VARIATAL NOTES

WHITE WINES - Delaware, Catawba, Niagara, Steuben and Dutchess are all native varieties which make white wines. Niagara has the highest flavor profile with strong Vitis labrusca flavor along with lemony notes when not overripe. It is at its best as a sweet 'sipping' wine. Catawba can make dry table wines, but it takes a long time for it to tone down, so it is normally ameliorated with sugar and water to dilute both acidity and flavor intensity. Steuben is very much like Catawba in flavor, but has lower acidity and a more spicy aroma. Being a blue fruited grape, it will often come thru as blush or even pink. Delaware was once considered to be the best wine grape of the region prior to the introduction of the French Hybrids in the 1950's. It's wines have a delicate fruity flavor that is more neutral than Catawba. It is usually better if slightly sweet and it is usually ameliorated. Our preference is to harvest them slightly before full maturation when the flavor intensity is lower. Dutchess is the least foxy of the native grapes and always has good acid balance. It is no longer very widely available.
We offer five French Hybrid whites: Seyval Blanc, Vignoles, Cayuga, Vidal and
Traminette. Seyval ripens fairly early and makes good wines both as oak aged dry white and clean cool fermented slightly sweet wines. Vignoles is a versatile grape capable of making dry or slightly sweet wines with distinct varietal character as well being a component of sparkling wines or as a late harvest style wine. It is very subject to Botrytis cinerea infections which impart peach, apricot and honey notes. It tends to be high in acidity (and sugar) so it often requires more intervention by the winemaker. Traminette is a Geneva hybrid of JS 23.416 x Gewurztraminer, the latter of which it closely resembles. It is a relatively recent variety and it is drawing quite a bit of interest. Vidal is a late ripener and generally produces very clean, acidic wines with fairly light flavor intensity. It is often used in 'Ice Wines'. It has a common parent with Seyval (Seibel 4986 aka Rayon d'or) and also tends to have high acidity. Cayuga is actually a New York hybrid, but its parentage, which includes Seyval, is similar to many of the French Hybrids; its clean, slightly floral aroma and taste which often lacks distinct varietal character makes a wine that is an outstanding blender.

We are beginning to recover from three consecutive seasons with significant winter damage and a devastating frost in 2002. We will have Chardonnay and Riesling. Chardonnay is the great white variety from Burgundy. It ripens well, even in substandard years like 2003 and produces wines which favorably match a wide spectrum of foods. Its flavor is elusive and complex and for most of us at its best when aged in oak and especially so when the practices of sur lies and batonnage are followed. Riesling, the prototypical Rhine grape, produces a wine with distinctive varietal character and is usually aged in glass or stainless steel to accentuate its fruity character. Like Vignoles, it is subject to Botrytis infections, but it ripens at a time of year when we don't often get the warm dry weather needed to bring out the best in the late harvest type of wine. In most years it is safest to make it as a normal table wine, and because of its high acidity, to make it slightly sweet. Yeasts like Cote des Blancs (Epernay 2) and 71B (especially when faced with high acidity) are most often favored with this variety. We won't have Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc or Viognier this year because of the adverse weather the past three years, but expect to be back in full production in 2006.

SPARKLING WINE - Blending two or more varieties for sparkling wine cuvees is a desirable practice. One tends to look for lower sugar and higher acidity and more neutral flavors for sparkling wine. Dutchess, Catawba, Seyval Blanc and to a lesser extent, Delaware, Vidal, Vignoles and Steuben are commonly used. Chardonnay is the archetype for sparkling wines, but we have a soft spot for Riesling in the Lake Erie area, perhaps because of its normally higher acidity and lower sugar. Pinot Blanc, were it available this year would also be an excellent candidate. Pinot Noir is also traditional, but alas, not available this year.

RED WINES - To get both the character and color of a traditional red wine it is necessary to ferment in contact with the skins and preferably in the absence of very many stems. Good color can be secured with the use of grape skin extract materials like Ex-Berry, but tannin management (getting a pleasing balance of astringent and bitter flavors) is harder to accomplish with additives in the absence of fermentations on the skins. To encourage making reds in the proper way we provide a crusher-stemmer and press free of charge (on our premises) to those who purchase grapes from us. Pressing is much easier after a red has fermented with the skins than it would be right after crushing as is done with whites. The pulp has mostly dissolved, so squeezing through a cheese cloth or burlap bag is a reasonable alternative to a press. Color extraction with skin fermented reds can be greatly improved with warmer temperature during the first two or three days of fermentation (80o-85oF.) and with pectic enzymes with better color extraction capabilities like Crystalzyme Tinto or Ex-Color when used during skin contact time.
Another alternative is to purchase 'young wine' from us where we have done the fermentation on the skins. You pay a bit more, but get good tannins and color and avoid the messy initial steps.
Fredonia and Concord are native Vitis labrusca grapes which produce distinctive strongly flavored reds which can be dry, but are mostly sweet and mostly done without aging in oak. The wines are reminiscent of the flavor of the fresh fruit. Some people prefer them with less intensity of flavor which can be accomplished by ameliorating with water and sugar which also reduces their often excessive acidity. Both can be blended with Niagara where full intensity of fruit is desired or with varieties like Chancellor, Chambourcin or DeChaunac when one wants to have less fruitiness and more vinosity.
Foch and Leon Millot are fairly similar French-hybrids with good color and average body. Both tend to have high pH and acidity and therefore require close attention from the winemaker. Both benefit from blending with more neutral, heavier bodied varieties such as Chancellor, which blends well with practically anything, or with Chambourcin. Both of these varieties help lower pH and improve mouth feel. We have DeChaunac this year. It makes good rose wines and, if not overcropped, a hearty, vinous red. Chancellor has good body and really good blending capabilities and makes a wine which ages well. It does even better when blended with another variety. Chambourcin is, without question, the red French-hybrid with the best reputation in our area. It ripens late in our season and may have greenish tannins in a poor year, but does very well in most seasons.
The only two local red Vitis vinifera grapes for this year are Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon. We may have some Merlot from Long Island available as young wine. These are the traditional Bordeaux reds.
We are again offering hand picked grapes delivered in refrigerated trucks from the Stokes Brothers Vineyards at Lodi in California's Central Valley. While not a cool area, it is the coolest area in the Valley. Varieties offered are Old Vine Zinfandel (minimum 40 year old vines), Syrah, Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. These should be picked up within two or three days after reaching our premises and should be ordered as early as possible to assure their availability.