An Unbiased Look at Finger Lakes Reds

To recap what I have said in the past about wine from the Finger Lakes: they make some fantastic Rieslings, a few other notable whites, and their reds tend to be on the light, watery and not terribly interesting side. It really wasn’t all that long ago when the difference between a New York white and a New York red may just as well have been a few drops of food coloring. There is a good reason why most people—myself included—are skeptical of reds from the Finger Lakes, namely that for a long time, they haven’t been very good.

As the region’s wine industry continues to evolve, some of the reds produced in the Finger Lakes are starting to hold their own. Heart and Hands Winery, for example, is focused on producing a high-quality pinot noir. They produce two types of non-sparkling wines: Riesling and pinot noir. Pinot is, if not an obsession, certainly, an area of intense focus for this small winery. Their obsession is starting to pay off in the form of a medium-bodied, silky pinot that has both fruity and spicy notes with a great, satisfying finish. As a young winery that is taking an extremely focused approach, Heart and Hands sets a good example for what Finger Lakes reds can be.

Anyela’s Winery is also doing their part for the red wine cause. Like Heart and Hands, Anyela’s is relatively new. And like Heart and Hands, Anyela’s makes very good reds for the region. Heart and Hands has very much of a “work-in-progress” feel to it—from its grounds that under construction to its pinot noir obsession which is nowhere near exhausted. Anyela’s demonstrates what is possible when good wines and beautiful, natural settings come together. No wonder why Caitlin and I held our rehearsal dinner here.

Perched atop Skaneateles Lake, the inside of the winery looks like a grown-up’s clubhouse with big, comfortable chairs, a central fireplace, wine barrel tables and natural wood walls. Panoramic views of the vines and the lake are available from just about everywhere. To top it off, their wine’s good, too. Taking a page out of Heart and Hands’ playbook, Anyela’s produces a pinot noir—and a very good one at that. There is an initial sweet and mellow aroma and fruit-forward taste of raspberry that evolves into a pleasant smoothness and finally finishes with hints of figs and exotic spices.

Another red that Anyela’s offers is their very approachable and drinkable Overlay blend. Comprised of 35% Cabernet Franc, 15% Pinot Noir, 20% Shiraz, and 30% Merlot; this thick, jammy, velvety red could, in a blind test, have people convinced they were drinking something from Napa Valley. I lost track of how many people complimented us on the wine served during our rehearsal dinner, and how impressed they were that it was local.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention Goose Watch Winery. They have been around for longer than either Heart and Hands or Anyela’s, but are also contributing to the Finger Lakes red march towards respectability. We served their chambourcin at our wedding. The deep, ruby red color and thick, well-rounded aromas of dark fruit and hints of leather, cherries and oak went perfectly with the steak that was served.

Heart and Hands, Aneyla’s and Goose Watch all serve as the exception, and a good example, for the caliber of reds that the Finger Lakes region can produce. With the influx of new wineries opening up in the area, let’s hope at least some of them put the same amount of care and effort into producing interesting, well-made reds.

Beer vs. Wine. An Infographic

Much has been written about the fact that the United States has taken over France as the number one consumer of wine in the world. But what about per capita consumption? That awards goes to... The Vatican. 

When it comes to beer, the most popular brand in the world is Snow, a Chinese brand. The top two American brands, Bud Light (#3) and Budweiser (#4) combined still come in far short of Snow. 

For that any many other fun facts - bathing in beer is good for your skin, "bum wine" is its own category - check out this infographic from the good folks at CompareCamp:

Republished from: comparecamp.com Author: Alex Hillsberg

Winemaking During a Drought

Virginia winemakers often talk about the challenges of making high-quality wine in the state. Indeed, from unexpected frosts, to rapidly-changing weather conditions and from pests like stink bugs to pests like deer, Virginia's winemakers are face with many challenges from the vineyard to the bottle. The optimists say that these challenging conditions really highlight the art - rather than the science - of winemaking. 

In California, the challenges are even more pronounced. The state is experiencing one of the worst droughts in recent memory. Despite the dwindling water supply, California's winemakers are similarly upbeat about what their most recent vintage will look like. 

Below is an update from Sonoma County Winemakers and Sonoma County Vintners. 

