Champlain Valley - Grapemans' vineyard - Planting to small winery

[grapeman]

Now that's a nice retirement size cottage. Small enough to be cozy and easily taken care of and large enough to live in. You will have a beauty of a setup there next year.

 

[Waldo]

And i'm sure there will be plenty of help from the neighbors on the vineyard

 

[grapeman]

This is post number 5000 for me so I wanted to place it here. Nothing earth shattering for it, but then I only have half as many posts as Wade does in about the same amount of time.


This afternoon I went out to the winery to check and see if I need to rack or anything over the weekend. Things are really clearing up pretty well for the most part since the weather is cooling down.


I felt I had to try some of the Catawba since it looks so nice in the carboys. It has some great flavors going on in there, but will need sweetening to counter the acids. That's common for Catawba and the flavors in it of spices and strawberry hold up well.


Hmmmm what else can I sample..... maybe the Leon Millot that decided it wanted to do a malo on itself- so I let it. OK. I pulled the bung, inserted the thief and pulled a sample into the test beaker. Ready to do a TA or some other test on it? Nope just test it with the tongue. Well it looks pretty clear with a nice sheen through it with nice ruby colors shining on my hand. How does it taste? Will it still be just a bit tart? How about smells- will it be flat? No- this wine tastes pretty darned good now even with absolutely no oak- not sure it will need it. Fruit flavors abound already, especially black cherry. Aromas are great for a French Hybrid and the tannins are there but not in excess.


I will be pulling some more samples tomorrow and if I'm still standing by the end of the day I will post some more comments and maybe even a few more pictures.

 

[AlFulchino]

looking forward to the notes and also to post 5001

 

[grapeman]

Well I wasn't able to get pictures of the wines. It was just too dark the last couple days. I did however get to sample a bunch of the wines.


NY76.0844.24 - extremely floral smells with lots of apples, pears and a bunch of miuscat. I left two carboys untreated and added a single oak spiral to one. The regular has an astounding flavor- again apples, pears, muscat and some other things I can't put my fingers on. The acids are just about right and with just a touch of sweetening, it will be great. The one with the oak has a totally different flavor profile and seems to have more body. Same basic flavors as the plain, but muted with a nice punch of vanilla. Interesting.


Next the Chardonel - what can I say, a great wine wine apple and pears. More fruity than a chardonnay so I am leaving with no oak.


Vignoles- Wow. The grapes had a touch of botrytis when picked and they made a great classic Vignoles. I know how Joan won at the NYS fair with this one(if memory serves me correctly).


St. Pepin- perfect acid to balance out all the apple and apricot flavors.


LaCrosse- I did an MLF on this one and tested it for completion today(done). The acids had been a bit high on this one, but now it has mellowed greatly and the flavors are almost as pronounced as the St. Pepin.


LaCrescent- one of the great new Minnesota varieties. TA is at 9 g/L now- just about perfect to allow just a bit of sweetening to bring out the floral even more. I did MLF on this one Also.


Frontenac Gris- MLF is done on this one now too. I am blown away by the differences between this and regular Frontenac. Truly a fruity white.


ES 6-16-30 -Adalmiina- Body is this ones strong suit. Flavors are good but not as pronounced as some of the others. More body than all the others. Great for blending.


Catawba- pretty high in acid but brimming with spice and strawberry. Will need sweetening.


Niagara- true Niagara all the way


Frontenac- Longer hang time this year benfited it greatly. Black Cherry is it's stong suit. MLF did wonders on it and it is well rounded with a nice balance of tannins and just enough acid.


Leon Millot- Again cherries are ever present, smooth and silky. Just enough tannins. Great all around this year.


Noiret- MLF is good on this one this year. It is filled with black and green peppers and a nice amount of Cherry.


Corot Noir- Cherry, full taniins front to back and jsut a bit of black pepper make this one a winner in my book.


Buffalo- spicy goodness with flavors totally unexpected in a light red wine. A bit thin and a nice rose color.


St Croix- excellent body and flavors coming around well. Without any of it's Lambrusca background in the flavors.


GR7- much better this year than last. No vegetal flavors. Nice tannins and a pretty fair cherry flavor.


I probably forgot a few, but this will let you guys get a preliminary feel for all these hybrids. All for now.

 

[NorthernWinos]

Did you swallow????





Or, spit??????

 

[grapeman]

Why would I waste good wine by spitting? I just split the tasting over the two days and they were just small amounts. I rarely spit

 

[NorthernWinos]

Okay....thought that was a lot of tasting.....

Sounded good to me.

