Vintage 2022: It's May!

On Friday, April 29, the last of the pruning duties were done and the last row of canes were laid down in preparation for this vintage.
We were working on the Chenin Blanc and trying to be extra careful because the buds were at budswell and at the ends of the canes we were seeing budbreak This was more apparent at the north end of the vineyard than at the south end.
We took a look at the status of all of our varieties at both the north end of the vineyard and the south end of the vineyard. Here are what our varieites looked like on April 29:

Variety	April 29 status
Auxerrois
Chenin Blanc
Chardonnay
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Barbera

All of the varieties with the exception of the Cabernet Sauvignon is at budswell. The Barbera is early to budbreak but is the last variety that we harvest.

2019 Paumanok Cabernet Franc

On April 18, I blogged about Long Island Longevity, about two wines, a 1993 Paumanok Grand Vintage Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1997 Palmer Reserve Merlot which we drank on April 8 which still tasted youthful, full of fruit and wonderfully integrated tannins and acids.
On to a more recent vintage, the 2019 Paumanok Cabernet Franc. When we were with the Massouds they also gave us this 2019 Cabernet Franc. Here, we find the same adherence to quality. For a young wine, it is rich with fruit flavors of dark cherries, blackberries and soft tannins which gives it a well balanced flavor.
We would definitely buy this wine!

Vintage 2022: April Update

It's the third week of April and once again we are running up against the deadline imposed upon us by the grapevines responding to the warm spring.
Working in the Chenin Blanc clone FPS-1 shows that many of the buds are at budswell, meaning that we have to hurry and get these canes laid down before the buds become too fragile and we knock them off in the process of doing our manipulations.
Work in the vineyard began in February with the removal of the accoutrement holding last year's growth in place, the wires, the tendrils, and the branch locks (Agfast). The first pass of pruning, cutting the tops of last year's shoots now one year old canes and cutting back the growth to leave options for this year's fruiting canes are all done and we are now in the final pass.
We've managed to do the final pruning and the laying down of this years fruiting canes for two thirds of our vineyard with another third to go!

There is something so serene about looking at a vineyard before all the activity begins for this season.

Long Island Longevity

Recently, we had our friends over for dinner to share with them two wines from Long Island, one of which we brought back from our visit to the Massouds who own Paumanok Vineyards. These friends were supposed to go with us to visit the Massouds in December 2021, but they had a conflict so we went solo.
The two Long Island wines were the 1993 Paumanok Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vintage and the 1997 Palmer Merlot.

How we came to acquire a 1993 Paumanok Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vintage really began in 2011 when we had our first Visit with Charles Massoud at Paumanok Winery. It was a delight meeting Charles for the first time and talking with him was so easy to do. We learned a lot on that day in 2011. Fast foward to 2021 when we visited Charles and his son, Kareem, now head winemaker for our annual get together. We again talked of all kinds of wine and non-wine related topics, time flew!
We talked about wine tastings on Long Island and how vintners would get together and taste each other's wines and lamented the fact that it didn't happen in Connecticut. We mentioned that we always felt that it would be a good thing for our area winemakers to get together to critique each other's wines.
That's when Charles went to his cellar and brought up this 1993 Paumanok Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vintage. The label was different and Charles explained that his early vision was to have "Paumanok" in block letters with the background going from dark red to light red like the flow of red wine. However, the graphics at that time couldn't accomodate his vision.
Charles said that we should share this wine with our friends who were unable to come on our trip. We also had a 1997 Palmer Merlot in our cellar that we could pair with the generous offer from Charles so, on April 8, we tasted these two wines.
For dinner, my husband made elk burgers from elk which our hunter had given us. It was a simple meal but it showcased the two red wines that we paired with it. The 1993 Paumanok, almost 30 years old opened up with red cherries with a hint of cigar, tasting youthful, well balanced and mellow. The 1997 Merlot was still full of dark cherries, licorice and tobacco. The two wines took center stage. We were in awe flavors of the wines and the incredible of the longevity they exhibited!
When I wrote to Charles and Kareem to thank them for their generous gift, Charles said it is a little like the saying from Forrest Gump: life is like a 1993 Paumanok Cabernet Sauvignon Grand Vintage, you never know what you're going to get!
What we got was simply breathtakingly awesome. Thank you so much Charles!