Sonoma County’s 2014 harvest season started earlier than normal with the     first grapes being picked on July 29 for sparkling wines.  Since then, winegrowers and winemakers throughout Sonoma County have been holding a steady pace on grape picking for still wine varieties, such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier, and Pinot Noir. With the moderate, cool climate weather and typical Sonoma Coast fog patterns throughout most of August, fruit maturity on the vines has slowed down and allowed the grapes to ripen at an optimal pace.  This slower pace has also allowed this harvest season to resemble the timing of previous vintages with many of the AVA’s reporting that 2014 is now only approximately 7-10 days early.

Harvest activity is anticipated to increase throughout September as most varieties, whites and reds, will reach full maturity and ideal flavor profiles. Winegrowers are also predicting an average crop size with quality looking good across the region with some calling the fruit “clean,” “sound,” and “excellent.”  

“Despite the challenges we’re facing as a result of the drought, we are still anticipating another successful harvest season here in Sonoma County. Throughout the season, the vines continued to stay healthy with moderate weather conditions creating an ideal growing season. Yields are expected to be lower than the last few years, while quality is looking exceptionally great.  It’s still early in the season, with only about 20-25 percent of harvest completed throughout our region, but winegrowers and winemakers are thrilled with how the fruit has developed on the vines with great flavors, colors, and sugar and acid levels. There’s a great energy building right now since we know our winegrowers will be working tirelessly day and night over the next 30-45 days to bring in the remaining fruit.  The race is on!”   - Karissa Kruse, President of the Sonoma County Winegrowers

Here are some quotes from the “front vines” of several of our AVA’s:

Alexander Valley

“This growing season has been filled with concern about water.  From the lack of rain during the winter, to the spring rains which are always of a concern, to the curtailments in Alexander Valley, it has been a whole season of water worry.  All of that said, we have made it to less than a week from our first pick, and the fruit quality looks amazing.  All of the Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs are starting to develop their harvest time flavors, with sugars within a couple of points to go.  Even our Merlots are up in the mid 21’s.  This recent cool weather might have applied the brakes just a bit to sugar accumulation, but still has us on a 5-10 day earlier harvest schedule.  We started hand-harvesting Sauvignon Blanc on Thursday, August 21.” – Bret Munselle, Munselle Family Vineyards.

”We have started picking a little bit of Sauvignon Blanc on Westside Road in the Russian River Valley. Quality has been very good and the flavors are there. We are about 10 days ahead of when we picked that same block last year. As for the rest of the varieties we are about two weeks away from starting. We have Cabernet Sauvignon in Alexander Valley that is running 18-21 brix right now. Zinfandel is running a bit behind that. With the foggy mornings and warm afternoons the fruit has been ripening nicely. The fruit is in great shape with no shrivel and very little if any sunburn from the hot weather several weeks ago. We are looking forward to a great harvest with what appears to be excellent quality and tonnages that are average.” – Brad Petersen, ‎Vineyard Manager at Silver Oak Cellars & Twomey Cellars, and Sonoma County Winegrowers Chairman

Dry Creek Valley

“It looks like we have the potential for another high-quality harvest.  Ripening is earlier than average, and we've been able to cherry-pick the riper sections of a few Sauvignon Blanc blocks with almost no picking tying up harvest crews at other vineyards so far.  This early harvest should help us get fruit ripe and picked before any rains come along in the late fall….Quality is looking very good. Sauvignon Blanc is developing very nice flavors early, so we are really having to keep on top of our vineyards to harvest when flavors are peaking.  Zinfandel is looking potentially early and delicious.”  – Tim Bell, Winemaker at Dry Creek Vineyards.

Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak

“Given the elevation of Pine Mountain-Cloverdale Peak vineyards, where we usually harvest from early to late October, it is nice to see the possibility of picking Cabernet Sauvignon in the month of September, though likely late September. Most of our vineyards are tracking 2-3 weeks early… looks to be a very nice quantity and quality year for us.” - Barry Hoffner, owner of Silverwood Ranch.

