First harvest

Today I picked my first grapes! They were Gewurztraminer. Aren't they pretty? Gewurz is cool because it's a white grape but the skins actually get to be a nice pinkish color. I filled 3 bins like this one. After we picked we sorted out the grapes that were affected by rot or victim to birds. I missed pressing because I was doing a tasting at a hotel in Watkins Glen, but when I got back tonight I tried some of the juice and it was delish. Very fruity with great acidity. The lot of us had picked Gewurz from 2 of our vineyard sites, HJW and Magdalena, and you could really taste the differences in the juice - that's terroir for you. What a great start. More to come!

Labels or Love

Why not both? Today I spent most of the day labeling Wiemer's 2008 Semi-Dry Riesling. There's a machine of course, and I was on an assembly line with 2 nice Mexicans (I'm not being derogatory - they are from Mexico, they told me). I practiced my Spanish on them (Como se llama? Me llamo Melanie.) We handled approximately 8 palates = 448 cases = 5,376 bottles! I can't even believe it. Plus the workout - I know a bottle of wine is only a couple pounds but handling over 5 G's of them fairly quickly was a great muscle and cardio workout! I love cheap exercise. 1 bottle did break though - it just clanked into some others and broke right in half! Not my fault, I swear.

Yesterday was officially the first day of the 2009 harvest - the guys picked and pressed some of Wiemer's Pinot Noir grapes to make sparkling wines. I missed this exciting day because I was traveling :( and we didn't pick today because it rained. But I am not super bummed because there is plenty more to pick and do. Like this morning I got to hose out the crusher - those Pinor Noir skins smelled amazing! And I got my shower for the day (kidding).

I am the only woman working in "production." I don't mind of course - it is just interesting to note how few women are in this business aside from in the tasting room. On another note, today I watched 7 men move an 800 kilogram stainless steel tank from outside to inside, and I didn't do much besides hold the sides of it as we were moving it into the warehouse. But, this could be because I came late to the party and tasks were already assigned and/or because I cannot drive a forklift.

The Search for Sauvignon Blanc

Many of you who know me know that I love Sauvignon Blanc. I have even gone as far as saying it is my favorite white. I know that the Finger Lakes is known for Riesling (thanks in large part to Hermann J. himself), and I love the many personalities that grape can take on, but I have to say I am psyched to see that some producers here are making Sauv Blanc. At Ravines I was able to compare their 2007 and 2008 vintages - '07 had some great citrus flavors, but the '08 had more of that grassy herbaceous character that I love (much like the New Zealand style I covet). This week I tried Billsboro Winery's 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, which is their first vintage SB. It actually had many of the qualities similar to the '07 Ravines, with crisp acidity, grapefruit on the palate and a smooth finish. All of these SB's retail for around $17. There are probably over 100 wineries around Seneca lake and there must be a few more Sauv Blancs... the hunt is on!

Beasting off the Riesling

The last couple of days has been a whirlwind of labeling, lifting, cleaning, and tasting. I'm working on learning how to identify grape plantings by their leaves. This is not easy! The differences are very slight. I've collected some samples from Wiemer's vineyards - Riesling, Gewurz, Chardonnay - and I'm hoping to put together a complete collection of their estate grapes.

Now that I'm spending some time on the other side of the tasting bar I'm brushing up on my Wiemer stats. 70% of our production is Riesling, and we grow it on our 3 vineyard sites. HJW vineyard is behind the winery, and the Magdalena and Josef sites are 10 miles up the road. Each site has slightly different soils and mesoclimates that bring different properties to the grapes. Wiemer has 7 Riesling wines that they produce, and the fruit comes from some combination of the sites, with the exception of the HJW and Magdalena vineyard-specific wines. These are the only 2 Rieslings I haven't tried yet - better add that to my to-do list.

On my first day working the tasting room I got 2 tips! Hope tomorrow is another good retail day :)

It's all happening

I officially started my Wiemer wine adventure yesterday with a charity tasting in Cayuga Heights, just north of the Cornell campus. I have no clue what the charity was for but people loved the wines! I poured the 2007 Dry Riesling and 2007 Gewurz. It was nice to be back in Ithaca for the afternoon, and on my way home I was driving on a really fun bumpy road into the sunset, thinking, when did I ever notice the sky in Manhattan? The sunset followed with a beautiful starry night, and I saw a shooting star for the first time! I also got a lesson from a new friend on how to distinguish grape types by their leaves. So cool!
Today at Wiemer I put my muscles to work, moving cases of wine from here to there and learning how to work a palate jack to lift multiple cases at once. Tomorrow morning we're going to do some labeling in the morning and then visit a couple other wineries in the area as a group in the afternoon. I hope I'm able to lift my arms, at least enough to raise a wine glass!

Miles away

Legend has it that Miles Wine Cellars on Seneca Lake in Himrod began making wine sort of by accident. They started as a premier grape grower for the area in 1978, but they were later approached by a French Champagne house that was impressed by their grapes and wanted to buy a lot of them to make sparkling wine on the premises. So Miles made a deal and the French came over with their equipment and got started. At some point during the process, the French learned from their distributor in NYC that their budget had been cut and they had to pack up and go home. They hadn't yet paid Miles for the grapes, and they didn't intend to. The night before they were going to sneak off, one of the Frenchies was at Lloyd's in Penn Yan talking to the bartender. He told him the whole story, not knowing that the bartender was friends with Miles. So then of course the bartender told Miles about how the French had their plane tickets and were going to leave the next morning, so Miles thanked him, went home, and chained himself to the French winemaking equipment with some bottles of wine to get him through the night.

