tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49444460176406538952024-02-06T22:00:49.594-05:00Fox Run Gallery and HappeningsNews and photos from Fox Run Vineyards in the Finger Lakes.Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-90741148529909477532013-06-21T10:09:00.000-04:002013-06-21T10:10:20.209-04:00Some Words on Terroir<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqm0_cObB6tBDB1VMH6oLmL2mXiGPlGJ1rI_KIWD7GHAHcrbs4zbb3UkIYIlJHkgj3aFTog9gTz9Dx_9ZbSLD-B7ouW_WDx0xtzMKw-CCl515xvW7kve05id15Tmyi8lD9VCrUnB4iovtt/s1600/FoxRunScottOsbornJune2013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqm0_cObB6tBDB1VMH6oLmL2mXiGPlGJ1rI_KIWD7GHAHcrbs4zbb3UkIYIlJHkgj3aFTog9gTz9Dx_9ZbSLD-B7ouW_WDx0xtzMKw-CCl515xvW7kve05id15Tmyi8lD9VCrUnB4iovtt/s320/FoxRunScottOsbornJune2013.JPG" width="213" /></a></div>
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Here at Fox Run Vineyards, we have a deep appreciation of the complex
interplay between our estate vineyards, management of the vines, the
cool-climate of the Finger Lakes - with its levels of sun, wind and
rain, and our winemaking process. When we think about terroir,
we consider all of the factors that contribute to the wine that we
ultimately produce.<br />
<br />
Soil plays a primary role in all of this and the
soils of our various sites are varied and unique in their composition
and configuration. Ancient river deltas and lake shorelines lie under
our Lake Dana and Hanging Delta Vineyards. Lake Dana's shale and stone
is now hidden by a thick layer of sandy loam. The resulting well-drained
soil is ideal for the ripening of Riesling vines. And the Hanging Delta
Vineyard Block, once a river outlet, presents alternating bands of clay
and sand. The Riesling grapes produced on both of these parcels are so
distinctly different; we created the Geology Series to showcase these
vines.<br />
<br />
And yet, after twenty years of cultivating our estate vines, we
have seen extraordinary Rieslings coming from other
parcels, clearly due to the particulars of a singular year - therefore
that element of surprise is there from year to year. And such is true
for our other estate varieties: Chardonnay, Lemberger, Cabernet Franc,
and Pinot Noir. The positioning of parcels on the slopes leading down to
the shores of Seneca Lake, the fine differences between parcel soil
composition, our rigorous work in the vineyards and sensitive treatment
of vines that receive varying levels of rainfall from season to season,
together create an interactive system that we define as terroir, but
that which includes the cellar decisions made after the precise timing
of the harvest and grape selection. <br />
<br />
Scott Osborn, Proprietor<br />
<br />Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-38968271428568714532013-04-26T16:13:00.000-04:002013-04-26T16:13:29.009-04:00At Our Winery Café, Chef Tony Gullace Creates Garlic-Infused Tapas Menu for August<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">Every August, we celebrate the
local artisan garlic harvest in a serious way – hosting our 2-day festival of
all things garlic, by bringing together garlic growers and experts, farmers, specialty
food producers, artists musicians, and thousands of visitors. All of this
fantastic garlic action takes place in a village square atmosphere we create
for the occasion, on the spacious lawns behind our winery.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.maxrochester.net/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Kyjgjp8Dgf9lA5LhaiyNyndHxnglmKrtMQLlxezcOCKLBBHKQye2fUcXZBHi52fwqhh5XWBYLs0G04eP35iypGoNfdf8Sq1Ro7Y7N0Ua7IgqVyzBX32CJ8_C5phVChyphenhyphenz2xBHIS6l9ScO/s320/gullace.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.maxrochester.net/" target="_blank">Chef Tony Gullace</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.maxrochester.net/" target="_blank"><br /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">This winter, brainstorming with
my good friend, Chef Tony Gullace, we can up with the idea to extend the
celebration with a garlic-infused tapas menu, and feature it throughout the
month of August at our winery café. Tony Gullace is one of Rochester’s iconic chefs – and he and I have
been friends for over 20 years. His acclaimed restaurants in downtown Rochester are hugely popular,
sought-out culinary destination points and include: <a href="http://www.maxrochester.net/" target="_blank">Max of Eastman Place, Max Chophouse, Max Sushi Noodles and Max at the Gallery</a>. His passion for cooking is
equally fueled by the utilization of topnotch local ingredients. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has prepared the menus for several Fox Run Garlic
Festivals and for the numerous garlic dinners we used to have on the Saturday
night of the festival. We don’t do the Saturday dinners any more – getting too
old for those late, late nights - as many of you famously remember. But Tony has
returned for recent festivals to create great garlic-infused dishes for
the Glorious Garlic weekend. We are so fortunate to have Tony’s <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span>culinary stamp on the festival. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">With local garlic as the star
ingredient, Tony created a short but varied tapas menu for the Fox Run café - featuring
a chilled tomato-garlic soup - middle eastern sampler of hummus, tabbouleh and
babaganoush - Lively Run goat cheese (one of his absolute favorites) with
roasted garlic and roasted red peppers and finally, an assortment of olives and
mushrooms in a garlic-parsley sauce. All of these small dishes have been
meticulously paired with our estate wines. Tony is writing up all the recipes
for the home chef and has added a litany of tips for preparing and working with
cool-climate garlic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">Our August visitors will also be
able to purchase local hardneck garlic in our market everyday. Detailed
descriptions for each type will point out the rather incredible differences in
flavor these varieties offer and the interplay between wine and bulb.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">Scott Osborn, Proprietor </span></div>
Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-75218702750050318162013-02-04T12:35:00.001-05:002013-02-12T16:28:28.105-05:00Find Out What Makes A Cool-Climate Wine Tick<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBpOH4QrwQ-U-RxTbttipMFM9lBqBDELJCirJ-cs_zA067Q_X9z9QpyX5fzPcSrBwuD4qgufV-VTsoiEkFBnMKAlZJOWDhnjfvlD8-U77PR74AQu3JgGEhLHa5QJf1xZubXYgiQmWQXt5/s1600/doveimage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijBpOH4QrwQ-U-RxTbttipMFM9lBqBDELJCirJ-cs_zA067Q_X9z9QpyX5fzPcSrBwuD4qgufV-VTsoiEkFBnMKAlZJOWDhnjfvlD8-U77PR74AQu3JgGEhLHa5QJf1xZubXYgiQmWQXt5/s320/doveimage.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Clouds and Water" by Arthur Dove, Geneva's Foremost Artist</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Our very first Wine Symposium of the Finger
Lakes,</span> which takes a serious, global view of cool-climate winemaking,
is slated for March 23. I’ve been actively involved with the conceptual
planning
of this event and currently serving as an advisor. We have a great
line-up of seminars, led by top-flight experts and a five-star lunch
planned. Here’s a breakdown of the day’s schedule:</div>
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Overall, the event is aimed at the serious wine enthusiast ready to learn more about this great
American region, and stellar regions abroad, famous for their cool-climate
bottlings. The event is a terrific collaboration
between Geneva Growth and the Finger Lakes Wine Alliance, with support from the
New York Wine and Culinary Center, Hobart and William Smith
Colleges, the City of Geneva and the Geneva Area of Commerce. Held
at the beautiful Scandling Campus Center
at Hobart and William Smith
Colleges, it’s a great
opportunity to really delve into what makes a cool-climate wine tick. Iconic
wine expert Dan Berger and New York sommelier
Thomas Pastuszak will demystify northern reds and whites, including those from Italy, France
and Germany. We will also mix it up with classical and
innovative wine and food pairings, led by James Treadwell, one of Canada’s top sommeliers, and co-owner of
Treadwell Farm-to-Table cuisine in Port Dalhousie, Ontario. </div>
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In the early afternoon, awards will be presented for the
Finger Lakes AVA Riesling Challenge. </div>
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Following the ceremony, a culinary star from the White
House, Chef Walter Scheib, together with five top chefs from the Finger Lakes, will present a five-course luncheon menu,
