Corméry by Denis Briçonnet, the Abbot of Corméry. Between 1520 and 1535, the Abbot planted many varieties of grapes but one that did especially well was called Plant d'Anjou. When the grape was propagated across the Touraine region the variety took its name from Montchenin and was called Chenin.
The Loire Valley produces Chenin Blanc in a variety of styles. The map below will provide some guidance as to what regions produce Chenin Blanc.¹

The bottle label is not necessarily indicative of the style, instead, the label will say in what region the Chenin was made. Nevertheless, there are regions where a certain style predominates. I tried to gather the information to provide a guide as to the various styles of Chenin Blanc that you might find in the various Loire regions. They are tabulated below.

Locale	Wine Style	Flavor Attributes
Vouvray Savennières Saumur Anjou	sec (dry)	lean, crisp, green apple, lemon/lime, mineral, flint, gravel
Vouvray Savennières Montlouis-sur-Loire	demi-sec (off-dry)	ripe pear, ginger, jasmine, passion fruit, and honeycomb
Vouvray Bonnezaux Coteaux de l'Aubance Savennières Quarts de Chaume Coteaux de Layon	moelleux (mellow/mild)	dried persimmon, toasted almond, mango, ginger, and mandarin orange.
Vouvray	doux (sweet)	honey
Vouvray Saumur Montlouis-sur-Loire	Sparkling Crémant de Loire	quince, yellow apple, plum, ginger, and floral notes

References:
1. The map of the Loire region is from Wine Tour France.
2. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, pg 236-239.
3. Casten, Damien, Chenin Blanc: Beginners Guide to Wine.
4. Wine Folly, Chenin Blanc.

Vintage Notes: Summer Heat Wave

We're coming out of a 4 day heat wave that had us working from very early in the morning and stopping at noon and going back at 4 p.m. and working until 7 or 8 p.m. The heat wave began on Tuesday and lasted until Saturday, with temperatures in the high 80's. We felt that we were effectively working through the heat, but Thursday, was so hot, even we threw in the towel and did not go back to the vineyard for the second shift.
The heat wave and the rain that we have been having has enabled our grapes to swell as they enter Eichhorn-Lorenz stage 32, the beginning of bunch closure.
At this time, it is very important to leaf pull around the clusters so that airflow around the developing grape bunches can occur unimpeded. The clusters shown below are Chenin Blanc clusters in need of leaf pulling.

Prionus Tile Beetle

Recently, while we were working in the vineyard, my husband came to where I was and said, that I need to see this HUGE black beetle. Sure enough, we went back to where my husband had been working and saw this HUGE beetle. Pictures usually don't convey sizes very well, and fortunately, there was a Japanese beetle on a nearby weed and my husband coaxed the weed over to the black beetle so that there was a good reference for the size of this huge, black beetle and I clicked away.

Then we tortured the beetle by turning the grass that the beetle was on so that we could photograph the underside of the beetle. It clung on tightly and we got the shot. Since we didn't know at that time if this was a good beetle or a "bad" beetle, we let it be. Anything this huge is cool, if nothing else and in my humble opinion, should live.
When we got home, we looked on the Internet to see if we could identify this beetle. I entered "huge black beetle with serrated antennae" and got several hits for "Prionus", but since I wasn't sure, I emailed Pamm Cooper at the University of Connecticut Extension Center and she responded that it was indeed a Prionus Tile Beetle. The tile beetle can be brown or black, so we took a picture of the black variety. Information on Bug Guide stated that the female lays 100-200 eggs around the base of various trees, vines, herbs. These include oak, grape, pear, and maize. The larval stage lasts three years or more where they feed on bark and roots.
Well, that is bad news. The other bad news in this photo is that the Japanese beetles have begun to make their appearance. So far, they haven't been the scourge that they have been in previous years.

Beserkers at Our Vineyard

On Sunday, Gary and a few of his fellow beserkers, two of whom we met at Salute in June came to visit our vineyard. In the photo bellow, starting on your left is: Joe, Gary, Jonathan, John, and Arnie.

