Limniona - A Greek Grape

The theme for our 2023 harvest party was Greek food so my husband procured some Greek wines to pair with the food. There was one variety that I had not heard of called Limniona so I thought I would look into this Greek grape today.
He purchased two wines made from Limniona from Domaine Zafeirakis:

The tome Wine Grapes¹, credits Christos Zafeirakis in Tyrnavos, for saving this grape from extinction. The birthplace of the Limniona grape is in Thessaly located in Central Greece. At the beginning of the 90s, the Greek Wine Institute promoted plantings of this variety in Thessaly since it was an indigenous grape.
However, it wasn't until 2007, when Christos Zafeirakis produced and marketed a single-varietal Limniona, that the Limniona varietal attracted the attention of other producers to also focus on that variety.
The Zafeirakis family has been practicing viticulture for more than 100 years and Christos Zafeirakis is the 4th generation winemaker, considered to be one of the young, pioneering winemakers in Greece.
Thessaly is the region where Limniona is mainly found, but plantings are concentrated in the west in Messenicola and towards the north, in Meteora, Tyrnavos, and Rapsani. These areas are all located in the rain shadow of the Pindos Mountain range located directly to the west. The region is characterized by their soils, which are sandy and rocky, with little water and nutrient retention.
Limniona is a vigorous, late-ripening red variety with little need for water. Controlling the vine vigor is accomplished through shoot trimming, controlled irrigation and fertilisation, and leaf removal.
Limonia is both elegant and powerful. Ιntensely colored due to its high anthocyanin content, it has aromas of strawberry and raspberry, herbal and floral notes (roses or violets) and sweet spices with a peppery twist. The silky rather than velvety tannins and its lively perfumed character are characteristic of this variety.²
This research into Limniona calls for another taste of Domaine Zafeirakis Limniona wines, a rose and the red wine, παρακαλω!
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 348, Allen Lane 2012 ISBN 978-1-846-14446-2.
2. Yiannis Karakasis MW and Evmorfia Kostaki DipWSET, Limniona.
3. Domaine Zafeirakis.

Ancient Roman Wine

My wine news feed contained an article on ancient Roman wines. I like anything related to "ancient wine" and have blogged about it in the past:

• The Vix Krater
• 1540 Steinwein Tasting
• 8,000 Year Old Wine

So I needed to follow up on the link which lead me to Roman Wine Tasted 'Spicy', Archaeologists Reveal, an article in Newsweek.¹ The Newsweek article had a link to the original publication in Antiquity, called Making wine in earthenware vessels: a comparative approach to Roman vinification,² authored by Dimitri Van Limbergen and Paulina Komar. The authors noticed the similarities of grape vinification between the current Georgian method of using qvevri and the ancient Roman vessel called the dolia. Dolia were were highly valued items that were made by skilled artisans using specially selected clay mixtures.
The pictures below show examples of dolia fossa or wine cellars found in various locations in Italy.

From there they focused on aspects including their burial in the ground, shape, porosity and the role of skin-contact methods (when the grape skins remain in contact with the juice during winemaking) and flor yeasts (yeast cells that float on the surface of the wine).
Comparison of the Georgian qvevri and the Roman dolia:

• Dolia and qvevri are egg-shaped, porous clay vessels, which means that vinification is oxidative
• Excessive and harmful oxidation is prevented by the coating of vessel interiors with pitch (dolia) or beeswax (qvevri), which penetrate the clay, thus waterproofing and sterilising the vessels
• Both wood pitch and beeswax have excellent waterproofing capabilities, but the vessels remain porous to a certain extent, and this permits a degree of micro-oxygenation
• Burying and sealing the vessels further ensured ideal conditions for making fine oxidative wines

Here is what the authors surmise about ancient Roman winemaking techniques:

• Fermentation in Roman winemaking was spontaneous and entirely dependant on the yeasts present on the grapes
• Grapes were gently tread (foot stomped) and squeezed (without breaking stems and seeds, which imparts unpleasant flavours) and fermentation put in motion immediately to reduce the risk of failure
• Primary fermentation—the first so-called tumultuous phase in which the bulk of the sugars are turned into alcohol—lasted nine to 30 days, during which the dolia were kept open
• As the level of carbon dioxide increased during fermentation, the egg-like shape of the dolia and qvevri created internal convection currents gently stirring up (dead) yeasts, skins and other solids and slowly mixing them with the must, promoting a uniform fermentation and a homogenous must
• The jars were then topped up with more must (to minimise air contact) and sealed with a plastered terracotta disc (operculum) or wooden lid or simply with animal skins
• The practice of burying earthenware vessels ensured a constant temperature inside them, providing a stable environment for the wine to ferment and mature through the changing seasons
• Once sealed, the wine remained in the dolia for five to six months until they were opened at the spring equinox