expertly matched with wines selected by
our team of wine professionals. Chef Scheib will also share his personal
experiences at the White House, over a span of 11 years, and serving under two
presidents. </div>
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The
day will end with a Finger Lakes Grand Tasting, offering up exciting
new releases from the area's finest wineries. Winemakers and proprietors
will be on hand to give an in-depth look at their wines and technique.</div>
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And fitting to have it all take place in Geneva, an historic
lakeside city, that well-known wine writer Alice Feiring (recent Wine
Personality of the Year from Imbibe magazine) referred to as the future Napa
of the East Coast. With its historic districts and sweeping views of Lake
Geneva, home to the early modernist artist Arthur Dove, and the Smith Opera
House, one of the oldest operating theaters in the United States, it’s a city experiencing a renaissance.</div>
<br />
Tickets and further information can be found at: <a href="http://www.winesymposiumfingerlakes.com/" target="_blank">www.winesymposiumfingerlakes.<wbr></wbr>com</a><br />
<br />
Scott Osborn, Proprietor <br />
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Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-38919911112052617932013-01-10T18:57:00.000-05:002013-04-29T11:06:47.773-04:00Tierce Goes to Washington<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Tierce
Goes to Washington</span></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Yesterday was such a super day for all of us at Fox Run Vineyards. At
Century Liquor and Wines in Rochester,
U.S. Senator
Charles E. Schumer announced that Tierce Riesling 2010 will be served at the
Presidential Inaugural Luncheon on January 21, 2013. Senator Schumer, Chairman
of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, informed us that
it will be served along with the first course. Thank you Senator Schumer!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are so proud of our senior winemaker Peter
Bell and his winemaking team.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">For those who are
not familiar with Tierce (Latin for “third’) - this is a collaborative wine
created by our senior winemaker Peter Bell, with winemakers, Johannes Reinhardt
of Anthony Road and Dave Whiting of Red Newt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A limited production wine, with approximately 300 cases made each year,
this innovative, “shared” venture brings into play complexities and nuances
that set it apart from all other bottlings coming from single wineries – making
it uniquely Finger Lakes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Says Peter, “It's a one-third each blend of
Riesling lots from each winery. It's all done by a series of punishing
tastings. And ultimately we're looking for an austere style. We talk about
minerality, electricity and tension. Can you quantify them? No, but we know
what we're looking for.” Since the first vintage of Tierce, in 2004, it has
gone on to be recognized as one of the iconic wines of the Finger
Lakes wine region.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">As Jim Trezise,
President of the New York Wine and Grape Foundation pointed out - "The
Inaugural Luncheon is the ultimate power lunch in the world, with the President
hosting his Cabinet, leaders of Congress, Supreme Court justices, diplomats,
and others who wield global influence--and who will experience the fine wines
and foods New York now produces."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">I’d like to extend
a very special thanks to Jim Trezise, for making this all possible. And Jim
stated it so well. “The 2010 Tierce has won awards and accolades around the
world, and is symbolic of the spontaneous cooperation among Finger
Lakes wine producers.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">Other outstanding
producers from across this great state will be represented at the luncheon as
well,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>including Bedell Cellars 2009
Merlot, from the North Fork of Long Island, to Rochester’s
Crown Maple Syrup and apples from Golden Harvest Orchards in Otsego, NY.
“The luncheon menu reflects Schumer’s choice of a theme for the 57th Inaugural
Ceremonies. Faith in America’s
Future commemorates the United
States’ perseverance and unity and marks the
sesquicentennial year of the placement of the Statue of Freedom atop the new
Capital Dome in 1863.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">A great day, a
great achievement – and what a superb way to start the New Year!</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS02T8LC4XoF328fyKs7UkhEGcdrsYUkhhSOljwo7TPQcB4_82B_41yCUCnYU8xPMOkBznGn0gnW-amBYKRN53oXbRgHr6xMFRQcK0lMaFHrqDdwc8we_19FtoLAaUYOFEbfjqWM7Xcg6X/s1600/TierceBrothers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS02T8LC4XoF328fyKs7UkhEGcdrsYUkhhSOljwo7TPQcB4_82B_41yCUCnYU8xPMOkBznGn0gnW-amBYKRN53oXbRgHr6xMFRQcK0lMaFHrqDdwc8we_19FtoLAaUYOFEbfjqWM7Xcg6X/s320/TierceBrothers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The "Tierce Brothers" with Senator Schumer, from left to right: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Peter Bell, Dave Whiting and Johannes Reinhardt.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3fj8K2ESsupwiydvZuQzteKP9OYgJ9YyvHUnFj_7RSjp-9JRK_UAI9g8nNADTVhYOouVLru8lsb0qamuVdpvNPeEqQ0Azj0_UxAf0QvwvSg0LEHdtUCvRf9MIWYEXXDwGIsYxNIxqvtV/s1600/FoxRunSchumerScottPeter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY3fj8K2ESsupwiydvZuQzteKP9OYgJ9YyvHUnFj_7RSjp-9JRK_UAI9g8nNADTVhYOouVLru8lsb0qamuVdpvNPeEqQ0Azj0_UxAf0QvwvSg0LEHdtUCvRf9MIWYEXXDwGIsYxNIxqvtV/s320/FoxRunSchumerScottPeter.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Peter Bell and I listen to Senator Schumer announcing the great news. </span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Scott Osborn, Proprietor</span></span><br />
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Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-13766404688643012032012-12-11T16:56:00.000-05:002013-02-12T16:54:24.549-05:00December - A Time for Celebration and Appreciation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4H7I1anSWfw/UMenqK6YpRI/AAAAAAAAAP4/k3HN41Tgy2E/s1600/FoxRunVineyardsSnowVines.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4H7I1anSWfw/UMenqK6YpRI/AAAAAAAAAP4/k3HN41Tgy2E/s320/FoxRunVineyardsSnowVines.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our estate vines in winter.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">December is a time<b> </b>for
celebration and appreciation. To all of our special customers and friends, we
joyously extend our warmest wishes for the 2012 Holiday Season. Thank you for
your business and valued friendship. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 11.0pt;">And what a landmark year
this was for Fox Run. In January, we became a family-owned winery - a dream
that has been 20 years in the making. We have always been about vinting our
estate wines with perfection and passion. But now, with this pivotal change in
place, we are pushing our creative boundaries even further. 2012 saw the launch
of an exciting Riesling trilogy - the Lake Dana Vineyard Geology Series: three wines, three
groundbreaking styles. These distinct and aromatic Rieslings express the beauty
of our winemaking, our terroir and the geological profile of our unique soils. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 11.0pt;">And known for our iconic cool-climate port series, we introduced Hedonia, a
white port crafted from exotic Traminette grapes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Our 20th Annual Garlic
Festival took place this past August. It’s considered the reigning heirloom
garlic festival on the East Coast. And, as in every year, thousands of
epicureans, wine lovers, vacationers and fans descended upon our scenic winery
grounds overlooking Seneca Lake, enjoying all of the fun and deliciousness of this great event. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ZuwJuKAip7xoopahFi-97mUAMp_yPE-50hRDKuMwiLEQLD4R4Gi1zVY13O9Rl2hZuX-puAFIenKSCJk0oQZvrhoBlUHpFCY4s1sEVfx9g4ak4og-5iynO1O6AgeeMHZebDma7ds1tMpV/s1600/FoxRunHongKongScott.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ZuwJuKAip7xoopahFi-97mUAMp_yPE-50hRDKuMwiLEQLD4R4Gi1zVY13O9Rl2hZuX-puAFIenKSCJk0oQZvrhoBlUHpFCY4s1sEVfx9g4ak4og-5iynO1O6AgeeMHZebDma7ds1tMpV/s320/FoxRunHongKongScott.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";">Chatting with wine buyers in Hong Kong.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 11.0pt;">2012 was also a year of
important travel overseas. Ruth and I crossed the Atlantic for Fox Run’s launch
in the United Kingdom.
