By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor
Photos Courtesy of Sheldrake Point Vineyard
Contrary to what you might have heard, not all vineyards in the Finger Lakes have been torched and shut down by hard frosts. In fact, vines located in some of the region's most historically warm vineyards have been largely protected. These photographs taken at Sheldrake Point Vineyards' Cayuga Lake vineyards on October 24 (Saturday) illustrate the value of a warm mesoclimate in the Finger Lakes.
Some sites have proven to be at least five degrees warmer than the average site, and those five small degrees can make an enormous difference when the mercury dips toward the low 30s -- or further.
While many wine producers are understandably bringing in fruit from frost-affected vineyards, Sheldrake Point is letting it hang. "We have had some leaf loss but most of the canopies for our reds are still going strong," says owner Bob Madill. "We'll likely pick merlot early in the week and leave the cabernet sauvignon and cab franc for a bit yet (as well as riesling)."
The one certainty about the 2009 vintage is that it will be extremely difficult to describe in a sentence or two. There is such wide variation when it comes to growing practices, cropping, effects of weather and winemaking technique. We'll continue to provide a broad picture of harvest, but don't listen to anyone who tries to tell you the vintage can be summed up with simple terms. This is a "Pay Attention" kind of year, and those who do will be able to find some beautiful wines.
Thank you for this post -- it will be interesting to try these wines when they are released.
It occurs to me that there is a unique opportunity this year to collect some valuable data on the mesoclimates of the Finger Lakes. While it would be terrific to have Sanborn fly the lakes with their multi-spectral imaging camera this week, it's unlikely we will see Cornell or the Grape Foundation come up with the funding on such short notice to accomplish this.
I've been thinking of quick and easy ways I (or we) might capture some of the ground truth in a low tech, grass roots effort.
1. Fly the vineyard areas with a light aircraft and take digital pictures or a movie of the foliage below.
2. "War Drive" around with a laptop loaded with topo or ortho pictures of the vineyard areas and create waypoints that outline the areas that survived the frost. USAPhotomaps comes to mind as a good (and free) program for doing this.
If we could get ten or twelve people to do this in selected areas, we might be able to make credible maps of Keuka, Seneca, and Cayuga that would increase the knowledge of the air currents and heat balance surrounding the lakes.
Anyone have a 172 available for the effort?
Posted by: John Sperr -- Rhinebeck NY | October 27, 2009 at 07:42 PM
John, that is an outstanding idea. If I were up in that neck of the woods I'd help you rally the troops...have you contacted anyone about it?
Posted by: Lenn Thompson | October 28, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Yeah, John, let me second that. We want to know if you're able to get any kind of surveying done.
Posted by: Evan Dawson | October 28, 2009 at 12:34 PM
Torched by frost? That's a new one. :)
Posted by: Tom Mansell | October 28, 2009 at 04:17 PM
Tom - You've never heard of freezer burn? Oh snap!
Posted by: Evan Dawson | October 28, 2009 at 04:35 PM