As temperatures dropped in late autumn, the vines became acclimated to the cold and sugars in the vine were converted to starch which was stored in the vine’s trunk and roots.  After the leaves fell, the vines continued to develop cold hardiness, but stopped accumulating carbohydrates. From leaf fall until the spring thaw later this year, the vines will remain dormant and are completely comprised of woody tissue.

Ater a milder than normal December, we’ve had a cold January here in the Finger Lakes. This year on our Estate vineyard site, the lowest temperature recorded was – 4 degrees Fahrenheit on January 21st. There are still some potentially sub-zero days in the forecast, and we are looking forward to the the arrival of spring when the worst of winter is behind us.

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This year, we experienced significant rain events during August, September, and October, as the aftermath of tropical storms passed through the area and dropped higher than average amounts of rainfall. This excessive rainfall caused our cover crops, vine canopy, and weeds to explode with growth, leading Tom and our H2A vineyard team to work even harder than normal to keep the vegetation in check and the grapes healthy.

As we ran lab samples in September, it was clear that harvest would be later than normal both at the estate vineyard and our grower vineyards.  Each week, we waited for brix levels to rise, and monitored the condition of the fruit.  Harvest began on September 17th, with a pick of our very first estate-grown Chardonnay (pictured below) from our new vineyard and the harvest continued with Pinot Noir and Riesling being harvested through mid-to late October.   

As this post goes to press, harvest is complete, but we still have many active fermentations bubbling away in the cellar. The 2021 season was a challenging one, requiring a significant amount of personal sacrifice, commitment, and resiliency to bring in the harvest, and make the wine.  We are happy to have this one behind us, but are excited about the potential of the wine!

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Below, our botanical drawings show close-up views of the transition to veraison. After bloom and fruit set – the grape berries are formed and cell division within the berries causes the grapes to grow rapidly and take on weight. Eventually, cell division ceases, and the subsequent berry growth is caused primarily by cell expansion.

About 5 – 7 weeks after fruit set, veraison begins in the vineyard. During veraison the firm, green berries begin to soften and change color as they expand and accumulate sugar. Veraison happens for both red and white grapes, but the color change is more dramatic on our red grapes.  Hungry birds are quick to notice the color change, and will soon begin to peck at the fruit in search of a new source of food. For this reason, the first signs of veraison set off a flurry of activity in our vineyard as our crew rushes to roll out and secure the nets to keep the birds away from the grapes.  

During the 4 – 6 weeks after veraison, sugar levels, grape skin pigments, and flavor compounds rise while acid levels fall. Ideally, harvest begins when the fruit has reached desired levels of ripeness. 

This year, Tom recorded the start of veraison in the original Estate Vineyard on August 3rd (image below). The Pommard clone of Pinot Noir was the furthest along at this point, and some purple berries were also beginning to emerge for clones 667 and 777.

As this post goes to press, we have veraison through both the original and new estate vineyard. The team rolled out the nets just before veraison started and we are doing our best to keep the hungry birds at bay. Hoping for the weather to remain favorable so that this beautiful fruit reaches its best potential for the vintage!

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Each quarter we select the wines which will be included in our Claddagh Club members’ next allocation.  When planning the year’s wine club releases, I make a first draft of the year’s scheduled club releases.  I think about when wines will be bottled and labeled, their seasonal appeal, and their approachability considering the vintage and type of wine.  As the club release date approaches, Tom and I open up the candidates for the upcoming release to confirm the selections, revise the tasting notes, and make adjustments to the schedule if we feel that a wine needs a bit more time, or we just can’t resist pulling something forward to an earlier release date.  

This quarter’s wine club selections include the 2019 Verve Chardonnay, the 2018 Mo Chuisle Pinot Noir, the 2019 Sparkling Riesling, and the 2019 Pinot Noir with different quantities and wines included in our different Claddagh Club membership types and tiers. We can’t wait to share them with our club members starting this week! Wines will be ready for pickup beginning on Friday 8/6, and we will begin sending out shipments in September when things are cooler. Here is a summary of our winemaking, tasting, and pairing notes for this quarter’s selections:

2019 Verve Chardonnay

Vineyard & Winemaking Notes: Fruit in this wine was grown on Nutt Road Vineyard (Seneca Lake) and Hobbit Hollow Vineyard (Skaneateles Lake). Nutt Road ripened earlier and was picked on October 10th, while the Hobbit Hollow was picked a week later. Grapes were picked and pressed at cool temperatures, allowed to settle overnight, and divided between stainless steel tanks and barrels for fermentation. Tom’s final blend for this wine was 38% stainless steel / 62% barrel fermented. The barrel-fermented portion was sur-lie aged (aged on the yeast), with gentle stirring for 7 months.