We visited our importers in Belgium
and Denmark as well, and saw
how much wine drinkers in Europe are appreciating the distinctive flavors of New York’s Finger Lakes cool-climate
wines. In November, I took my first trip to Hong Kong,
an exciting wine market growing at an electrifying pace, where I poured Fox Run
wines for influential sommeliers and beverage directors. The affinity between
Asian food and Finger Lakes Riesling is so perfect that I’m expecting to have a
very good problem -<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i><i>keeping up with
the demand. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 11.0pt;">A great year from start to
finish.</span><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 11.0pt;">From all of us at Fox Run
Vineyards, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and all best wishes for a very happy
and healthy 2013. </span><span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial Narrow"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Scott Osborn, P<span style="font-size: small;">roprietor</span></span></div>
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Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-44644665563644956152011-09-14T10:34:00.000-04:002011-09-14T10:34:42.163-04:00<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Please enjoy our archival material!</span>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-16165380652023528762011-07-28T11:01:00.002-04:002011-09-15T13:45:13.220-04:00If Your Refrigerator Could Talkby Ben Peacock, President, Tousey Winery<br />
<br />
Dieticians would say that you can tell a lot about a person from a peek inside their fridge. I would argue you can tell just as much from what's on the outside. For reasons unknown to me, people seem desperate to reveal and express themselves via the white and chrome vastness of this kitchen utility's outer surfaces. All of which are ready to be scanned and analyzed by covert fridge scanners like me. There's the snotty nose kid on a bicycle, the reminder of a dentist appointment and more often than not, a green takeout menu.<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
But forget the bills and the grandchidren's latest masterpiece. I'm perpetually on the lookout for fridge magnets, and more specifically, fridge magnet quotes. Rarely, in fact never, do I come across the wit of Churchill or a magical poem from Kipling. In the real world fridge magnets tend to range from the mildly amusing ('Jesus is coming....look busy'), to a variation on the cliche, 'It's not the destination that counts, it's the journey'. I saw the latter at some friends' dinner party the other night (now they know I scan their fridge!) and it got me thinking about my own situation and how it reflects that of the Finger Lakes wine community.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><u>This Is a Fridge of Love</u></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0__vhG-hJ9LXJhuKKMEcBTLvHkw7ojWQbeBKuyUaj5djSfLb9TdzkEEVGFxv-NRz-XMuub9MDXulIx_FJomUKMMKYeyt3CcOD2EuWb4YthtqBdoin59F20EuR9EZV0XM0Y33GlIXBq_lD/s1600/photo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0__vhG-hJ9LXJhuKKMEcBTLvHkw7ojWQbeBKuyUaj5djSfLb9TdzkEEVGFxv-NRz-XMuub9MDXulIx_FJomUKMMKYeyt3CcOD2EuWb4YthtqBdoin59F20EuR9EZV0XM0Y33GlIXBq_lD/s320/photo.JPG" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Or pure chaos. It's a 50/50.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Let me give you some context. I am from a small start-up winery down in the Hudson Valley. Like every winery, we want to be known for quality and consistency. And because we are brand new, we wanted to get a good start. After a number of enquiries, all roads led to Peter Bell at Fox Run who agreed to give us some support and guidance as we build our business. Now, with hindsight, neither of us knew what we letting ourselves in for. But turning up on Peter's doorstep showing notes of greenness with a crisp, dry ignorance, I had a clear destination in mind - to make top quality wine. Little did I know the journey to achieve such a goal would be most enlightening and rewarding. (Did I mention humbling?)<br />
<br />
Why so enlightening and rewarding? Easy answer - the people. The collaborative, friendly, we're-all-in-this-together spirit of the Finger Lakes wine community has often been spoken and written about. I have been lucky enough to witness it first hand. But before I get to the wider community, let me first focus on Fox Run.<br />
<br />
Let's be clear: Fox Run doesn't have to help an unknown winery four hours' drive away. But they do, and with gusto. Peter Bell is selfless when it comes to giving help and sharing his knowledge. This could be anything from winemaking, cork selection to sun protection in the vineyard. I should show my gratitude by picking up the varying subjects at a much quicker pace. But I don't: I labor along trying to cling on to the vast subject in front of me - he doesn't say a word, and if he does, it's words of encouragement.<br />
<br />
Tricia Renshaw is of a similar vein, always happy to help and make time even though she doesn't have any herself. And when I make a fool of myself in the lab (which is often) - I should be able to carry out simple calculations but to no avail - Kelby Russell doesn't mock me (to which I fully deserve, I might add). He just directs me, professionally and with the utmost respect, to the next task in the cellar.<br />
<br />
It doesn't stop there. We have Scott Osborn at the ready with knowledge and advice from the business end. John Kaiser, bending over backwards to answer any vineyard questions I have. And then there's Pete Howe....if they allow me back on this blog, I will elaborate on him more fully in a later post. This may seem like a glorification, but all this is a run-of-the-mill scene here at Fox Run.<br />
<br />
But the more time I spend in the Finger Lakes, the more I see examples of support and a collaborative spirit at other wineries. Fox Run isn't the exception, it's the rule. From a full spectrum of subjects spanning vineyard contacts to cooperage (barrel and tank) advice, everybody seems to want to help and share their best practices. And it's all done in a way that helps to bring people up, not keep them down.<br />
<br />
Being invited to the blending sessions of last year's Tierce Riesling (an earlier bottling of which Dan Berger, the west coast wine critic, called the best American Riesling ever made) is a case in point. This is an important wine, a collaboration of three of the best winemakers in the northeast with a philosophy to adhere to. Not only was I invited to this elite event, but they actively sought out my opinion. I was amazed - I'm relatively new on the scene and an outsider, yet that doesn't matter. It's the overall message that does: we're striving for the same goal, the same destination, and let's help each other get there. This leaves room for everybody, no matter what stage of the journey they may be at. To feel, at first hand, the sheer weight and depth of this spirit, this collaborative nature, feels special. And as a consequence, special wines will continue to emerge from the Spirit of the Finger Lakes.<br />
<br />
Now, be careful what you put on your fridge; it may spark another blog post.<br />
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<br />
<b>Music of the Day:</b><br />
<ul><li>The Stone Roses - <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Second-Coming-Stone-Roses/dp/B000000OT7">Second Coming</a></i>; "Love Spreads":</li>
</ul><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xYFK1R-wUwg" width="480"></iframe><br />
<div>Support Artists, buy the music you like!</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-67623712431007970192011-07-11T16:25:00.001-04:002011-07-28T11:04:37.898-04:00The Key to Life?<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">by Dr. Steven Hickman, Intern Emeritus</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">“Has anyone seen the key?”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">Especially in the fall and summer, this refrain can be heard echoing off the stainless steel tanks and concrete floors of the Fox Run cellar. The key is not the one that unlocks the cellar door, which is a rather mundane looking item. Winery hardware is more complicated than that: we're looking for the elusive but necessary key that will allow us to sample the wines in our tanks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><a name='more'></a><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLYuNzLhY79v0tFkTTDZvm_jaiUBJSUUL7h7cbQrS25KR37UgJrkZ3bJwL0SU9s085itv0q2wj6wxfcZ4B6Kl6UU1R5rgmOCLG6y8NX0N1DqJ17wCaeHH9eXLwG8zLSSEKhJS70WVYBo_Q/s1600/102_0204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLYuNzLhY79v0tFkTTDZvm_jaiUBJSUUL7h7cbQrS25KR37UgJrkZ3bJwL0SU9s085itv0q2wj6wxfcZ4B6Kl6UU1R5rgmOCLG6y8NX0N1DqJ17wCaeHH9eXLwG8zLSSEKhJS70WVYBo_Q/s320/102_0204.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Is this the key?"</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">Almost all of the tanks at Fox Run are equipped with sample valves, spigots that allow easy removal of small quantities of wine for evaluation (as well as the odd bottle filled by winery staff on their way out the door).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">A few of the tanks lack such valves, and retrieving wine from these tanks must be accomplished through one of the two main valves, which are 1.5 inches in diameter.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">Even for experienced staff, this can be a very wet operation – for new staff, success is declared when more wine ends up in the pitcher than on the floor or employee.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">Most tanks, though, have sample valves.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">The most desirable valves, from the view of a cellar hand, are those that have simple knobs at the end, as easy to operate as a standard faucet.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrAGwMzGo0RADIcV3Sq-4aD5b1xXIYnttBNiOJqF2LV0spCYr6PpmyqzCjM7Gyv_vkQKZPTYdcnmOM12hZ4_he6-oSOpiZ5CXpvQ88uYEuoFSUHeFN8TECYOmJvY8lBRO-s4A8IWmkRcgb/s1600/102_0203.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrAGwMzGo0RADIcV3Sq-4aD5b1xXIYnttBNiOJqF2LV0spCYr6PpmyqzCjM7Gyv_vkQKZPTYdcnmOM12hZ4_he6-oSOpiZ5CXpvQ88uYEuoFSUHeFN8TECYOmJvY8lBRO-s4A8IWmkRcgb/s320/102_0203.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No Key Required</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red; font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">About a dozen of the tanks are equipped with a “<span style="color: red;">Vance Special</span>” – a valve that can only be operated with a special triangular shaped wrench. This is “the key”, and owing to the unique design of this pseudo-socket wrench, they are not available at your standard hardware store. The internet tells me that this type of fitting is used most commonly on electrical panel covers in explosive environments.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">In the numerous wineries I have <s>tried to steal wine from</s> visited in my travels, I have not seen a similarly designed sample valve. Indeed, the only copy of the key possessed by the winery was custom-fabricated, through the painstaking process of pounding down a circular metal tube until it fit the valve socket.