The picture below is the schematic representation of the fermentation process in dolia/qvevri.²

Finally, the authors summarized that regardless of the color of the grape, the vinification more resembled current red wine vinification where the must was left in contact with the skins. They came to that conclusion based on the various colors of wines that were decribed by Pliny albus (pale white), fulvus (reddish-yellow), sanguineus (bloody-red) and niger (dark, black) as well as early Greek literature μέλας (black), λɛυκός (white), κιρρός (orange-tawny), ξανθός (yellow) and ɛρυθρός (red).

References:
1. Robyn White, Roman Wine Tasted 'Spicy', Archaeologists Reveal, Newsweek, January 22, 2024.
2. Dimitri Van Limbergen and Paulina Komar, Making wine in earthenware vessels: a comparative approach to Roman vinification, Antiquity, Cambridge University Press, 23 January 2024.

A Closer Look at Botrysized Late Harvest Grapes

Winter is the time that I look at some scholarly research articles and currently I am reading one entitled An Overview on Botrytized Wines.¹ I'm interested in learning more about the role of Bptrytis cinerea in the production of a late harvest wine.
Noble rot infection is caused by the fungus Botrytis cinerea. Surprisingly, this same fungus, Botrytis cinerea, with the same genotype and possibly the same strains also causes gray/bunch rot in healthy grapes. The question is, how does Botrytis cinerea accomplish this. The answer is related to specific environmental conditions critical for triggering the different metabolic pathways leading to either noble or gray rot infection.
Conditions promoting gray/bunch rot

• Extended humidity and heavy precipitation promotes bunch rot occurrence
• Intensive ruptures produced by birds, insects, worms, hail, light detachment of the berry from the pedicel or berry’s skin bursting due to heavy rainfalls, leads to bunch rot
• Extreme ruptures make berries very susceptible to gray rot and lead to fungus growth at the exterior part of the berry, where oxidation of sugars leads to gluconic acid accumulation

Conditions promoting noble rot

• The climate conditions three to five weeks after berry ripeness are decisive for the quality of the final product
• For noble rot wine production weather conditions are the key factor responsible for the quality of botrytization; sunny and dry days with humid nights and foggy mornings
• Grapes should reach maturity healthy without skin ruptures to avoid bunch rot
• Micro-fissures in the grape berry skin allows B. cinerea to enter and germinate inside, leading to fungus growth in the interior of berry’s skin where glycerol production in the anaerobic environment is supported
• During noble infection, different transcription factors in the berry lead to different enzymatic production and metabolic paths
• The host (the grape) decreases its defenses and produces a lower number of phytoalexins responsible for the creation of hostile environment for B. cinerea
• The up- or down-regulation of specific grape genes decreases the power of the virulence factors secreted during noble rot colonization by B. cinerea, resulting in a ‘‘milder’’ infection

The above photo shows the progression from healthy to noble rot infected grapes. During the pourri plein stage of infection, B. cinerea starts its development towards the external part of grape skin. The oxidation phenomenon causes the berries to gain a characteristic brown color. At the pourri rôti stage the withered grapes can finally be picked.
We bag our grapes with organza wedding bags to facilitate this process in our vineyard.

References:
1. Kallitsounakis, Georgios, Catarino, Sofia, An Overview on Botrytized Wines REVISÃO: VINHOS BOTRITIZADOS, Ciência e Técnica Vitivinícola, 2020, 35, 76, 10.1051/ctv/20203502076.

1996 Domaine Denis Mortet Gevrey-Chambertin Lavaux St. Jacques Premier Cru

My husband and I had this 1996 Gevrey Chambertin that he brought up from his cellar not too long ago. He made a duck with berry sauce which is his go to meal with Pinot Noir. The wine was drinking perfectly. It's difficult to breakdown a wine that is this smooth and complex. I am of the feeling that it is at the pinnacle of drinkability. I just asked hubby if we had any more of this wine because I think it needs to be drunk sooner rather than later to really appreciate how beautiful it is!
I wanted to learn a bit more about Domaine Denis Mortet so I interrogated the internet. What I found was very sad. Denis Mortet took his own life in 2006 at the age of 51. A little bit of history. Denis' father, Charles Mortet began in 1956 with 1 hectacre of vines. By 1992 when Denis Mortet took over the domaine, it was comprised of 4.5 hectacres vines in the villages of Gevrey-Chambertin, Chambolle-Musigny and Vougeot. The domaine continues in the capable hands of Denis' wife Laurence and their two children Arnaud and Clémence. Today, Laurence, Arnaud and Clémence cultivate one hundred plots of vines on a wine estate that stretches from Daix, across the Dijon plateau, to Vougeot.