Tasting Notes & Food Pairings: Our vision for this wine is that it lives up to its name – Verve – vibrant, super fresh, and full of energy. This year’s vintage definitely hits the mark. There are notes of tart green apples, almonds, and exotic spice on the nose. The palate bursts with fresh layers of citrus, ranging from lemons and oranges to pink grapefruit. The finish is crisp, dry, and refreshing. We both agreed that if we were tasting this blind we might peg it as Sancerre rather than Chardonnay. As for food pairings, right now we are in the midst of summer and are thinking steamed clams and briny raw oysters on the half shell. However, when autumn arrives, this will stand up beautifully to heartier fare, including Thanksgiving meal, as its racy acidity will refresh the palate nicely.

2018 Mo Chuisle Pinot Noir

Vineyard & Winemaking Notes: The Mo Chuisle is our Estate Grown Pinot Noir, farmed on our limestone-rich vineyard on the East Side of Cayuga Lake. Tom is our vineyard manager and we farm the vineyard sustainably without herbicides or insecticides. There is a lot of care and attention to detail in the farming: because our vineyard is mostly Pinot Noir, we do everything possible to keep air flowing through the vines and this means leaf-pulling by hand, under canopy weeding by hand or tractor, and keeping appropriate cover crops well maintained. We picked the grapes by hand, optically sorted them to select only the best fruit, and included 23% of the stems in the fermentation. The wine was aged for ~ 19 months in neutral Francois Freres French oak barrels.

Tasting Notes & Food Pairings: Classic Pinot Noir notes of black cherries and plums on the nose. The dark cherries continue on the palate, along with black currants, blackberries, and spice notes. The finish is long and dry with medium-firm tannins. This year, we’ve been experimenting with reverse-searing ribeye steaks: pre-cooking the steak in either the sous vide or smoker, and then flash searing in a cast-iron skillet to get a delicious crust. A perfectly cooked steak with locally grown corn on the cob and a tomato and cucumber salad paired beautifully with this wine.

2019 Sparkling Riesling

Vineyard & Winemaking Notes: Fruit in this wine was grown on Nutt Road Vineyard (Seneca Lake) and was picked earlier than the rest of the Riesling fruit to ensure good structure and acidity. As with all of our sparkling wines, this was created using the traditional method and was aged for 15 months in the bottle on the lees. A final dosage at disgorgement was added to finish the wine in a brut, or dry style.

Tasting Notes: Because this is aged for a relatively short time on the lees, we get the benefit of the delicate bubbles while really amplifying the freshness of the Riesling fruit. There’s a chalky minerality on the nose, along with fresh stone fruit – think peaches and apricots. The palate is juicy and tropical with plenty of pineapple and mango. The finish is brisk, dry, and refreshing. This wine is fantastic on its own, but we’ve been enjoying it with different white fish this summer – from sablefish (black cod) to halibut. A favorite recipe is fish “en papillote”, where we make a pouch using either parchment paper or heavy-duty aluminum foil, and fill it with fish with some salt, pepper, olive oil and fresh garden vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, squash) and a little bit of lemon juice. Seal it up, put it on the grill, and enjoy!

2019 Pinot Noir

Winemaking Notes: This is our “classic” Pinot Noir made from grapes grown on several different Finger Lakes Vineyards. In this vintage, 40 percent of the fruit was grown on our Estate Vineyard on Cayuga Lake, with the balance coming from Nutt Road and Elaine’s Vineyard on Seneca Lake, and Hobbit Hollow on Skaneateles Lake. We hand-picked then gently de-stemmed and optically sorted them using cameras to evaluate the color and texture of each berry, and select only those which met our standards for the best possible fruit. Then we hand-sorted the stems and selected ~50% for inclusion in the 14-day fermentation. Finally, we gently gravity-flow transferred the wine into barrels for 12 months of aging in Francois Frêres French oak barrels.

Tasting Notes:  This is a more delicate style featuring raspberries and strawberries on the nose which transition to notes of cherries, currants, and savory umami on the palate. The finish shows medium-firm tannins and a beautiful, elegant, long finish.  

For those wine club members who pick up your wines at the winery – your wines will be available for pick-up beginning Friday, August 6th. If we ship your allocation to you, we will begin shipping in September after Labor Day weekend – with timing dependent on the temperature in your region!

If you’re not a wine club member, then why not join, while there’s still a chance to get the current allocation? 

We offer 3 membership tiers, Platinum, Gold and Silver. Within each tier, you choose between “Exclusively Red” – reds only, or “Eclectic” – a mix of reds, whites, rosé, and sparkling. Our Claddagh Club Schedule Page has the details on the wines included within each club tier for the current quarter, and the details on how to join.  