Sonoma Valley

“Harvest is off to a medium-paced start.  The moderate temperatures the last few weeks have allowed for more ideal fruit maturation conditions.  Pinot Noir for sparkling wines is finishing up and we are seeing yields off between 10%-30% from last year. Chardonnay for sparkling wines is just beginning so it’s still a little too early to get a read on yields but expected to be lower than last year.” – Steve Sangiacomo, 3^rd generation winegrower at Sangiacomo Family Vineyards

Russian River Valley

“Three pinot noir vineyards sampled in mid-August were between 19.5 and 22.1 brix. Seeds seem to be ripening nicely but the flavors are still developing. Nice juice color. Much darker than we usually see at these bris levels. I think that we have another week, maybe 10-12 days…Even the Syrah and our little bit of Cabernet Sauvignon (which usually comes in at the end of October or early November) are tasting really nice. The vines are holding up well with very little loss of leaves in the fruiting zone so we should have a nice window in which to pick if the cool weather continues.”  Rod Berglund, Winemaker at Joseph Swan Vineyards

Despite the drought in California, most of those quoted are excited about the early ripening leading to an early harvest. Some varietals - like Cabernet Sauvignon - are anticipated being picked a full month earlier than usual, though with lower yields.

While we all enjoy drinking and discussing wine, this harvest update from Sonoma reaffirms that wine is - ultimately - influenced by the weather. Between California's drought this year, and the Finger Lakes being under a State of Emergency last year because of the sustained cold temperatures that decimated grape crops, the changing weather patterns means that wines from different regions may start to take on very different characteristics in the coming years... Or not. Only time and tasting will tell.

A Victim of Success

When people think of Virginia wine, they most likely think about Viognier for whites and Cabernet Franc for red. Despite the spirited debate and range of opinions the last post on the subject received, Cabernet Franc remains both the state's workhorse and showhorse and likely will be for some time. The challenge becomes how does a region continue to showcase signature varietals while at the same time branching out, diversifying and making a wider range of wines that will be accepted and enjoyed by consumers?

In Virginia, winemakers are having great success with Bordeaux-style blends, and are experimenting with traditional blending grapes - like Petite Verdot and Tannat - and non-French varietals - like Nebbiolo and Barbera. The state is also far from the only one that is trying to expand while also continuing to produce what has been successful and what people expect. 

The Paso Robles AVA in California is having a similar dillema. Long known for its big, fruity Cabernet Sauvignons and Zinfandels, some wineries in Paso Robles are also looking for ways to diversify. At Villa San-Juliette, for example, they offer the traditional wines the region is known for - Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel - but they also produce several different red and white blends, a Petite Sirah and a Cabernet Franc. 

Villa San-Juliette's blends - Chorum White and Red - are more unique than the Rhone Ranger varietal blends that Paso is also known for. In fact, its Chorum Red Blend contains Rhone varietals (Syrah and Grenache), Bordeaux varietals (Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc) and more unique varietals such as Petite Sirah and Alicante Bouschet.

Given the blend, the Chorum red is a big, smokey red with a lot of blueberry, blackberry and chocolate mixed in and goes very well with grilled meats. 

VSJ's Chorum Blend is a big, bold mutt of a wine, which is a compliment.

As for the Petite Sirah, it is also a big, smokey wine with a lot of tannins, cedar, oak and vanilla on it. To be honest, I am not all that familiar with the Petite Sirah grape or the wines it produces. I know enough to know that it is totally different from Syrah, and the style of the wine is also vastly different from most Syrah/Shiraz I have had. 

The Villa San-Juliette is a good introduction to this varietal, and has intrigued me to want to try other ones. And isn't that really what offering more than just the known varietals is all about - giving people choices and letting them grow their love of different types of wines?

Virginia, like Paso Robles, has found success with a few very popular varietals and styles of wine.  The challenge now is how to continue to give people what they have come to expect while also expanding the types of wine a certain region produces. Given how strict rules for winemaking are in Europe, this is pretty much a New World problem, but it is a wonderful problem to have. 

Cabernet Franc and Virginia... Is the Romance Gone?

I recently asked some of Virginia's  winemakers, bloggers and marketers to assess the relationship between Virginia and Cabernet Franc. Long considered the state's signature grape, Cabernet Francs have been losing ground recently - particularly to blends - and last year, not a single Cabernet Franc wine was included in the Governor's Case. 