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">“Get T’s and B’s from tanks 8, 10, 23, and 25”. A common request during harvest, to retrieve about 250 mL from each of the listed tanks to measure the temperature and degrees Brix – two measures of the “health” of a fermenting wine. Tank 8 is easy, with a simple knob-style sample valve. Tank 10 has no sample valve, but can be conquered with luck and a pitcher. Tanks 22 and 24 require finding the key. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">The first step is to interrogate the other staff, to determine who had the key last, or if they remember seeing it. This is usually a futile line of inquiry (especially if it turns out that you were the last to use the key). At best, it leads to vague answers such as “around tank 15, unless we moved it when we racked that tank, or maybe Kelby has it. Oh, and I think I saw Max chewing on it this morning.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">Somewhere in the vicinity of Max, the winery dog -- that's often best place to look. In an attempt to make the key easier to find, it's been attached to an easy-to-spot colored lanyard. Max, though, loves to stroll about with a lanyard in his mouth, and often makes off with the key, dropping it on his bed (sometimes) or in some dark recess of the winery (more often) when he is finished with it. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKzYqLUUekWFBwbnLYX40c_zEODcM9CMjSgUvuwuhMyCbitIHLxzzb7cGN5uT_swm5HhammOqg6nOJ3KjpMN9yyj_mgCxjF46i89lj6QiXvg-i76wSdiLhAQc2q2MAr0-CdfHtt3jOrXy/s1600/Max+w+Sample+Valve+Key.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKzYqLUUekWFBwbnLYX40c_zEODcM9CMjSgUvuwuhMyCbitIHLxzzb7cGN5uT_swm5HhammOqg6nOJ3KjpMN9yyj_mgCxjF46i89lj6QiXvg-i76wSdiLhAQc2q2MAr0-CdfHtt3jOrXy/s320/Max+w+Sample+Valve+Key.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"I'm not a chewer, but I do need something important to do at all times. <b>Guardian of the Key</b> will do just fine."<br />
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</div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">Assuming Max hasn't gone out of his way to sabotage our operations, the final step is a tank-by-tank search. Our key is often left hanging on the last tank it was used with; as only twelve</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"> tanks have this type of sample valve, this should be a pretty fast search. However, both the key and the tanks are made of the silvery metal, and thus the key is well camouflaged when hanging on a tank. Further, if the key is hanging on a tank that needs to be filled or drained, it will often have been parked on </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">a nearby tank, which may or may not be one of the tanks that use that sample valve. So the searcher can, at times, find himself disintegrating</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"> into a semi-random wandering around all the tanks, hoping to find a glimpse of color from the lanyard.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Century Schoolbook';">Then Peter remembers that he’s had the key in his pocket the entire time. </span></div></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ljf9ulCmuEA/ThtbC5rMq_I/AAAAAAAAAPg/u7GmL3PGkj0/s1600/key+in+use.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ljf9ulCmuEA/ThtbC5rMq_I/AAAAAAAAAPg/u7GmL3PGkj0/s320/key+in+use.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The author, holding the key to wine happiness</td></tr>
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</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-41924338465051400402011-07-08T14:23:00.004-04:002011-07-28T11:05:19.195-04:00A Winery Owner's Screed<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">by Scott Osborn, President</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The big question I hear in the tasting room these days is, “Why don’t New York restaurants carry a selection of New York wines?” This is a one of those hot-button questions that can get a winery owner seething with frustration. I define 'local' as anything made in my state, or better yet, within 100 miles or so of where it's being sold. We see advertisements every day from restaurants boasting that they use only local ingredients. This practice, called Locavorism, is a big selling point at the moment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">But too often you go out to support a good restaurant and the local farmers who they are sourcing from, and the first thing you notice is that the wine list is heavy on west coast and imported products. Often there are no local wines at all, or a token one just for show. How can they reconcile these two practices, one wonders? These folks have a double standard that is not even remotely defensible.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Here are some statistics. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a name='more'></a>The multiplier effect is pretty powerful when you buy anything that is locally produced, but it’s staggering when you buy wines which are grown and produced within 200 miles of the winery. For every dollar you spend on a local wine, <i>$10.05</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> is returned to your community. When you buy one of those imported wines you return 67 cents. When a local restaurant won’t put my wines on the wine list or feature them with the local produce, perhaps you can understand why I get frustrated and annoyed!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Why do they resist the idea of pouring Finger Lakes wine? It can’t be a quality issue. Fox Run was named one of the top 100 wineries <i>in the world</i></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"> in 2008, and recently a number of my neighbors were also so named. Fox Run and many of the wineries in the Finger Lakes have won Best of Show, Gold Medals, Best of Variety and many other accolades all over the world with our wines. Most of us have distributors, so delivery and ease of ordering is taken care of. So again, why can’t they carry local wines? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Are our wines more expensive than wines from other regions? Not really, when you compare apples to apples. For instance, mass-produced wines from other regions are pretty much priced the same as our large volume wines. When you compare the premium wines from other regions to ours, many of ours are a dollar to five dollars a bottle <i>less</i> expensive. So it can’t be pricing! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">When I give a tasting at a local restaurant for the staff and ask if they get any requests for local wines, they usually say, “Yes, many times a day.” So why doesn’t the restaurant carry our wines, I wonder (aloud)?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">If you are dining out and don’t see a comprehensive selection of local wines on the list, please make a point of asking the owner or manager what the story is. Tell them you hope to see some of your favorites the next time you come in, and if that isn’t the case, walk out and go to a restaurant that does carry local wines. Make sure you tell the owner or manager why you’re going somewhere else. A good restaurant in upstate New York should have a minimum of 30% local wines on their list, with at least one red and one white offered by the glass. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I have some fantastic employees who are incredibly dedicated to making great wines. My vineyard manager has planted every vine on the property and watched them grow, and my winemaker was trained in Australia and came to the Finger Lakes expressly to make cool climate wines. We are dedicated to producing the best wines the year will give us and will not shirk our responsibility to achieve that goal. So my request to you is make your voice heard in restaurants about which wines they need to carry. Tell the manager or owner; don’t leave it to the waiter or waitress, not because they don’t care, but because they are too busy serving on you to remember at the end of the day to pass your opinion on. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-53256041421145754022011-07-06T08:31:00.001-04:002011-07-28T11:05:44.209-04:00July ReckoningBy: Kelby Russell, Winemaking Team Member<br />
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There is no denying it, we are definitely into the month of July. As much as we might like to close our eyes and pretend that it is still June, Independence Day is now behind us and the dog days of summer are beckoning. Don't get me wrong, we absolutely adore the glorious sunny days that summer in the Finger Lakes means - especially as those sunny days transform into molten twilights that seem to last forever. You will notice, however, that I did not employ the normal cliché of "carefree summer days," and that is precisely the point.<br />
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Our daily calendar for the month of July is a complete mess.<br />
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There is so much pencil lead scribbled on every day it might be easier for us to notate things by erasing out the message we have in mind instead of writing it. It is a daunting task to look at the entirety of the workload for July in one glance, even going day by day is going to take a considerable amount of work. At this point, I am taking what comfort I can in knowing that everything is laid out for us in terms of the work schedule plan. What is left to us is the execution of that plan.<br />
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Why do we have so much work in July? After all, you would be correct to point out, it isn't as if grapes are being harvested at the moment. Yet the (relatively) imminent 2011 grape harvest is the reason we are putting so much pressure on ourselves this month. We've made reference before to the fact that the time leading up to the vintage is affectionately known as "bottling season" in wineries across the world. Wines from the previous year have to be bottled to make space for the new harvest and the juice it will bring with it, whether in tank or in barrels. We might not know precisely how many tons of fruit will be coming in from the vineyard in 2011 (see our previous post), but make no mistake that we will do everything in our power to avoid a situation where we are having to 'juggle tanks' in October.<br />
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Getting these wines into bottle is not as simple as running a hose from the tank or barrel to some bottles, however, and that is where our work this month comes into play. For the majority of our wines here at Fox Run, final additions, final blends, and final filtration all needs to happen before we send it through to our bottling line. All those steps take a considerable amount of time to decide upon in the lab (what additions, blends, et cetera) and then take time to follow through on in the cellar. To make sure we give an appropriate amount of time to each wine's decision and action needs, we fully scheduled out July to keep us moving forward every day.<br />