Arnie has a vineyard in Wallingford planted in Traminette and Lemberger. Joe and John are members in his venture called Country Club Winery. After about 1 hour on our vineyard, we adjourned to the real purpose of the visit, dinner at Water Street Cafe, in Stonington Borough where we were doing a wine tasting. We were joined by our friend, Mary, who brought with her an Egly-Ouriet, Jonathan brought a Robert Hunter Sparkling from Sonoma which we paired with steamed clams. We also opened and drank a Cayuga, made and brought by Arnie, a New Zealand Chardonnay, brought by Mary, Auxerrois from Gary and a Chenin Blanc Sussreserve from our 2015 vintage.
When it came time for our entrees, we switched over to reds and Jonathan brought a 2007 Cayuse Syrah from Walla Walla, Washington. Arnie proffered his Primitivo, we also had a Brunello, and a 2007 Big Basin Syrah. We were tended to by the excellent wait staff at Water Street Cafe, especially Noah. We had a great time, and the proof of that was that when we left, it was 11 p.m.! You know the saying, time flies...

Ancient Documentation of Winemaking

Recently, I was reading "Practical Viticulture", a book written by D. P. Pongrácz and published in 1978. At the same time, I was trying to augment my understanding of plants by reading the textbook "Biology of Plants" written by Peter Raven, Ray Evert, and Susan Eichhorn, and left by one of my daughters from her college days. I was struck by a photo that appeared in both books and took it as a sign that I should blog about it.

"Practical Viticulture" gives the following caption: Harvesting and wine-making in Ancient Egypt. From the tomb of Nakht, Thebes, XVIII dynasty 1420-1411 B.C. From Hegedüs et al.¹
"The Biology of Plants" gives the following caption: An example of anaerobic glycolysis. Ancient Egyptian wall paintings, such as the one shown here, are the earliest historical record of wine-making. They have been dated to about 5000 years ago.²
The tomb of Nakht was found by European explorers in 1889, but its existence was known to the local inhabitants of Qurna Village, situated on the West Bank of the Nile near the city of Luxor. Norman de Garis Davies and his wife Nina were instrumental in documenting the findings by taking tracings of the tomb, work done for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and published in 1917.
It boggles my mind to think that the steps involved in winemaking is clearly shown in this scene which was found in the tomb of the Egyptian official named Nahkt and his wife, Tawy. I can relate to the hand harvesting and the stomping of the grapes, which we did in our previous two harvests in 2015 and 2016. Crossing fingers, if all goes well, we will have many more pounds of grapes to harvest this year which brings it's own dilemma.
References:
1. D. P. Pongrácz, Practical Viticulture, Publisher, D. Philip, 1978.
2. Peter Raven, Ray Evert, and Susan Eichhorn, Biology of Plants, 6th Edition, W. H. Freeman and Company, 1999.
3. OSIRISNET: Tombs of Ancient Egypt.

Vineyard Barber

We are currently in the midst of shoot positioning, hedging and leaf pulling. We started in the Chardonnay right after fruitset and got those rows done as well as the few vines of Auxerrois, but the time consuming ones have been the Chenin Blanc. After a slow start, the Chenin Blanc really went into grow mode and needed some serious shoot topping. Here are the results of what we have been up to for the past few weeks:

Eichhorn-Lorenz Stages 27 and 29

I've been blogging about the Eichhorn-Lorenz stages that our vines are going through, the first was Eichhorn-Lorenz Stage 15 on June 6, documenting our Chardonnay. Today, I'm following up with Eichhorn-Lorenz Stage 29 or the stage at which berries begin to swell and the clusters begin to hang. Here is a photo of our Chardonnay taken on July 7th.
NOTE:I have to make a retraction. What I was following was Ed Hellman's Meier stages, and I do want follow the Eichhorn-Lorenz, so I am correcting the previous blog, from stage 55 to stage 15. I apologize for the error.

Our Auxerrois, on the other hand began bloom a week later than our Chardonnay, around June 22nd and it is now at Eichhorn-Stage 27, or at fruitset where the young fruits begin to swell and the remains of flowers are lost. The fact that the Auxerrois bloomed later than the Chardonnay meant that it did not see the same rain event on June 16th that the Chardonnay flowers saw and the berries here are much cleaner than the Chardonnay that I blogged about in Rain at Flowering.

References:
1. Ed Hellman, Grapevine Structure and Function.