Does this mean that the red hot romance between the state of Virginia, its wine industry's marketing arm and Cabernet Franc is starting to cool off? 

"Cabernet Franc, you're great, but I want to start seeing other grapes. Can we still be friends?"

Though exclusion from the Governor's Case is not the only criteria by which to judge Cab Franc's popularity - and indeed, there were several that were Governor's Cup winners - the fact that seven of the twelve wines selected were blends, the other reds included in the Case were Tannats and a Nebbiolo and the remaining two wines were a Chardonnay and a dessert wine. It certainly seems as though Cabernet Franc - once heralded as the grape that would put Virginia on the wine map like Malbec did Argentina - is losing some of its luster.
  

Once thought of as Virginia's signature grape, Cabernet Franc seems to be reverting back to its historical role as a blending grape

The responses to the question, "is Cabernet Franc losing its luster?" resulted in many varied and passionate responses, with the consensus being that, while Cabernet Franc is still an important - if not vital - grape to Virginia's wine industry, it should not stand along as a signature grape. 

Below are some of the responses I received. Thank you to everybody who added their comments and insight to this question.

"Cab Franc is certainly an important red in Virginia, and the most dominate red by acreage and tonnage in Virginia...I would argue Petit Verdot has more of a future in Virginia than Cab Franc for several reasons. At least to equal as the other primary flagship red varietal.

For consumers, Cab Franc as a lighter, red fruits, with spicy notes to Petit Verdot as a dark and broad shouldered, black fruits and leathery nuances. They are paired opposites.

For growers, a good producer and hearty; for wine makers, it’s easy to make into a good wine when ripe.  

If I had only 2 reds to work with in Virginia, these above would be my 2 choices.     

This applies as a grower, winemaker, winery owner and consumer." 

Chris Pearmund
Managing Partner,
Pearmund Cellars

"I don't think its loosing its luster but rather settling into its place. I think it produces a certain style wine in Virginia, which is great. Sort of becoming our Pinot Noir in body, style, and finesse whereas a varietal like Tannat has the weight, structure, tannins, and age ability to produce a heavy Napa Cab like wine...rather than anointing a king, its a sign of an emerging wine region to appreciate different wines at different times."
Kirk Wiles
CEO
Paradise Springs Winery

"Cab Franc still has the shoulders and stature to be Virginia’s Red.  Blends are being very well received and in 2011, it was critical to do great blending, especially with Cab Franc.  Tannat is great but not widely planted, is a little fickle in the vineyard and is not very winter hearty.  I have tremendous damage in my Tannat from the below zero temperatures in January while the Cabernet Franc right next to it is looking well.  Merlot in my opinion needs to be blended. Other varietals are great but Cab Franc is a work horse and still stands strong."

Doug Fabbioli

Co-Founder and Winemaker

Fabbioli Cellars 

Once the cool kid's table, these Cab Francs have growing competition from within the Virginia wine community

"I do not think Cabernet Franc has lost its luster. It’s just sharing the stage. What you’re seeing are vintners and marketers doing their part to create better name recognition for other varieties. This in turn drives consumer demand for those varieties. This is similar to how Cabernet Franc, one of the region’s work-horse varieties, became such a household name. 

Growers and producers created demand for it and that demand is still present. Of course, with the up-and-coming varieties, there needs to be enough planted, produced, and there should be consistency in quality, not so much style, to help foster its success. In that respect, the Old-Timer, who we will call Cabernet Franc, has proven its worth."

Dezel Quillen

Blogger,

MyVineSpot

"We are clearly moving to red blends as being the prime red wines produced in Virginia.  I think the trend away from varietals to blended wines is nationwide. So in that sense, Virginia is part of the trend.  2011 is the vintage when the wisdom of blending really hit home for many Virginia winemakers.  While I think Virginia makes better Merlot than Cab Franc on average. Cab Franc as a single varietal was more unique nationwide, and therefore more noticeable. There is a lot more Merlot to compete against for recognition than Cab Franc. Some are touting Tannat or Petit Verdot as potential varietals for Virginia to achieve fame with, but those are harder to sell in the marketplace too."

