New York Cork Report

What We Drank (October 12, 2009)

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

What We Drank is a little bit different this week. In honor of Regional Wine Week, organized by DrinkLocalWine.com, which started yesterday, I asked our contributors to pick a New York wine. Of course, that's no problem because we're all drinking local wines anyway.

From Evan Dawson: Heart & Hands 2007 Barrel Reserve Pinot Noir

If blind tastings occasionally seem cliche, I would argue they are imperative in proving the strength of New York state wines to doubters. A brown bag can disarm biases.

This weekend, after sorting and stomping grapes at Heart & Hands Wine Company on Cayuga Lake (a post on the importance of sorting is on deck for later this week), I grabbed this bottle for a blind pour with a small group Saturday night.

I simply gave guests two glasses, one filled with this pinot, and another with the Tardieu-Laurent 2004 Saint-Joseph from the northern Rhone. I had a hunch that while these wines are wildly different, both are strong enough to escape any suspicion of local origin. I was right. Guesses flew around the room; one taster thought this bottle was a Spanish grenache, given its medium weight and spice.

Upon revelation came the now familiar -- yet always satisfying -- "Wow, is this really local?" Yes, it is. No, not everyone is making local wine like this. But when you know where to look, the results can be stunning. Especially for those who think New York state doesn't make wine with depth.

(This wine sells for $40 and is available on the winery's website and in a number of NY restaurants).

From Lenn Thompson: Peconic Bay Winery 2005 Merlot

By now you've probably heard at least something about the 2005 growing season on Long Island -- the early, frost-free spring, the hot, dry summer...and the, in some areas, 20 inches of rain in 8 days in October, right in the middle of harvest.

Some wineries stopped picking chardonnay when the rains started (virtually abandoning that fruit) to get the reds in before the deluge. Others waited. And hoped.

Not surprisingly, 2005 reds can be pretty inconsistent from winery to winery. If your vineyard practices, location and (frankly) luck allowed, the winds that followed the storm dried your vineyard out. Again, if you were lucky, the great-before-the-rain season ripeness survived.

It did with this Peconic Bay Winery 2005 Merlot (ignore the mis-labeled "Lowerre Reserve"), with ripe, bright flavors of black cherry and black raspberry, with subtle spice, light toasty vanilla and, after several hours in my glass, a little earthy edge. The tannins were soft, ripe and seamless.

It's not the most complex merlot you'll ever taste from Long Island, but it was extremely satisfying over the course of the evening, with enough fruit up front to appeal to Nena and just enough complexity to keep me coming back to it of course of several hours.

The bottle didn't last the evening. In fact we had to open a bottle of something else after this was gone.

From Julia Burke: Standing Stone 2007 Callioux

A late harvest chardonnay? Being a virgin to this style I couldn't resist when I saw it on the dessert drinks menu at Stone Cat Cafe on Seneca Lake.

In the glass, this Standing Stone offering was a lusty tiger-eye hue of amber, cloudy but not murky.

An initial whiff knocked me over with cranberry-juice cocktail and clover honey. As its fruit-gusher of a nose began to unpack itself I started to get a very distinctive and unexpected scent: fresh sushi.

I spent several minutes trying to pinpoint the smell, wading through memories of sesame oil, wasabi, seaweed, pickled ginger and raw fish, and after some consideration decided it was probably some kind of soy.

Within the somewhat expected finish of boozy citrus (if they make a bourbon orange julius this would be it) and continued honey I got a pleasant scent of almond extract.

A very interesting first experience with this incarnation of chard.  But with nothing to compare it to, I can't decide whether that central soy/sushi action was cloying or intriguing.

I'd be interested to see more wines of this style from the Finger Lakes.

From Tom Mansell: Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Sauvignon Blanc

I guess you could say this one is pretty darn local, since the tasting room manager at Damiani lives about a block from me.

Sauvignon blanc is not grown too much in the Finger Lakes, likely due to its susceptibility to rot and cold winters, and vegetative growth/vine vigor.

This offering from Damiani Wine Cellars on the east side of Seneca Lake is estate grown and isn't too bad. A few tiny bubbles of spritz in the glass. Clean on the nose, a bit of sulfur, green apple and light grapefruit.