Rain at Flowering

This year, our Chardonnay was precocious and bloomed beginning around June 15th. In my previous blog, I tabulated all the rain days that we've been having and on June 16th, we had 1-3/4 inches of rain. Rain during bloom can lead to a condition called millerandage or "hens and chicks" where the berries are of unequal size. What we saw this year with our Chardonnay was something worse. Since many of the Chardonnay plants were in more than 30% bloom, many of the flowers seem to have been aborted.
Vitus vinifera vines are perfect flowers (hermaphrodites) meaning that they contain both male and female organs. They are self pollinating and don't require bees to pollinate them. But rain during flowering can dilute the stigmatic fluid and interfere with germination of the pollen grains.¹ We believe that this condition is what happened to some of our Chardonnay this year:

The aborted flowers can become a problem through the season if it remains on the rachis (the main axis of the grape bunch or what you have left after you eat all of the grapes). The growing grapes will trap the flower "trash" and this becomes a reservoir for all types of fungal and bacterial diseases.
To ensure that we can harvest these Chardonnay, I have been going through each bunch and cleaning the rachis of the unfertilized, spent flowers. First I tried it with a brush, but that didn't quite work, so now I gently tap each rachis so that the spent flowers fall off. The picture shown on the right is cleaned Chardonnay cluster, compare it to the picture above which had all the spent flowers near the rachis.
References:
1. Nick K. Dookozlian, Berry Growth and Development.

Vintage Notes: Spring and Summer Rain Events

Mother Nature has blessed the 2017 spring and summer with rain. Pre-budbreak, I blogged about all of the rain that we were getting in April in, Vintage Notes: April 2017. It's good news and it's bad news. All of the spring rain meant that our vineyard was at field capacity for water and that is good news. In addition, the vines, old and newly planted benefited from the spring rain. Another benefit of the periodic downpour of rain is that we haven't had to rent the generator to power the irrigation system like we did last year. All this rain has a downside which meant that my husband had to be on top of the spraying so that the dreaded fungi powdery, downy, black rot, phomopsis, anthracnose, doesn't take hold in the vineyard.
Here is what we have had in terms of rain so far:

Date	Amount of Rain
May 5	2 inches
May 25	1 inch
May 29	1/2 inch
June 16	1-3/4 inches
June 27	1/2 inch
July 7	1 inch
July 12	1-1/2 inches

Today is another day of rain so we are catching up on all the loose ends and running errands. Cheers!

Robber Fly: Family Asilidae

Somehow in the recesses of my memory, I knew that this was a robber fly. I always associated it with a painful bite and tried to steer clear of it whenever I saw it. On a recent vine cleaning detail, this robber fly chose to land on the trellis wire right beside me and stayed long enough for me to get a macro shot of it. When I went home and looked for more information on the Internet, I learned that this robber fly is a good guy, a predator. So far, on my tab Insect Pest and Predators, I only have 3 predators, the ladybug, the spined soldier bug and the anchor bug. So, I am happy to add the robber fly to the predator lineup.

I learned more about the robber fly on Wikipedia Asilidae. The Asilidae family members attack a very wide range of prey, including other flies, beetles, butterflies and moths, various bees, ants, dragon and damselflies, ichneumon wasps, grasshoppers, and some spiders. They wait in ambush and catch their prey in flight. Although humans are too large to be prey, the robber fly will not hesitate to defend itself by delivering a painful bite. This explains my association of pain with the robber fly.

2012 Compañía de Vinos Del Atlántico Gordo

If you're thinking of a good red wine for the Fourth of July that will go with hamburgers and hot dogs and will not break the bank, I have a tip for you!
Last night, we had this 2012 Compañía de Vinos Del Atlántico Gordo with hamburgers as a pre-Fourth of July test, it's an onerous job but someone must do it. It worked!
The Gordo is a mixture of 70% Monastrell and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and with 5 years of age, it was inky purple in color and
packed a punch of tannins.

The Monastrell grape is known in France as Mourvèdre and Mataro in Italy. I have to admit that when I read "Mourvèdre", I recognized the varietal. Jancis Robinson, in the compendium Wine Grapes writes that 'monastrell' is derived from the Latin monasteriella meaning 'monastery' suggesting that the grape was cultivated by monks. It is an ancient varietal that was supposed to have made its way to the Iberian Peninsula by the Phoenicians.

The Gordo wine is made by Compania de Vinos del Atlantico, founded in 2002 to unite the winemaking heritage and families of Alberto Orte and Patrick Mata. The winemaking heritage can be traced back to the 1800s. The Gordo vineyard is located in southeastern Spain, in Yecla at an elevation of 2,339 feet. The coolness of the high altitude makes for a more aromatic, fresh, easy drinking wine. I can attest to that and at a price of around $15.00 should be a good quaffer to round out the Fourth of July comestibles!
References:
1. J. Robinson, J. Harding and J. Vouillamoz, Wine Grapes - A complete guide to 1,368 vine varieties, including their origins and flavours, pg 646-648-503, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2.
2. Compañía de Vinos Del Atlántico Gordo.