The 1996 Gevrey Chambertin that we drank came from the Lauvax St. Jacques premier cru vineyard. The technical sheet for this wine describes the vineyard: this plot of vines faces fully south, on a steep slope. At the top of the slope, the soil is poor and pebbly, with rock at a depth of 25 centimetres. At the bottom of the slope, the soil is also pebbly, but deeper and with more clay.
The vines benefit from a maximum amount of sunshine during the day. Thanks to the proximity of the valley, temperatures at night are very cool. This contrast in temperatures suits Pinot Noir very well.

After reading about the domaine and how Laurence and her children are maintaining it, I asked my husbband if we could purchase a bottle of their more recent Lavaux St. Jacques. I just looked and the 2018 wine is now selling for $279.00 a bottle! I retract my previous comment that we need to drink this wine sooner---we need to cherish this wine and drink it with appreciation!
References:
1. Adam Lechmere, Decanter, Denis Mortet, February 3, 2006.
2. Domaine Denis Mortet.

Chenin Blanc Poached Pears

We have a few cases of our 2017 Chenin Blanc that we affectionately call the wine that only a mother could love. This vintage was mainly from vines planted in 2013 that survived that winter's killing frost and it was our first "big" harvest with nearly 100 gallons of juice to ferment. We did the fermentation in small lots and from one lot we made a Chenin Blanc Pét-Nat, a rustic sparkling wine.

The rest of the wine was made into a sec style and a sec-tendre style with a reserve of sweet juice added to the dry wine. However, because the grapes themselves were very austere, with only 17 ^oBrix at harvest, the wines were not very approachable for a long time. We waited and tasted the wine at various times and then we finally decided to give them away with the proviso that this wine should be used for cooking only.
So, here is a delicious way to use this Chenin Blanc that only a mother could love. My husband made the New York Times version of Saffron-Ginger Pears.
It uses 2 cups of white wine, 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon crumbled saffron, and 2 thick slices of fresh ginger. The pears are simmered in this liquid until just tender. Then allowed to cool in this liquid, preferably overnight if possible. The final step is to remove the pears from the liquid and simmer until the liquid becomes a thick syrup. Allow the syrup to cool and pour it over the pears. Serve with a side of ice cream or crème fraîche. This is the second time that my husband made this recipe. He says that the ginger is required, whereas the saffron is optional. In any case, this was a delicious way to use the wine and a great departure from all the cookies and chocolates we were consuming during the holidays!
Reference:
1. The New York Times, David Tanis, Saffron-Ginger Pears.

Vintage 2024: January Notes

It's time to begin paying close attention to the weather for Vintage 2024. So far, we have had a mild January with temperatures in the high 30's if not the 40's. But, we have been having a lot of rain. The first rain/snow event was on January 6-7. We came away from this weather event with nothing more than a coating of ice which melted during the day.
Then, a more serious rainfall from January 9-10 with winds gusting to 50 mph was in the forecast. Once again, we survived with just rain and no power outages, despite the forecasters calling for serious gusty winds. We seem to be doing the deja thing with rain yesterday evening into Saturday morning with wind gusts to 66 mph.
Since we have been busy labeling and waxing our 2019 vintage, we weren't able to go to the vineyard. Yesterday, our hunter sent us the following pictures. A maple tree on the east side of the vineyard fell, just narrowly missing doing damage to the trellising. Our hunter said that he would cut the tree into firewood. Thank you, Rich!

Looking ahead, the temperatures appear to be slowly falling which is a good thing for winter acclimation for the grapevines.

Labeling and Waxing Our Bottled Wines

Usually, January is the time of the year that we take a break from vineyard work. We are still taking a break from vineyard work, but this year, we are in our industrial space aka our winery and labeling and waxing the tops of our bottled wine. We had to familiarize ourselves with our Mori labeler which we haven't used since 2017. We used our 2017 labels to label some of our older vintages that didn't have labels and it worked fine!

The problem came when we switched over to our new labels. The backing on the new labels was not see through as our original labels and labels were all going onto one bottle!

My husband called Michael at Spec Trellising, where we purchased the Mori labeler and Michael got back to us with suggestions to try. The solution was to adjust the sensor so that the new brown backing could be recognized.