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The question remains, though, of why July instead of balancing the work through August? One part of the answer is that the tasting room side of Fox Run, where things pick up as the summer continues and starts to involve our time (especially with our Garlic Fest at the beginning of August). Another piece of the answer is that August will still be busy for us in the cellar as we wrap up loose-ends and get everything cleaned and ready for vintage. <br />
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The majority of our reasoning, however, is Peter's professed desire to be able to "kick up his feet" come August. Frankly, none of us can imagine Peter (or ourselves, for that matter) sitting around idle that long without going stir-crazy. If we can be that relaxed, however, our crazy July will have been worth it.<br />
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<b>Music of the Day:</b><br />
<ul><li>Yuck - <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Yuck/dp/B004I199D6">Yuck</a></i>; "Rubber" (an appropriate song for long, hot days of work):</li>
</ul><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="303" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CZP4pvgWLdE" width="480"></iframe><br />
<div><br />
Support Artists, buy the music you like!</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-74517692502816786472011-07-04T07:28:00.002-04:002011-07-28T11:06:03.428-04:00Update from the VineyardWith the July sun warming us through here on Seneca Lake, it's time for a quick update on how the growing season is treating our vineyards thus far. Peter in particular would note that he is a bit cynical about the whole process of trying to forecast the quality of a vintage based on a few weeks of weather; you may remember that he is even hesitant to discuss the quality and direction of a vintage the following <i>May</i>. It must be said that this certainly represents a very practical way of assessing the grapes and resulting wines: wines take time to come into their own and, even in a brilliant growing season, grape quality can be ruined in an instant after a single tantrum by Mother Nature. <br />
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His cynicism on forecasting the upcoming vintage when we are just into July is also the result of being pestered too many times by earnest reporters looking for a quick story in May or June about how great the coming harvest is going to be. If you or I knew what the weather was going to be like from now through October, I guarantee we would be in a more lucrative industry than grape growing and winemaking. Having said all that, however, the issue need not be black and white. Without trying to become Nostradamus, here is a look at what has happened so far and how the vines have responded.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">As of July 2, the Finger Lakes had accumulated, during the growing season (that is, starting when the buds emerge from dormancy) 969 growing degree days. That's about a week ahead of the long term average -- in a 'typical' year, that figure would not be reached until July 9. But a visual examination of the vines indicates that we are closer to average than that: the key phenological event of early summer, bloom, occurred right on schedule.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Disease pressure is almost always on the high side in a cool and wet growing region such as ours, but despite lots of early season rain and cold, the vines this year are looking very healthy throughout the Finger Lakes. (</span>Our thanks goes to Dr. Hans Walter-Peterson of Cornell <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">U</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">niversity for his help here.)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">We may be able to get a broad-brush feeling for the size of this year's crop in the next few weeks, though carrying out a successful crop estimation (one that is close to the actual figures we get at harvest time) is notoriously difficult, and can seem, at times, to be based more on sorcery than science. There's even a story out there, most certainly not fictional, that one prominent vineyard manager has better results using a pair of dice to estimate the crop levels in his various blocks than anything like counting clusters!</span><br />
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And let's remember: crop size and wine quality are not particularly closely correlated, despite what amateurs can read in books on wine. For now, and for the next months, it's best to stay busy with vineyard and winery tasks and not fuss too much about divinations.<br />
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Oops, gotta go: a reporter is on the phone wanting to know how the wines are shaping up for this year.Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-64740102735686223312011-06-22T13:35:00.001-04:002011-07-04T07:41:32.869-04:00The Coolest of Cool ClimatesBy: Kelby Russell, Winemaking Team Member returned from afar<br />
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Having spent the previous four months in Tasmania, returning to the Finger Lakes a few days ago has truly been a joy. From catching up with family to catching up with friends old and new, the only thing as rewarding has been the sudden change from winter weather to summer weather (and daylight hours) for the first time in nearly ten months. I may grumble about the increase in temperature and the adjustment to trying to sleep in a room at 70 degrees rather than 40 degrees, but that would be the definition of missing the forest for the trees.<br />
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Despite the winter weather that took hold of Tasmania in the past month, however, my time working a vintage there has filled me with many big-picture questions that also reflect on the Finger Lakes as a wine region. Chief amongst them is something surprisingly simple:<br />
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<i>What do we mean when we call a wine region "cool climate?"</i><br />
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It seems like such an easy question. Everyone from winemakers to wine writers to consumers throw around the term glibly and with the presumption that anyone who hears "cool climate wine region" is automatically on the same page. Maybe everyone is on the same page and I am out on a limb here, but it seems to me that calling a region "cool climate" probably tells us little more than saying a wine is simply white or red.<br />
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My guess is that when most people refer to a wine region as "cool" they are likely, a) an aging Gen-Xer desperately trying to sound hip, b) someone making a terrible pun [guilty as charged], or c) speaking to the growing conditions that the vineyard and winery have to work with. In the case of c) I have always thought of "cool climate" as meaning a wine region where cool conditions throughout the growing season, or in its length, result in difficulty achieving ripeness in the grapes. This may mean flavor ripeness (basically, the grapes tasting slightly green) or physiological ripeness (acid levels being high, tannins being sharp, seeds still green, etc.), but in either case we are talking about a sub-standard amount of optimal weather for ripening.<br />
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As an example, the Finger Lakes is decidedly a cool climate wine region. While we may justifiably celebrate the importance and beauty of acidity in our rieslings and the delicate nature of our other grapes, the challenge nearly every year is simply to deliver them to the winery ripe. We are no stranger with the sugar man in the Finger Lakes in cold years, nor are we ever afraid of means to reduce the amount of acid in our juices right from the get go. I always think of the classic description of winemaking in the very cool Saar region in Germany: one out of ten years resulted in a useable crop, truly winemaking on the edge. Whether you believe in global warming or not, the Saar is now up to a successful vintage about 40% of the time, but the sentiment is the same for the Finger Lakes - this is winemaking on the edge of a knife. When it is successful, it is precise and beautiful in a way almost unfathomable elsewhere.<br />
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Tasmania is also considered a cool climate wine region, indeed that reputation was one of the very reasons I sought out a producer on an island that otherwise only produces 1% of Australia's total wine. When I arrived to discover that it had been one of the coolest summers in many decades and that the autumn had been wet and no better for temperature, I assumed that my Finger Lakes experience would be crucial. "Need to add sugar or tamp down acid, Mr. Tasmanian Winemaker? No problem!" Not so. Despite the coldest ripening season imaginable, one that many called a disaster, I found myself adding acid to juices <i>by the bag. </i> The sugar levels came in totally fine although, full disclosure, grape juice concentrate was added to juices to bring up their sugar levels to meet the Australian consumer's (apparently very high) alcohol-by-volume assumptions for wine. <br />
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So far as I am concerned, my definition above is probably what "cool climate" should mean. In its application, however, I wonder if it isn't becoming more of a relative term rather than a firm or absolute description. Compared to the mainland of Australia, of course Tasmania is a cool climate - it isn't baking hot and dry! In reality, however, Tasmania is a moderate and maritime climate. Frost or any other threat to under-ripening are hardly concerns; acid is added to nearly all the juices as reflexively there as it would be on the mainland or California in order to control the pH and structure - if in slightly smaller quantities (forgive me the broad-brush generalizations, I know there are many spectacular exceptions).<br />
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In the end, I am not so sure I am a fan of this use of "cool climate." Wine consumers and non-consumers alike often profess frustration with how unclear and abstract the terms used to describe wine, wineries, and regions are. A cool climate wine region should mean something that consumers can depend on being the same for nearly all vintages, from what it means for the varieties of grapes planted, the work in the vineyard, the challenges facing the winery, and the type of wine that naturally results. Putting Tasmania and the Finger Lakes in the same category may seem useful, but the circle has to be drawn so big for them to fit in together that it is probably useful to neither. Both are exciting and fantastic wine regions that deserve more honest and more respect.<br />
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As always, send along any thoughts you have on the issue - even if that is only to say that it isn't actually an issue at all!<br />
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<b>Music of the Day:</b><br />
<ul><li>The Strokes - <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/This-Strokes/dp/B00005QIPH">Is This It</a></i>; "Someday" (in honor of it being summer and being back in the glorious summers of New York):</li>