Balanced acidity and and full mouthfeel lead to a pleasing, medium-long, if slightly hot finish. Ever-so-slight oxidation (at least in this particular bottle) is obvious only on the very end of the palate (though the apple up front may have been a clue). It doesn't really have the vegetal or tropical fruit qualities typical of other styles of sauvignon blanc, so it's pretty nondescript.

It did go well with an edamame-tarragon risotto Sarah whipped up, giving some further evidence for me of the connection of Sauvignon Blanc with herbs in the anise family.

Unfortunately, the winery's sold out of this wine, but you may be able to find it at some retailers.

From Bryan Calandrelli: Leonard Oakes 2008 Vidal Ice Wine

After visiting Leonard Oakes last week, I came away with that same feeling that ice wine will continue to steal the show up here as a common thread between wineries.

Leonard Oakes makes several types of wine and most of them are very small production, so I didn’t even realize that they made ice wine until this one was poured.

Even though I had a cold, the aromas of this ice wine were stunningly obvious. Hints of tangerine, mango and peach were all there, distinguishing it from many other simple, one-note syrupy versions.

For me ice wine should still have a backbone, and this one did with a great balance of acid and sugar.

All in all, another delicious estate grown ice wine from the Niagara region that can hang with the same quality offerings that Ontario charges three times as much for.

From Jason Feulner: Damiani Wine Cellars 2007 Meritage

This impressive Bordeaux-style blend from a warm Finger Lakes vintage says as much about Damiani as it does about the region's ability to produce good red wine.

A winery that professes a strong belief in stressed vines and extended hang time, Damiani offers with this bottling a red that exhibits deep and complex flavors marked by chocolate and tobacco and currant with just a hint of dark cherry.

The finish isn't huge but it lingers. The oak is perhaps just a smidgen too strong with this one, so let it breathe for a few minutes to let the flavors really settle out in the glass.

Overall, this wine is great example of what is possible in a warm vintage in the Finger Lakes with a low yield, hands-on emphasis found in some of the region's smaller operations.

Evan Dawson and Tom Mansell Contibuting to Palate Press

By Lenn Thompson, Editor-in-Chief

 This post is long overdue, and for that I must apologize to David Honig and Tish, publisher and editor-in-chief respectively, of Palate Press, a still-new online wine magazine that brings together some of the best and brightest in the wine blog world today.

Case in point, the New York Cork Report's own science editor, Tom Mansell, and Finger Lakes editor, Evan Dawson are contributors and have published their first pieces.

Tom's story, "The American paradox? Wine labels rarely list health benefits" discusses the truths and myths about the health benefits of wine.

Evan takes on "minerality" and challenges wine drinkers to expect, and wine writers to deliever, more detail in his story "Taking Our Vitamins and Minerality."

Congrats to both Evan and Tom, and to the whole team at Palate Press. The 'group blog' concept has been tried before, but so far, no one has done it better than Palate Press.

Bird Management at Harvest Time

 
By Tom Mansell, Science Editor

In my last post, I mentioned bird netting and how exposed grapes need to be protected from birds, especially once they are ripe. Birds, like people, love to eat wine grapes. They also seem to have an uncanny ability to determine when grapes are ripe and, if left uncontrolled, decimate a vineyard's grape supply.  

It got me thinking about several different methods that growers use to keep their yeast food from becoming bird food.  A short sampling:

Shiny Objects
Occasionally in orchards, you will see pie plates and shiny mylar tape tied to a post, floating in the breeze. Sometimes you will also see large yellow balloons emblazoned with eye-shaped art.  

Birds are very visual creatures and easily spooked, so one would think that these might scare birds away.  Unfortunately, birds adapt to these devices pretty easily, and after a few days they will likely not be effective. Mylar tape has been used in blueberry orchards but has been found to be ineffective against bird damage in large fields, and so is likely not to work too well in the vineyard.