Kurt Jensen 

Blogger,

Wine About Virginia 

"At this point Virginia winemakers are trying to determine if its better to make wine like Chinon or Bordeaux.  Also, this could be a result of the Virginia grape shortage where growers are experimenting with other grape varieties and not planting enough Cab Franc...I don't think we will have the answer for quite a while."

Todd Godbout

Blogger,

WineCompass

Lonely Cabernet Franc grapes will wait outside of wine judge's windows in the rain with a boombox over their head if it comes to that. And if they had arms.

"Cabernet Franc in Virginia produces inconsistent results. People thought that Cabernet Franc would be Virginia’s answer to Cab Sauv because it seemed easier to grow and ripened better. However, we’ve tasted Francs that are “green” or overly oaken. Another practice is to blend Franc with other varietals such as Tannat, but the result is that the Franc gets lost somewhere in the blend.

The trend amongst winemakers is to focus on the red blends as opposed to bottling single varietals of the bordeaux grapes. These do tend to produce the kind of color and complexity that suggests a well crafted wine. There may be an exception with Petit Verdot. More winemakers are bottling that one on its own perhaps because it seems to ripen well in spite of adverse weather conditions. We heard fewer complaints from winemakers about Petit Verdot during the 2011 harvest, a year that was washed out by hurricane Irene.

The underestimated grape in Virginia might be Merlot."

Warren Richard

Blogger,

VirginiaWineTime

"I fought for a long time when I first moved here that Cabernet Franc is not and will not be the best grape to put Virginia reds on the map.  I still believe this, and think it is not suited to a lot of the state.  Where it does well, it does very well and can make some great wine.  It is certainly one of the varieties I am finding is most sought after of ours, but I don’t think it is as good as Merlot or even Syrah in our Estate Vineyard Nevaeh.  

I personally think it was chosen as the variety to tout for two reasons.  There was a string of good vintages for ripening Cabernet Franc, and it makes the most logical sense from a marketing standpoint.  

No one wants to promote themselves as a Merlot region at the moment and we can’t ripen Cabernet Sauvignon in most sites in most years.  Looking only at the big three Bordeaux varieties this leaves Cabernet Franc as the easiest to market.  We will never be able to compete with Argentina on Malbec and Petit Verdot simply does not ripen well in most places... We ignored all the great varieties around the rest of Europe. Bordeaux varieties just have great market appeal.

In the end, Virginia does not and will not have a solid state grape.  We are a hugely varied state climatically and with soil types.  We are also currently a tourism-driven industry, so many wineries attempt to make styles for the people being drawn to the area instead of what is suited to where the grapes are growing. We need to start looking at the different regions of Virginia instead of Virginia as having something we do well."

Jordan Harris

General Manager and Winemaker

Tarara Winery

Thank you to all the Virginia wine folks who provided their insight. This is clearly a hot topic right now, and will likely continue to be for some time. 

Have something to add? Feel free to post a comment and join the conversation!

Take that, France!

Congrats, America. We are now the largest wine consuming nation on earth! True, it took a while for this humble nation of over 300 million to overtake a country with less that 70 million residents, but we've gone and done it.

U.S. consumers bought 29.1 million hectoliters of wine in 2013, a rise of 0.5 percent on 2012, while French consumption fell nearly 7 percent to 28.1 million hectolitres, the International Vine and Wine organization OIV said recently, though they also did state that, "U.S. drinkers are, however, still way behind in terms of consumption per head."

If such wine-based drinks such as Boone's Farm and Mad Dog 20/20 are included, no doubt the U S of A would have taken the top spot a long time ago.

According to a recent Reuters article:

"The United States became the world's biggest market for wine last year, beating France into second place for the first time as consumption slides in the country long seen as its natural home and Americans develop a greater taste for it.

U.S. consumers bought 29.1 million hectoliters of wine in 2013, a rise of 0.5 percent on 2012, while French consumption fell nearly 7 percent to 28.1 million hectolitres, the International Vine and Wine organization OIV said on Tuesday.

Though the study does state that, "U.S. drinkers are, however, still way behind in terms of consumption per head," wine consumption is clearly on the rise. Several trends account for the rise of wine consumption in the US and the fall of wine consumption in France and throughout wine-producing countries in Europe.