</ul><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YlYsDNilKDQ" width="480"></iframe><br />
<div><br />
</div><div>Support Artists, buy the music you like!</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-71823490535369808142011-06-20T10:43:00.010-04:002011-07-04T07:42:40.305-04:00The Oregon Trialby Peter Bell, Winemaker<br />
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You could tell from the previous couple of blog posts. People in the wine business tend to be among the world’s most eager practitioners of what the British call <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/busman%27s_holiday">a Busman’s Holiday</a>. When we take a break from our wine-related tasks, whatever they may be, what do we have a burning desire to do? Taste wine, meet winemakers, visit other regions, or at the very least, seek out and consume a wine style that is new to us.<br />
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<a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I wonder if vacationing bankers are similarly motivated to stop in at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bullion_Depository">Fort Knox</a>, or if sanitation workers profess an urgent desire to make a pilgrimage to <a href="http://www.virginia.org/Listings/OutdoorsAndSports/MountTrashmorePark/">Mount Trashmore</a>? I bet not.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On a recent vacation to Oregon with my wife, I managed to slip in a little low key wine activity. I had arranged to give an informal tasting of some Finger Lakes products at a restaurant where my son works, wines that Oregonians would be unlikely to taste too often. It wasn’t really a sales pitch, which is a good thing: I’m about as good at sales as a statue is at strolling through the park. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The very first person to approach my table took one look at my lineup (you should have no trouble guessing what I was pouring) and turned away. No big deal – perhaps she wasn’t a wine drinker. But I was really revved up here, having tasted through my wine selection minutes earlier, and didn’t want to adopt a purely passive approach, so I lobbed a gentle lure her way:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Hi! Would you care to taste some great Finger Lakes Rieslings?”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“No thanks. I don’t like sweet wines.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Then you’re in luck. These are all dry.”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“I thought you said they were Rieslings!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The task of convincing the wine-drinking public that there is such a thing as dry and off-dry Riesling, and then helping them learn that it is actually the greatest white wine out there, seems Sisyphean at times. We’re so lucky here in the Finger Lakes to have a general audience who has moved to a more advanced stage of knowledge – that is something I can see by how quickly our dry Riesling sells out each year. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There’s a certain coals-to-Newcastle feeling that comes over me when I’m pouring Finger Lakes wines in another famous wine region, and it came on there in Oregon, so I tried to offset it by making a point of ordering local Pinots with my meals. I have been to Oregon many times, and tasted lots of beautiful, expressive wines there.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It would be extremely untactful of me to make any direct derogatory remarks about another place’s most famous varietal, so let me just say that it appears that wines in the $20 range might not represent the best Oregon has to offer. Perhaps real quality starts appearing at $40? And here we are selling world-class Rieslings in the Finger Lakes for around $15 a bottle…<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">After my tasting was over, I gathered up the bottles, each holding a few glasses’ worth of wine, and took them over to an empty table. What the heck: free tasting for someone. Oregonians are WAY more laid back about wine and beer consumption than are New Yorkers, so I was confident that I wasn't contravening some Draconian law, or even bylaw.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A somewhat weary-looking threesome, consisting of a fellow my age, his wife and their twenty-something daughter, sat down at that table for their meal. I was sitting at an adjacent table, within eavesdropping distance. It was easy enough to pick out the guy’s comment: <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“What the hell are these?” <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">He wasn’t one to speak in hushed tones.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That’s when I, inveterate smooth-talker that I am (not), leaned over and told him that they were a collection of high end Rieslings from New York, and he was welcome to have at them. Glasses were procured, and I left them alone while we ate our pizza. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Barely a minute had passed before he yelled, “Oh my God! These are fantastic!”<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It turned out that he was a physician from Colorado. His worn-out look was on account of his having driven almost a thousand miles that day, in a battered Camry no less. And he was a serious collector of wine. Moira, Greek goddess of Fate, I owe you one: it could have been Joe Six-pack who sat down there. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Once we had introduced ourselves, he commenced to recite to me, almost bottle by bottle, what was in his cellar back home; and though my eyes started to glaze over, I noticed that aside from a lot of red Burgundies, he was the owner of an astonishing collection of German Rieslings.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“But I have never tasted a Finger Lakes Riesling!” he told me and the rest of the restaurant patrons. “Heard about them, yes! How is it that I have to go to Oregon to taste them?” he asked rhetorically.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I had found a confluence here of a guy who knows wine plus a fine collection of Finger Lakes Rieslings, so the impromptu post-tasting tasting went off extremely well. It didn’t hurt that his effusive personality caused a bunch of other diners to take note and wander over for their share of the spoils.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-36480474516663561872011-06-08T11:34:00.003-04:002011-06-20T11:04:15.656-04:00In Praise of Rose<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;">by Scott Osborn, Fox Run Vineyards President</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">There’s nothing like a good vacation, where cell phone signals and the internet are intermittent, to let a person relax and reflect. My wife Ruth, her sister and brother-in law and I recently took a much-needed trip to St. Maarten in the Caribbean. It was a first visit for all of us. It was also a chance to get away from one of the snowiest winters on record and one of the rainiest springs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><a name='more'></a>St. Maarten/St. Martin is an island split in two, with one side French and one side Dutch. It is 57 square miles and has an astonishing number of restaurants: around 3,000. It seems as if there is an eatery of some sort in every other storefront or house all around the island, with every cuisine imaginable, including Lebanese, Indian, Thai, French, and of course Caribbean. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">I got into the wine business because I love to eat good food and drink good wine, and I’ll gladly do that with just about anyone. On St. Maarten we were able have this experience twice a day. At our first dinner on Saturday in a little Caribbean restaurant named Alexander’s, it was hot and we needed something cool, crisp and refreshing before dinner. So I ordered a French Rosé, knowing it would be dry and hopefully lively. It was lovely and hit the spot. We all ordered fish so I asked for a white Burgundy. It went perfectly with the food, but was not as enjoyable as the Rosé had been. The food was great, by the way, and I highly recommend Alexander’s if you are ever in St. Maarten. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Like a lot of middle-aged men, I am not good at recalling peoples’ names, and even worse when it comes to remembering the names of wines, so don't count on me to tell you the specific labels. Besides, I was on vacation! <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The next day for lunch we drank another Rosé, and then came my epiphany. We’d decided to drive around the whole island, and stopped in at a little restaurant on the French side named Layla’s. The only way you can tell you are on the French side is that everyone speaks French – the signs and billboards are all in English. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Layla’s is tucked among a grove of palm trees, and the tables are strewn around all the way down to the beach. It was right out of some novel with palms, sand, and exotic flowering plants growing all over the place. Layla’s has two menus, one stressing French Bistro food and the other Thai cuisine. Kinda weird if you think about it. I looked at the wine list and saw a bunch of Rosés along with a White Zinfandel. I asked the waitress about one of the Rosés, wanting to know if it was dry or not. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">“Non,” she said in her cute French accent. “Eet ees fruity.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">Hmmmmm. “Fruity as in a great vibrant nose or fruity as in sweet like the White Zin?” I asked. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">“Eet ees not dry, but fruity.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">As we sat wondering whether to take a chance on it or order a Pinot Gris, she came back and told us that the bartender said it was dry, so we decided to take a bottle. It came out and the ice bucket had condensation all over it. We poured the well-chilled, deep pink Rosé into our glasses. Shortly our glasses developed a wonderful condensation, and as we sipped this beautiful wine I realized I was having a complete wine, food, and place experience. Here I was with three wonderful friends looking through the palm trees and flowers to the beach and crystal clear blue water. This is why I got in the wine business!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back home, on my back porch</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The wine went perfectly with my Thai shrimp and was perfect with the fish and mussels that the others ordered. Two bottles later, we continued our drive around the island. After that I ordered Rosé at every meal, and each one was perfect. They all had a nice light strawberry nose, and were refreshing and delicious. This experience is what we all want to strive for when we drink wine. So my advice to all is when the weather is warm, pour some dry Rosé with your lunch or dinner and you will have a perfect wine experience. Here at home I drink our Lemberger Rose and Billsboro’s excellent version. Both are delicious and refreshing. When you drink these wines you will always enjoy the place you are. