2017 Bel Lago Sparkling Auxerrois

Our friends were in Michigan recently visiting relatives. When we heard that, we asked them to check out Bel Lago Winery and they gladly did. They said they had a good time, and got to meet Charlie Edson, the person that my husband had been communicating with about Bel Lago's Auxerrois.
We cannot purchase Bel Lago's wines here in Connecticut so when the opportunity arose, we asked our friends to bring back a bottle of Auxerrois for us. A few nights ago, we tasted Bel Lago's 2017 Sparkling Auxerrois, with hand written notes by Charlie.

We all enjoyed the Sparkling Auxerrois. My husband thought the wine had the purity of Auxerrois fruit flavor with a backbone of good acidity and a touch of lasting mouthfeel from the other minor components.There was a very nice balance to the sparkling wine from first taste to finish. Everyone in our group gave it a very big thumbs up.

Stages of Flowering

Still lots of work to do but at the moment, we are waiting for the vineyard to flower. It takes approximately 60 days from budbreak to flowering, or anthesis. For us that will be around July 6, which seems really late. We do have a week of warm weather coming up so hopefully the flowers will bloom a little earlier.
I frequently refer to Ed Hellman's chart of grapevine principle growth stages, in the online publication Grapevine Structure and Function.
Here is a timeline of how the flowers look during the various stages until flowering:

Stage	Example
Principal Growth Stage 1: Leaf development. Stage 13. 3 leaves unfolded. May 14, 2018
Principal Growth Stage 1: Leaf development. Stage 15. More leaves unfolded. May 28, 2018
Principal growth stage 5: Inflorescence emerge. Inflorescences fully developed; flowers separating. June 12, 2018

If flowering is going to occur approximately on July 6 this year, we have a few more weeks to go.

National Chenin Blanc Day

We love Chenin Blanc! Almost half of our vineyard is planted in Chenin Blanc. So, you will find us celebrating National Chenin Blanc Day which this year is on June 15th, next Friday.
Our love of Chenin Blanc began after tasting Domaine Huet and was made more indelible after reading Wine and War by Don and Petie Kladstrup. In the introduction to this book published in 2001, Don and Petie Kladstrup recount the time they went to visit Gaston Huet and he let them taste a wine which he brought up from his cellar. The Klatstrups first guessed that it was a 1976, a great year in the Loire Valley. Wrong. They guessed 1969, 1959, 1953 and they were wrong each time. The wine that they were drinking was Gaston Huet's 1947 vintage. They wrote that it tasted like honey and apricots, lusciously sweet, yet fresh and alive. Yes, that is Chenin Blanc!
My next recollection of having a refreshing Chenin Blanc was in 2011, when we had a 2009 Petit Chenin made by South Africa's Ken Forrester. We had paired the wine with raw oysters and it was heaven!
Also in 2011, I was taking the U.C. Davis online Enology and Viticulture course and needed to know what kind of vines, rootstock and clones our hypothetical vineyard would be planted with. During an online search, I learned that Charles Massoud, owner of Paumanok Vineyards had planted Chenin Blanc! So, in fulfillment of my course requirement, I emailed him and got a response from Charles within 24 hours! The story of Charles' Chenin Blanc plantings is also very interesting and full of serendipity. In a 2011 article called The Massoud Family & Paumanok Vineyard: Leading Vintners of Long Island’s North Fork in the Huffington Post, Kareem Massoud, son of Charles Massoud recounts the story of his father's entry into growing Chenin Blanc:
“Paumanok’s Chenin plantation was pure serendipity. My parents had no intention of planting Chenin when we first bought the farm. The Chenin vines came with a property they purchased across the street. My father had begun to rip out the vines. As the growing season moved in on him, he ran out of time. A German vineyard caretaker at the time encouraged my father to leave the vines and give them a chance as they appeared ‘happy and healthy here’. And so he did. Chenin does in fact grow well here...Year in and year out , it consistently produces a wine that is fresh, crisp, and redolent of citrus fruits, especially grapefruit.”
So, get yourself some Chenin Blanc and celebrate on June 15th, National Chenin Blanc Day. When you do, consider this Chenin Blanc Wine Aroma Wheel prepared by Stellenbosch University’s Institute for Wine Biotechnology, Department of Viticulture and Oenology, Chenin Blanc Association of South Africa, Platter’s South African Wine Guide and Chenin Blanc producing cellars. See where on the Aroma Wheel your Chenin Blanc falls. Happy Drinking!

Bird Sightings in the Vineyard

One of the things that we like about the vineyard is the diversity of life on this land. In May 2016, we had a person from the Audubon Society give us an assessment of the bird life on our property. Since that time, we have been watching and listening to the various birds that inhabit this land.
In June 2016, we were delighted to see a pair of mating Baltimore Orioles. Since that time, the Orioles have returned annually to set up their nest.

Also in 2016, we caught a glimpse of an Indigo bunting, but we were never able to get a good enough photo. My husband is now borrowing our friend's Panasonic Lumix camera and he was finally able to get pictures of the Indigo bunting. Apparently, this is the bird's favorite perch.

We have also seen these birds. We know the Eastern Towhee is around when we hear the call "Drink your tea":

Here are some of the common birds that are not afraid of being near us:

And then there are these birds that can be found in the vineyard, except during turkey hunting season, much to the dismay of our hunter and us because wild turkey is good eats!