We were back in business! My husband finished labeling our 2019 vintage while I was learning how to put wax on the tops of the bottles. Fortunately, we had our 2017 vintage to test my waxing skills (or lack thereof), but after 200 tries, my husband said I was ready for prime time. One thing about the wax is that it does take about an hour and a half to fully melt so waxing the tops of the bottles commenced on Monday. Since my husband finished all the labeling, he was also waxing and by the end of the first day, we were in full swing and finished waxing our Auxerrois. Pleased with the labeling and waxing of the Auxerrois, we called it a day!

2022 Giovanni Almondo Roero Arnies "Bricco delle Ciliegie"

In the cold winter months, we get a chance to relax. One of the things we thought we would do this winter is to watch Wine Masters.
We watched an episode on Piedmonte which featured this 2022 Giovanni Almondo Bricco delle Ciliegie with a food pairing we that we thought we must try.
We are familiar with the Arneis grape variety and know that it was Alfredo Currado of Vietti, who is considered to be the father of Arneis having saved this variety from extinction.
My husband procured a bottle of the exact same Arneis that was on the Wine Masters program. We watched the episode a few times to understand how the appetizer was prepared. Basically, it is a loaf of French bread from which slices are cut. The first layer is salmon. On the salmon is a mixture of softened goat cheese, cream cheese and olive oil to make it pipeable. Onto this cheese layer, we put capers, julienned sun dried tomatoes and lemon zest and felt that it was a reasonable facsimile.
Our friends, Mary and Barry came over to help us consume the wine and appetizer and give us some feedback on the pairing. The Arneis was pale yellow in color, dry, with a light body. It did go well with the appetizer!

The main course was a cassoulet that my husband made with elk steak, elk chops and wild turkey, provided by our hunter, store bought andouille sausage and northern white beans. We also had homemade focaccia. Mary made an orange and arugula salad with a dressing that was superb and to finish it off, Chenin Blanc poached pears with a side of sweetened riccota.

It sounds like a lot of food, but at the end of the meal, we were not stuffed but contented. We hope to be blogging about more wine and food pairings from watching Wine Masters this winter.

2023 Annual Cycle of Growth

Another holdover fom 2023 is the Annual Cycle of Growth chart that I update every year. This serves as a guide and a reminder of when the major events of our various varieties occur. Although last year was an atypical year with our harvest coming on secondary and even tertiary shoots, it looks as if the time of harvest was still in the ballpark with the other years. Keeping a chart like this has been a useful reference for us.

Dinner and Winetasting at the Halyard

I feel remiss if I didn't blog about a trip we took to Long Island to visit our friends, Charles and Ursula Massoud. We have been going there to visit them since 2011 and this year Charles floated several possible dates including one which was a wine tasting of old Long Island wines at the Halyard on December 15. We couldn't pass up this opportunity! Their son Kareem and wife Karen teamed up with Jeff and Nora and arranged for the tasting. We all gathered at the Halyard at 6:00 and appetizers and food were ordered and the tasting commenced with the 2009 Paumanok Blanc de Blanc, followed by 4 other white wines. I tried my best to take photos of the wines that were being poured. Here are the white wines that we tasted:

We were given four glasses from which to drink our tasting and it was no problem when there were only four wines, but the wines kept on coming. After the 5 whites were served, the reds were poured and the dilemma was which of the white wines to jettison in order to accommodate the red wines. The highlight was the 1988 Hargrave, but really, all of the wines were highlights. The reds were all hanging in there and there was not a dud among them. Throughout the evening, I held on to the 2009 Paumanok Blanc de Blanc and was amazed at the change in aroma and flavors. Initially, I thought that the sparkling was a bit austere but as the evening progressed, the sparkling evolved and the flavors were one of fruit and spice and it was delightful. Unfortunately, I couldn't do that for any of the other wines, which would have been nice to do.

The red wines were still being poured and we also tasted wines from Pelligrini, Bedell, Lenz and Macari. By this time, the passing along of the wines slowed to a crawl and some of the red wines didn't make it around the table. Also, my photo taking might have slowed to a crawl as well. We did end the evening with some late harvest wines including the 1997 Paumanok Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc and our 2021 Botrysized Chenin Blanc. I have to say the 1997 Paumnok Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc was complex, honeyed, delicious and a fitting end to a very memorable evening. My husband and I believe that we must have sampled around 25 wines! The staff at the Halyard were very attentive and the food was delectable!

We ended the evening at the inn next to Paumanok and spent a relaxing morning with the Massouds. We "talked story", met their son Salim and grandson Alexander. Ursula prepared a delicious brunch of labneh, tomatoes, fresh herbs, a crustless quiche, and kept on bringing out more things to taste. We felt as if we went on a holiday!