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-78204342119038074092011-06-02T08:45:00.001-04:002011-06-08T11:34:50.079-04:00Old World Ramblings Uncover Great Characters, Tasty Wines<div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By Dan Mitchell, Regional Sales Manager</span></span></div><div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">From time to time we experience something that causes to us revisit our understanding of the time-space continuum. Hollywood would have us believe that time moves much more slowly when we go through the daily routine of running away from an exploding vehicle. You and I know that time moves more slowly when standing in line behind someone at the grocery store writing a check. I recently experienced an extreme example, where time actually moved at HALF its normal rate: a seven hour flight across the Atlantic with screaming toddlers on three sides.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Beer So Potent it Makes Your Hair Fall Out</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My father and I had decided to travel to Germany, so he could re-visit places that he loved to visit when he was stationed there from 1964-65. It was my first time in Europe, and though the trip itself was exciting enough, spending time with him tracking down old haunts, drinking beer, and playing cards through Bavaria was the true intention of our venture. My sisters need not worry -- we didn't discuss the vast family inheritance.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Only Experienced Tractor Drivers Need Apply: Vines Rows Running Straight Up the Hill!</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">With Bavaria behind us, we switched from Dunkel to Auxerrois and made our way toward Alsace. We rented a car in Stuttgart (I voted Porsche, while my wallet voted Volkswagen) and before we left town we visited the nearby winery Karl Haidle. Apparently at one point the Stuttgart region was one of the leading wine producing regions of the Roman Empire, and the vines that grow on the 70-degree (!) slopes of the surrounding hills are a constant reminder of Stuttgart's rich history. We talked with founder Karl's grandson, Moritz Haidle, a young man who is currently in school studying Enology. He was very eager to chat with us, show us his beautiful wines, and discuss the similarities and differences between his vineyards and ours. He was familiar with the Finger Lakes, thanks most likely to our best ambassador (Riesling), and I discussed the possibility of a US internship with him. I reassured him that if he wanted an area offering similarities to his, the Finger Lakes was the place to go. I bought a bottle of their premium Riesling offering (I'm looking to put a few years on it) and he even gave me a bottle of Spatburgunder (Pinot Noir to the rest of the world) from his father's cellar.</span></span></div><div style="font: 11.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 10.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In Alsace the welcoming nature of our hosts continued. At Ostergag-Hurlimann we made our way around the language barrier with a lot of pointing and a few scant words of French. I spent a lot of time admiring their collection of antique wine barrel tools on the wall. (Barrels are a special interest of mine that I will write about in the future.) They had four styles of Gewurztraminer that showed the grape's character and diversity well.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7r6zCpndfMN_r2agqoIvNvVfPeaME4J9_qppWf0mbM-gAsBgy4V3FmBLADaXZ1_e4K4Obhh_gewSys5pUAEGrNdBoghKvijEbWsAwh56jvQB1K4bZivIhDRNrJPdqqluQWigQigPN45ra/s1600/160.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7r6zCpndfMN_r2agqoIvNvVfPeaME4J9_qppWf0mbM-gAsBgy4V3FmBLADaXZ1_e4K4Obhh_gewSys5pUAEGrNdBoghKvijEbWsAwh56jvQB1K4bZivIhDRNrJPdqqluQWigQigPN45ra/s320/160.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After Three Glasses, I was a Faller Too</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By far the most interesting conversations we had that day were with Luc from Luc Faller Vigneron. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As soon as we stepped up to the bar in his tasting room I could tell that he spent very little time as a host there. His hands looked like oven mitts stuffed with sausages. While not a particularly big man, his hands were cut, coarse and dirty from spending the previous six days in his 100-plus hectare (250-acre) vineyard. He spoke with passion about his wines and had a great deal of practical wisdom as well. He uses a lot of practices we would call sustainable, and even produces some of his twenty-some wines under an organic label. However he has no interest in going organic for his full production. He is well aware that there are some wines he can produce using a limited number of added sulfites without sacrificing the integrity of the wine, and some that he simply cannot. So he refuses to compromise those wines. Very practical. All of his practices fall within the guidelines of organic except for additional sulfite use. Admittedly, he shakes his head knowing some of his wines are selling just because of the Organic designation. We had an excellent tasting and I tried the most unique Pinot Noir I had ever tasted, as well as a Gewurztraminer dessert wine that was bursting with cinnamon flavors. They were all absolutely delicious, and I look forward to getting into my imported stash a few years from now</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-22315318864416765552011-05-27T13:03:00.003-04:002011-06-02T09:13:11.113-04:00In The Post Riesling Hour Haze...<div><div><div>by Evan Dawson - Author of <i>Summer in a Glass: The Coming of Age of Winemaking in the Finger Lakes</i><br />
<i><br />
</i></div><div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">I have the pleasure of standing in for Peter Bell this week - or sitting in, or writing in, if you like - and I'd like to spill a little news about Riesling. It comes from Peter, and I don't know what he'd think about me writing it here, which is all the more reason to post it now and hope he's cool with it later. After all, a colleague in the news business taught me years ago: Don't ask for permission; ask for forgiveness.</span></span></div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><a name='more'></a>Here's the news: The 2010 vintage is going to take longer than usual to assess for Riesling. Think that's not a big deal? I think it's significant, because right around now is when a pile of 2010 Finger Lakes Rieslings will hit the market, and it's difficult to figure out how they're evolving. On top of that, there is a tremendous amount of (generally well founded) hype surrounding the 2010 growing season. But does that hype promise too much for Riesling?</span></span></div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Tasting with Peter a few weeks back, he explained that by around April or May, winemakers have a pretty clear handle on how the previous year's Riesling will show and evolve. Some years, like 2009, feature a spine of acidity and a depth of fruit to provide for long-term cellaring as well as short-term enjoyment. Other years, like 2007, portend a wine that should be consumed in short order, lest it begin to fade with a few years distance. Some years the fruit steps forward; other vintages see that classic Finger Lakes steeliness and precision taking over.</span></span></div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">And yet here we are, with May rolling into June, and Rieslings from 2010 are still maturing. Yes, 2010 was just about the longest, warmest growing season in recent recorded history. And no, it was not a drought year like 2007, which means varieties like Riesling weren't scorched and potentially fat. So what is 2010, exactly?</span></span></div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Peter says he's going to reassess this summer. That patience is wise. Having tasted dozens of tank samples from producers across the region, here's my take: Peter is wise to wait, but there is a very high bar of quality about to be unveiled. Plenty of growers and winemakers decided to pick when the fruit was ripe but the acids were intact, a kind of marriage on the vine that only happens once in a while. Some had to make acid adjustments, but others found the wines nicely balanced without much help. </span></span></div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">If the acids are integrated, expect 2010 to be a special Riesling vintage, albeit very different than the cooler 2009. If the acids are jarring, then make plans to consume the wines at a younger age than most, like 2007. But I expect most wines to offer a kind of harmony and aging potential that true Riesling lovers will celebrate.</span></span></div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div></div><div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">And don't tell Peter, but the wines that he and his team have made are giving hints of something outstanding. I don't say this because I'm camping out on his blog. I'm no cheerleader. There will be disjointed Rieslings from 2010. And Peter can handle tough criticism from writers like myself. I simply have tasted enough 2010 Rieslings to know that I'm an optimist, and a buyer. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><b>Music of the Day:</b></span></span></div><ul><li><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Newton Faulkner - <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00181ORWC/ref=dm_sp_alb">Hand Built By Robots</a></i></span></span></li>
</ul></div><div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;"><i><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8KpLRGfYjxg" width="425"></iframe></i></span></span></div><div></div><div><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 10pt;">Support Artists, buy the music you like. <b><br />
</b></span></span></div></div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-6463700593112310052011-05-24T08:05:00.002-04:002011-05-31T07:52:19.103-04:00Update From The Deep South: Harvest is Over!By: Kelby Russell, Winemaking Team Member from afar<br />
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Greetings once again from the Down Under's Down Under, Tasmania! Home of wallabies, platypuses (platypi?), freakishly large moths, and birds that only sound quaint in name until their screeching calls awaken you before sunrise. If kookaburras do congregate around 'the old gum tree,' as the sing-song rhyme would benignly have us believe, then I would seriously consider supporting the otherwise destructive logging industry here.<br />
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As hard as it may be to believe in the cool and rainy spring the Finger Lakes have been having, on the other side of the world the fall harvest is now wrapping up and winter's approach is undeniable. By no stretch of the imagination does it get "Finger Lakes cold" here in Tasmania, the climate is moderated far too much by proximity to the ocean for that to be a concern. As a matter of fact, I have yet to break out any of the cold weather clothes I brought with me other than for early morning runs. There are often frosts in the morning, but the afternoons still get too "warm" (mid-50s) to justify wearing my thermals even when all the locals are bundled up as if a blizzard were on the horizon. <br />