 

[grapeman]

I must say I am having great fun with the rackings of these wines this year. Today I needed to rack6 gallons of Noiret, 18 gallons of Leon Millot Batch One, 3 Gallons Leon Millot Batch 2,5 Gallons Buffalo and move a 5 and a 1 gallon Catawba to a 6 so I could have the other 5 to rack the Buffalo into another 5. Naturally I needed to sample them to tell what each one might need or if it is good as it stands. I am looking forward to a good year with the Noiret. It didn't do as well this year as last and was very acidic for some reason. I didn't get any of the grapes last year so I don't have any for comparison, but regardles of the acid, it is a very nice grape. I have never tasted any red wine of any kind overflowing with black cherry flavors as this one has. You would swear you were drinking a soda made of black cherry (except it is wine). I had done MLF on this one, but I don't think it finished yeat and it will need to go until spring before I can finish it. Added 3 oz French Med Toast Oak


Next up was the Leon Millot. Normally this is a fairly one dimensional wine, but the Batch One (20 gallons total) is very nice. Body is better than normal, Cherry flavors abound and it actually has some tannins in it. Color is great. I am drinking a left over glass right now and enjoying it immensly.
Added 3 oz French Med Toast Oak to this one.


Buffalo wine is nice and spicy and has a light red color to it-very clear. The smells are great and the spiciness is wondrful. I'm thinking this one might be really nice as a dessert wine so it will need sweetening a lot, but the grape is fairly low acid. Not a problem. I tried a touch of Catawba mixed with it and that adds another dimension of spice to it. After it has aged, I will mix the 5 gallons of Buffalo with 2 quarts of Catawba for acid balance and then sweeten to about 1.020. I think this one will be popular. No Oak.


I racked the Catawba from a 5 gallon carboy to free up for the Buffalo and added an extra gallon of it I had to a 6 gallon Carboy. Nice flavors, with plenty of acid to sweeten later. The one I did was straw colored Jobe commented on getting, but the rest of the carboys are a light pink. It has been cold enough lately that 1/2 cup of acid has precipitated out of the 5 gallons already.


A person could get fond of this job after a while. I may need a helper some day with the tastings. Who's up to the job?

 

[jobe05]

A person could get fond of this job after a while. I may need a helper some day with the tastings. Who's up to the job?

Well if your going to be that darned forceful, I guess I would have to..............

 

[AlFulchino]

only 3 ox of med french toast oak to the 20 gallon bathc of leon millot?

 

[grapeman]

I added it at the rate of 3 oz per 6 gallon carboy for the 20 gallons, so it was 3.5 bags. I found last year I had more oak than I was happy with. It is easier to add it as needed until you get to where you want to be. No way to take it back out and you end up having to mix with unoaked to reduce the oak. These are fruity reds and I feel they need to stand on their own while being slightly enhanced.

 

[AlFulchino]

gotchya!....just curious about your approach! Merry Christmas!

 

[grapeman]

Like the rest of the northern US, we will be entering the deep freeze for the next foreseeable future. I'm hoping we don't get so bad as to have a lot of bud damage, but this should be more of a true test to see what will survive here long term. Highs will be about 3-4 degrees and down to about -15F. I hope it doesn't go below that but time will tell.

 

[AlFulchino]

good luck my italian friend!


what are your most susceptible varieties? mine would probably be the landot noir

 

[grapeman]

That would be the Cab Franc and probably the Chardonel. If it only gets to -15 they should be OK. Time will tell. Is it cooling down there yet? If not hang on a few hours!

 

[AlFulchino]

our cool down come later tonite...we will be just a few degrees warmer than you, not much

 

[grapeman]

Well the true test for survivability and fruiting is existing right now. I should have a much better idea what varieties are truly suited for my location. Yesterday was cold with a high of 0 with windchills running -15 to -20 F. By 5:00 last evening the temp was sitting at -10F. This morning there is no wind but the actual air temperature is -18F on one thremometer and -20F on the other. Tonight is expecting a bit colder.


Several of the varieties are only good to about -15F so we will see how it goes. It hasn't gotten this cold in 8-10 years now.

 

[gaudet]

Well the true test for survivability and fruiting is existing right now. I should have a much better idea what varieties are truly suited for my location. Yesterday was cold with a high of 0 with windchills running -15 to -20 F. By 5:00 last evening the temp was sitting at -10F. This morning there is no wind but the actual air temperature is -18F on one thremometer and -20F on the other. Tonight is expecting a bit colder.


Several of the varieties are only good to about -15F so we will see how it goes. It hasn't gotten this cold in 8-10 years now.

Geez and I'm complaining of the temp being 36 degrees out here (it might be a little cooler than that say maybe 32-33 ish)

Has anyone seen my sunscreen

 

[Jack on Rainy]

appleman,
Do you have snow cover right now? That might help. We are thankful for a couple of feet with the current low temps(-42twice this week so far adn highs below -10F). Helps protect everything.