Scarecrows
Anyone who's seen birds sitting on a scarecrow knows approximately how effective they are. Again, the birds seem to quickly adapt to the absence of a real threat. Recent advances in scarecrow technology, however, can improve their effectiveness. The Scarey Man [sic] is an inflatable scarecrow that can be triggered along with other disturbances at random intervals to avoid adaptation.

Netting
Netting is very commonly used to prevent bird access to grapes. Work done at the Cornell Cooperative Extension on Long Island has studied different types of bird netting and found that finer mesh netting is most effective against birds. Side netting (netting that only covers the fruiting zone) can allow for continued hedging (trimming the tops of the canopies) after bird nets are applied. 

Another important parameter of the effectiveness of netting is how securely the nets are tied on.  If there is a big gap in the side, it doesn't matter how fine your mesh is, they'll get in. Birds are crafty like that.

A downside to netting is, well, the fact that you have to buy it and put it up. The work estimates that netting can cost up to $1500/acre, and estimates are about $300/acre for labor to put it up and tie it securely. Still, especially for areas like Long Island, netting is a necessity, as hungry birds commonly damage a large amount of crop.

Squawk Boxes
Devices like BirdGard can play digitally recorded bird distress sounds and the calls of predatory birds to frighten birds. I've definitely heard this used in vineyards and if you don't know that there is bird control in place, you might get a little freaked out.

Cannons
This one could be the most fun way to scare birds away, but also the most problematic to neighbors. A propane-powered explosion can register up to 130 decibels (louder than a rock concert). Sounds like this are ubiquitous around harvest time, but again, absent the threat of real danger, birds adjust to these diversions.

Chemicals
Methyl anthranilate can be used to control birds. If the name of this chemical sounds familiar, it's because it is one of the components of "foxy" aroma in labrusca-type grapes like Concord, Catawba and many table grapes.  

This makes me wonder if these grapes suffer less from bird depredation than others.  Hmm... my guess is that methyl anthranilate works because it is (coincidentally) also secreted by some weasels, natural bird predators.

Falconry
Finally, the most bad-ass way that I have seen of controlling birds in the vineyard has got to be the medieval lost art of falconry. Accrording to a story from NPR, a California winegrower has turned to training actual bird predators to rid his vineyard of starlings.

Growers: What interesting methods to YOU use to protect your crop from birds?

Much of the information for this piece was drawn from the work of Dr. Paul Curtis of the Cornell Department of Natural Resources and Alice Wise or Cornell Cooperative Extension in Long Island.  Thanks to Hans-Walter Peterson for helpful discussions.

Ithacork Video: The Finger Lakes Wine Festival

Our science editor, Tom Mansell from Ithacork, just posted this video from his visit to the Finger Lakes Wine Festival over the summer.

He offers some follow-up commentary here and here as well.

Leaf Pulling and Canopy Management: Let the Sun Shine In

Buried grapes in the research vineyards at Cornell Orchards, Ithaca, NY (left) and grapes more fully exposed to the sun at Peconic Bay Winery, Peconic, NY (right)

By Tom Mansell, Science Editor

As I checked my Twitter feed over the past few days, I noticed lots of tweets about the upcoming harvest from winemakers and growers. 

See the following from Lucas Vineyards winemaker Jeff Houck and Fox Run Vineyards owner Scott Osborn:

Apparently many places are doing some post-verasion leaf removal, as recently discussed on this site. It got me thinking about what's actually happening inside the grape when all of a sudden it's allowed to bask in the sunlight.

 

Vines, like wines, should be balanced

When we think about yield from a grapevine, we need to consider both fruit and vegetative growth (e.g., shoots, leaves, etc.). During the growing season, depending on rootstock, trellising, soil conditions, nitrogen availability, water availability and other variables, the balance between vegetative growth and fruit can tip towards vegetative, leading to a canopy that shades fruit, leading to less fruit development. This leads to more vegetative growth, and the cycle continues.

In particularly vigorous growing seasons, especially between veraison and harvest, temporary canopy management may be necessary to improve what's known as the microclimate of the grapes.

So why pull leaves?