France is still - far and away - the leading producer of wine in terms of tonnage and hectoliters produced, and still consumes much more on a per capita basis.

Given that France and wine are still so intimately, deeply and intrinsically linked, there is little worry that these results will have too much of an impact on overall wine markets. For the US, these findings only reinforce that our enjoyment of wine continues to grow - and that is likely due to the rise in wine regions around the country, a boom in winemaking in other New World regions, and a chipping away of the notion that wine is the preferred drink of foppish, effete snobs and old ladies.

As wine continues to be enjoyed and produced in greater quantity and quality throughout the US, hopefully, more and more people will develop a taste and appreciation for wines of all different styles and prices.

The only real barrier is the patchwork collection of Prohibition-era regulations throughout the different states that severely restrict access and choice of wine for their residents... Pennsylvania, I am again looking at you and your notion that a panel of state functionaries should be the be all and end all when it comes to what wines may be bought and sold in your state. This ridiculously insulting practice must end.

Back off the soapbox now, and another huzzah for wine consumption in the Untied States, and France, I still love you, too.

Is Winter Finally Over?

The country had one hell of a winter. The DC area felt like Chicago, Chicago felt like Minneapolis, and Minneapolis felt like Hoth. Here it is in early May, and the question of whether or not winter is finally gone is asked only half in jest.

So what does a winter that stretched from October to April with plenty of snow and rain mean to the DC area's wineries? Some winemakers have called the season "challenging," others have called it "brutal" and others still have called it "labor intensive" and even "nightmarish."

As long as the region doesn't experience a late freeze now that the buds are opening up, however, optimism is starting to bloom along with Northern Virginia's allergens.

Oh yeah, and Virginia also passed the Farm Brewery Act meaning that wineries and other farms can start brewing beer, which should make for some interesting developments.

Given so much that has happened with the weather and legislation, below is a reprint of Fabbioli Cellars' May newsletter so you can get more information straight from the source:

"We all knew that sooner or later the snowflakes would stop flying and the temperatures would warm up a little. This was my hardest winter in my 17 years of farming in Virginia, but thankfully, it is finally behind us. We still have a chance of frost as of this writing, but our buds have not fully opened yet so we are still protected from possible damage.  At this point the pear buds are at popcorn stage and the black raspberry buds are just starting to show their leaves.  Hopefully there will be no late frost this year.

We have had to deal with heavy rains this year, as well. We recently installed drain tile into the new planting section to help drain the water away from the vines and towards the Potomac River. This was a very labor intensive project involving a rented machine and plenty of hand digging around wires, pipes and connections by our field team.  (Thank goodness we have a great team, with experienced hands teaching the newer guys.)  Next, the vines will hopefully be planted in 10 days.

The new project that we started last year is growing hops. Below is a photo of the 2nd year cascade plants pushing up towards the sky. These will get 20 feet tall climbing the special coconut husk twine (coir) trellis. When I talk about growing hops, I always get the question from folks, "Are you going to make beer now?" No, I am not looking to make beer. My vision of these hops is to grow and process them to sell to local brewers. Since I'm in the agricultural processing business, I see an achievable goal of creating a processing center for hops that we (and some of our neighbors) can use. 

One advantage of growing hops is that the timing of the hops harvest is earlier than grapes, so my crew is available to work both crops.  Also, hops are easier and more cost effective to grow than grapes, because we can set up smaller acreage plots. We do not need to worry about deer or frost, either; and hops do not require nearly the amount of spraying that grapevines require. Many local land owners that would like to have grapes are disappointed to hear of the challenges of growing quality wine grapes on sub par land plots. Hops are not nearly as picky, and with the lower maintenance, it makes sense to do smaller plots for some  growers. 

With the passage of the Farm Brewery Act in Virginia, farms that are growing some products for beer will be allowed to open up a brewery with a tasting room. Unlike wineries, which must grow at least 51% of their raw materials, the brewers just need to grow something on their farm. As hops are one of the key flavoring ingredients to beer, sourcing local hops will be part of a marketing plan for many operations.

Now, I am not giving up on growing grapes. I am looking ahead, to fill a niche. We are looking forward to pushing this positive product towards profitability. The popping of the plants helps us all prosper. Cheers!"