The next morning, the French came to retrieve their equipment and found Miles attached to it. Miles asked them repeatedly, are you going to pay us? Finally they admitted that they would not, and Miles said then that the equipment would be his. The Frenchies weighed their options and ultimately relented. Thus, Miles now had the equipment to make wine and a wine cellar was born on this beautiful lakefront property.

Fo' Shaw

Just down the road from Wiemer is a little place called Shaw Vineyard, where Steve Shaw makes some great wines, for sure. Steve ages most of his wines before release, including his Riesling and Gewurz, which is a rare practice in this area, he says. His reds get over 30 months of barrel aging plus several more in the bottle. The whites get 12-18 months aging and more in the bottle. The result is a group of wines that are still fresh but with an underlying complexity and a bit of added finesse. I was curious about his thoughts on 2007 being the "best vintage this decade for Pinot Noir in the Finger Lakes" - Steve thinks 2005 was better than 2007 and that 2008 will be the best. He says he has told Phil from Ravines his opinion on this, so I'm not starting any fights here. Shaw's current release of PN is 2005, so it will be several years before he releases the 2008 vintage and we can compare.
I had some fun walking around Shaw Vineyard and snapped some pics of Cab Franc and Gewurztraminer grapes. They're not quite ripe for the picking just yet, but they're getting there!

Y Keuka Lake?

Because every winery has an amazing view! Here's the one from Dr. Konstantin Frank in Hammondsport, NY. Dr. Frank was the man responsible for bringing the European grapes that we all know and love (Vitis Vinifera, or Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, etc.) to the Finger Lakes and making quality wines from them where no one had been able to before. At the winery, they greet you for your tasting and spend as much time as you want talking about the wines, making everyone feel like a VIP. Plus, the tasting is free! How often do you see that? I liked their 2007 Gewurz, but I think their most interesting wine is Rkatsiteli - an eastern European grape that pays homage to Dr. Frank's roots. It's totally unique - I really enjoyed the green olive flavors of the 2007 release and took home a bottle.

At Heron Hill Winery I tried some good Rieslings, including their 2007 Reserve Old Vines Riesling ($24.99), 2006 Classic Dry Riesling ($12.99), and 2006 Ingle Vineyard Riesling ($15.99). The Reserve Old Vines was an Alsation style and had a really nice long finish thanks to slightly higher alcohol (13% compared to 12% on the other two). Here I also learned that 2007 was the best vintage of the century for Pinot Noir in the Finger Lakes. I am now curious to explore this further. Their Reserve was good, but for $29.99 I thought I might be able to do better.

My hunch was affirmed at Ravines Wine Cellars, where I was WOWed by their 2007 Pinot Noir, a Burgundian style full of cherry and spice, which I didn't hesitate to buy at $22.95. Ravines was a great way to end the day. I did their wine and chocolate pairing, featuring Hedonist Artisan Chocolates from Rochester, NY. There were a lot of wines to like here, including:
2007 Dry Riesling
2008 Sauvignon Blanc
2007 Chardonnay (with Hedonist sesame milk chocolate)
2006 Cerise (red blend - 80% Pinot Noir and 20% Lemberger - with Hedonist cherry dark chocolate)
2007 Pinot Noir
2007 Cabernet Franc (with Hedonist cranberry orange peel dark chocolate)
2006 Meritage (Bordeaux blend - Cab Sauv, Cab Franc, Merlot - with their very own infused Hedonist truffle)

I got to taste the wines for free and received a 20% discount on the bottles I bought because of my affiliation with Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard! Apparently winery employees are eligible for these bennies at all Finger Lakes wineries. Too bad I didn't know that for the prior two ;)

PS Keuka Lake is just west of Seneca Lake and is shaped like a 'y'

I've arrived

This afternoon I rolled into Dundee, NY, my new home for the next several weeks. I felt like a college kid moving into my dorm room with all my belongings stuffed into the car. My room here is about the size of my last apt in NYC (slight exaggeration) and I've made friends with the 2 cats who live here. I went to Wegmans (best grocery store ever) and had a sub, just like old times in college (where my girls at?!). Oh, and I hope this isn't a bad sign, but I lost that grapes keychain a couple days ago. I am super bummed... I don't think it can be replaced. Oh well. I am excited for a weekend of country living and wine tasting before I get started at Wiemer on Monday!

A vine grows in Brooklyn

Well not really, the grapes are brought in from eastern Long Island, but still, Brooklyn is making wine. In the last year or so I've tried a few wines from Brooklyn Oenology (BOE), which is based in Williamsburg/Greenpoint. They make fresh, affordable wines while supporting local artists at the same time. Each wine features a piece by a local artist in a removable sticker label. I love art, so I love this idea! I've enjoyed both the wine and the labels of their 2007 Social Club White (made from Chardonnay), 2007 Viognier and 2006 Motley Cru (a red blend). Check them out! The BOE website includes a Where to Buy section and information on the artists: http://brooklynoenology.com/boe.html.