Leaf removal has several purposes:

1. It allows more air to flow through the fruiting zone. This is particularly beneficial in humid climates (e.g., the Finger Lakes) because it keeps grapes drier, reducing susceptibility to fungi like Botrytis.
2. Sunlight warms the berries up. Increased temperature in the fruiting zone increases enzymatic activity inside the berry, leading to, as viticulture specialist Hans Walter-Peterson commented in this thread, increased degradation of acids. The increased temperature also tends to concentrate the berries, leading to a concentration of flavor and aroma precursors, as well as sugars.
3. UV light affects synthesis of certain compounds. Sunlight shining in on berry skins causes them to produce more flavonoids, natural sunscreen compounds that also happen to be important to color (anthocyanins) and flavor compounds (quercetin and catechins).

So leaf removal can improve desirable characteristics in the berries as well as help prevent rotten fruit, but it is a temporary solution and likely something that has to be done every year. Managing the canopy by other, more long-term techniques is a preferable solution.

For example, different vine-training systems can affect vine vigor throughout the growing season and allow for optimal sun exposure. On Long Island, for example, vertical shoot positioning (VSP) is often used to allow for maximum sunlight. As you can see in the picture on the right, come harvest season there is also quite a bit of leaf and shoot thinning that goes on.

Excessive sun exposure can lead to sunburn (literally) on grapes in some warmer climates. In fact, too much warmth actually can lead to degradation of anthocyanins, which can reduce color in grapes. Napa growers often worry about the amount of shade on their grapes. In cool climates like New York state, though, we generally want all the sun we can get.

Another point to consider is that increased grape exposure makes berries visually available and attractive to birds, who love grapes just as much as humans (so much so that they rarely wait for harvest and fermentation...), thus the bird netting in the picture on the right.  I'm told that turkeys LOVE gewürztraminer grapes.

At any rate, whatever winegrowers can do to keep those grapes disease-free and speed up the ripening process is OK by me. Let's hope the weather in September stays nice and dry... and brings us lots of sun.

---

Further reading: Smart and Robinson, Sunlight into Wine, Winetitles, 1991

Pereira et al., "Microclimate influence on mineral and metabolic profiles of grape berries", J. Ag. Food. Chem., 2006 (abstract)

Matus et al., "Post-veraison sunlight exposure induces MYB-mediated transcriptional regulation of anthocyanin and flavonol synthesis in berry skins of Vitis vinifera", J. Experimental Botany, 2009(full text)

The New York Cork Report Names Tom Mansell as Science Editor

By Lenn Thompson, Founder and Editor-in-Chief

This announcement has been in the works for some time now, and I'm happy to finally be able to make it official -- Tom Mansell, founder of the Ithaca, NY-based wine blog Ithacork, has joined the New York Cork Report team as its new science editor.

We often talk about the "art" of winemaking and the romance surrounding our favorite adult beverage, but behind those things is a whole lot of science. That's where Tom comes in with knowledge and a true scientific approach to wine. Don't worry though, he loves drinking it as much as the rest of us.

Tom is a PhD candidate in chemical and biomolecular engineering at Cornell University, where he is studying protein folding in E. coli. In the spring of 2008, he took a wine chemistry course and has never looked at wine the same way since. He has taken several courses in the Viticulture and Enology program at Cornell and is currently enrolled in a course in Viticulture and Vineyard Management.  

And as you can see, despite his love of science, he certainly doesn't take himself too seriously.

Here at the New York Cork Report, he'll bring a scientist's skepticism and insight into the complicated and convoluted world of winegrowing and winemaking in New York state.

So please join me in welcoming Tom to the staff. I'm excited to have him on board and look forward to his contributions.

In other news, I wanted to officially mention that over the next several months, the LENNDEVOURS "brand" will slowly be replaced by a name we've already started using -- the New York Cork Report. I see this change as a mere part of the natural evolution of what was once my personal blog and has grown into what many consider the de facto site for information and commentary on New York wines.

My hope is that, by the time 2010 rolls around, we'll have an entirely need design for the site on a completely new platform that will offer a much more feature-rich experience. We'll have interactive winery maps, user-generated wine ratings and much much more. There's a lot going on in the background already and much more will be rolled out soon.