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Below, our botanical drawings show a close-up view of bloom and fruit set. During bloom, the flower clusters lengthen and the various parts of the grape flower emerge. Grape flowers have similar anatomy to other flowers in the plant kingdom – with anthers carrying the pollen that will fertilize the ovary and produce fruit. Our grapes are self-pollinating, meaning that they require no intervention from pollinator insects. During bloom, we hope for warm, dry weather which allows flowers to pollinate evenly, and results in even fruit set and beautifully formed clusters of potential grapes for the vintage. 

This year, Tom recorded the start of trace bloom in the original Estate Vineyard on June 7th, and full bloom on June 10th (image 1 below). The new Estate Vineyard block was a bit further behind, with full bloom on June 12th. Fortunately, after a bit of rain on June 7th and 8th, Mother Nature graced us with mostly dry weather between June 10th and 20th and we are happy with the quality and consistency of fruit set (image 2) throughout the entire vineyard.

As this post goes to press, fruit set is complete and the berries are beginning to swell and put on weight. The team is busy doing shoot positioning and is moving the bird nets into position in advance of veraison later this summer. We continue to hope for the perfect amount of rainfall and sunshine to shepherd the vines and grapes safely through the growing season!

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Our botanical drawing shows the parts of the vine that start to become visible for the first time during this stage of growth. Shoots emerge rapidly, leaf blades gradually unfurl, growing tips reach for the sky, and tendrils reach for wires to clasp.  And of course, the flower clusters emerge – the beautiful compact structures from which grape flowers will emerge in just a few weeks.

The photo gallery below shows just how rapidly the transition happened this year. On May 9th (image 1), we had early shoot growth through much of the Estate Vineyard, and a few leaves were beginning to emerge. On May 16th, just one week later (image 2), shoots were around 5 inches long, and some were accompanied by between 4 – 6 leaves. Just two days later on May 19th (image 3), flower clusters became more visible throughout much of the vineyard.

The vines continue to grow at a rapid pace and will require care and tending to keep them on the right track. At present, the team is busy eliminating redundant buds and sucker shoots, weeding, and preparing for the next stage of growth. While there is much work to do, it is a joy to walk the vines each day to see the lush green canopy begin to take form.

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After a cold, nail-biter of a week in late April, we are thrilled to report that we have bud break throughout the Heart & Hands Estate vineyard!

This year, we had an unseasonably warm March and early April, which brought the vine’s winter dormancy to a close.  These warm temperatures roused the vines from their slumber, causing sap to move in the vine.  As temperatures warm, the buds begin to swell and then ultimately “burst” or “break” and leaves begin to emerge, leaving the plants more vulnerable to cold. By mid-April, we had bud swell on both Pinot Noir and Riesling and about 1 centimeter of growth.  

The weather forecast shifted in the middle of April, with worrisome sub-freezing temperatures in the forecast.  On the evening of April 21st, the overnight forecast was 27 – 28 degrees Fahrenheit, with a northwest wind.  We were hopeful that the warm(er) waters of Cayuga lake would protect the vineyard, but only time would tell.  Tom checked our weather station in the morning and learned our temperatures were below freezing for half an hour, with a low of 28.  At this point, all we could do was wait for warmer temperatures to arrive, and for the vines to begin growing again.

During the next few days, there was a gradual warming trend, along with a few more cold evenings.  Fortunately, by the following week, signs of life began to emerge again in the vineyard.  As of April 28th, we saw bud break resume sporadically in the vineyard:

April 28: Pinot Noir Bud Break in our lower block

About a week and a half later, we saw healthy growth throughout most of the vineyard, and we began to feel more optimistic about the vineyard’s potential.

May 9: Buds fully burst, and leaves beginning to emerge

Now that the buds have broken, the new leaves and shoots will grow extremely quickly for several weeks. It is a truly awe-inspiring time to be in the vineyard, as it rapidly transitions from dormant brown canes to a field filled with bright green vines, bursting with life.  

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People often ask what we do with all of our “free time” during the winter months, but the truth is that a dormant vineyard requires plenty of care and tending to prepare for the upcoming growing season.  In early March, we were thrilled when our H-2A vineyard team members returned to our vineyard after their seasonal trip home to Mexico.  This is our second year of collaborating with these gentlemen who did a superb job of keeping the vineyard in tip-top shape in 2020.  In just 2 days they performed the first pass of pruning on both of our vineyard blocks. 

After the first pruning pass, Tom began tying each vine in the vineyard. Our H-2A team leaves 2 fruiting canes on each vine, and Tom makes the final decision on which cane will bear this year’s fruit. When considering which cane to choose, he evaluates the node spacing (distance between the buds), the number of buds, and the thickness of the cane, and other factors. He prunes away the other cane, and then wraps the selected cane around the fruiting wire and ties it to the fruiting wire to position the vine is properly for growth.  

After we complete tying, we wait for bud break and the start of the growing season. The warm weather in March and April means that the plants are waking up. A cold snap is predicted for this week, so we hope that the warm water of Cayuga Lake protects the vines and the buds that are beginning to emerge.

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