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With the moderate climate Tasmania is blessed with, most wineries that I have visited are very much outdoor operations. In the summer there is little worry that temperatures will soar beyond what the tank coolant systems can handle, and in the winter the average temperature is nearly perfect for wine storage and tolerable for cellar staff to be working outside in. It is for the same climatic reasons that I imagine many homes here do not have insulation, an utterly regrettable decision regardless of cost savings: Will you freeze if your house gets into the 40s at night? No. Will you be miserable? Absolutely.<br />
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The two times having the wines outside does become problematic, however, both occur during the late fall and early winter. The first is that, even if the temperature is moderate, winter rain and wind are cold and slick to work in while undertaking important cellar tasks. The second, more concerning, problem with having the winery outside is that those cold temperatures, wind, and rain can wreak havoc during the most crucial phases of post-harvest winemaking. <br />
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To wit, at the winery I work at, we have several rotary fermenters that hold nearly 25 tons of fruit three stories overhead for fermentation and easy color extraction. As frightening as the machines are, it is undeniably true that - when handled appropriately - it is far easier to mix the fruit in the equivalent of a cement mixer than to plunge it all by hand. Since the fermentation of the fruit also occurs in the vessels, maintaining the appropriate temperature for the fermentation is also an issue... a rather large issue when ambient temperatures never even reach the starting temperature range the yeast would like. Also rather worrisome are the 30 degree nights with cold rain and wind lashing the fermenters as the yeast inside would prefer to be left alone to finish their business at a balmy 80 degrees. The solution here is to use mobile heating units to keep the ferments happy and healthy, but it is certainly quite a bit of monkeying around.<br />
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It goes without saying that the idea of having the majority of a winery outdoors in the Finger Lakes is ridiculous, even if we do keep a few tanks outside to allow mother nature to cold stabilize our wine on the cheap. While it might not be quite as absurd a proposition here in Tasmania to have your winery outside, I wouldn't criticize anyone here for looking into putting a roof overhead (or insulation in their walls!).<br />
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<b>Music of the Day:</b><br />
<ul><li>Cut Copy - <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004FJHC76/ref=dm_dp_cdp?ie=UTF8&s=music">Zonoscope</a></i>; "Need You Now" (It's an Australia/Finger Lakes mash-up! Australian band, but a great song for the start of summer):</li>
</ul><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="303" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tb1o42RdVzA" width="480"></iframe><br />
<div><br />
Support Artists, buy the music you like!</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-30370774795141539442011-05-21T07:48:00.002-04:002011-05-24T11:28:12.651-04:00Getting Wine Into the Barrel<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In this post, former Fox Run employee Dr. Steven Hickman elaborates on one of his favorite activities: filling barrels. During his time at Fox Run, he emptied and filled hundreds of them. A generous and enthusiastic soul, he also donated to the winery the following:</span></i><br />
<ul><li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">an expensive camera</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a high-end mountain bike</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a microwave oven</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">cases of wine to taste and evaluate</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">plenty of his time</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a gas regulator</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a car, and</span></i></li>
<li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a little multi-articulated flashlight, which was so useful that it came to be known as </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Hickman Apparatus</span></b></i></li>
</ul><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How many of us can say that we have a device named after us? Never mind that it was just a scientific-conference freebie: it serves as the </span></span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">ne plus ultra</span></span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> illumination device for barrel filling. Read on..</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><a name='more'></a> </i>The wine barrel – a romantic wooden icon of winemaking. A staple of tasting room signs and wine shop displays. Also, a royal pain to work with. But in this post, I’m going to pass over the difficulties in making, transporting, prepping, emptying, cleaning, moving, and storing barrels, and look at the challenge of filling them. </span></span><br />
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A wine barrel is constructed from numerous wooden planks, or staves, all cut in a curvalinear shape that would drive most woodworkers made with frustration. When first made, the barrel is completely sealed. A 2 1/2-inch hole is then drilled in the side of the barrel, serving as the only port of access. This is the “bunghole” (pause for snickers). This single hole must trebly serve as a conduit for the hose supplying and removing the wine, an egress for the air the entering wine displaces, and a view-port to assess the height of wine in the barrel.</span></span><br />
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At Fox Run, 1-1/2 inch-diameter hose is used to move wine around the cellar. For barrel work, a one-inch diameter metal pipe (photo) is fitted to the end of the hose. This metal pipe has two slits at the bottom, and is of a length so that it is just long enough to reach the bottom of the barrel. This is designed to allow the barrel to be filled from the bottom, minimizing the amount of air that comes into contact with wine.</span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPr9g3tRLZ5F3_oV2wDnsJWfETZus19Gp2w04ErdVArd1DbCx8rhmx2W5le0-ipcaacPJjhEEoBmSBH096gSHnrEGn85EwKvhhrsgPWGYOKJ7Yh0Fs5zc0-5U3PN4buFuppOZ4xRqu9hg/s1600/Barrel+Filliing+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirPr9g3tRLZ5F3_oV2wDnsJWfETZus19Gp2w04ErdVArd1DbCx8rhmx2W5le0-ipcaacPJjhEEoBmSBH096gSHnrEGn85EwKvhhrsgPWGYOKJ7Yh0Fs5zc0-5U3PN4buFuppOZ4xRqu9hg/s320/Barrel+Filliing+1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br />
So in principle, filling a barrel is quite simple – attach the stainless steel filling pipe to a hose, stick pipe into empty barrel, connect other end of hose to a pump, connect pump to tank, and pump until the barrel is full. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">A few factors complicate this process – the small bung hole allows little light into the barrel and ruins depth perception; the rate of which the wine level in a barrel changes increases dramatically as the barrel nears full; and the pumps do not stop immediately, but take a second or two to slow down.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is considered poor form to overfill a barrel – depending on how far off the mark you are, this can result in a trickle of fluid running down the side of the barrel (not so bad) to a geyser of wine erupting into the face of the unfortunate cellar hand (this is why we don’t wear whites, even before Labor Day).</span></span><br />
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To avoid a fountain, you must anticipate when the barrel will reach full, and turn off the pump just before – somewhat like trying to hit exactly $20 at the gas pump, but rather than looking at a price meter, you are staring down a tiny hole, with a dim flashlight clamped in your teeth, trying to fathom the distance away of a dark liquid while lacking depth perception. Also, if you happen to be working with Port, there is the extra challenge of overcoming the ethanol fumes that stream out the bung hole at the same rate as the wine enters.</span></span><br />
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There are some devices that aid in this process. Larger wineries use automated pumps that have liquid level sensors on the filling heads, telling the pump precisely when to slow down, and when to stop. Truly push-button operation, and vital if you have thousands of barrels to work with, but also truly expensive.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px;">At Fox Run, the technology consists of a sterile rubber band around the filling pipe, and the “Hickman Apparatus”. The rubber band marks the point at which the pump should be shut off for a perfect fill – its placement is usually determined experimentally with the first few barrels of the day. The Hickman Apparatus is a repurposed booklight, picked up at an American Vacuum Society conference several years ago, which perches on the edge of the barrel, and extends over the bung hole to allow hands-free illumination of the inside of the barrel. It also, fortunately, is moderately tolerant of wine soakings.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTmDf90FVxF8ULP-iqQpOMdefrgSihvmKbW2-NCf13g0uxuI4sX3NDQrDZVEQSm3N6GitMdkGf52Wrm3iv-NJQFuG3Owzf9BLHTGrkcTVc10g6Fs89Tcdi5__KmsFtvxCH2fJC4gJsikN/s1600/Hickman+Apparatus.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgTmDf90FVxF8ULP-iqQpOMdefrgSihvmKbW2-NCf13g0uxuI4sX3NDQrDZVEQSm3N6GitMdkGf52Wrm3iv-NJQFuG3Owzf9BLHTGrkcTVc10g6Fs89Tcdi5__KmsFtvxCH2fJC4gJsikN/s320/Hickman+Apparatus.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It almost seems custom made for barrel work.</td></tr>
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With practice, it takes only a few minutes to fill each barrel, with a minimum of wine spilled. For the novice, though, an overabundance of caution can lead to a very slow filling rate, and thus many minutes per barrel – a challenge when one to two dozen barrels need to be filled before the day is over. A reckless abandon, while decreasing the filling time, will increase the time spent cleaning the cellar floor as well as you face and clothes.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> Fortunately, barrels only need to be filled once or twice a year. And with time, many winemakers develop a deep nostalgia for barrel work, a process which gives one a very intimate and hands-on experience with the wine. Me, I’m hankering for one of those automated filler systems.<br />
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<div class="im"><span style="font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span></div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-25346949096545924052011-05-13T20:13:00.005-04:002011-05-21T07:52:01.401-04:00When Viticulture and Ornithology Collide<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">By John Kaiser, Vineyard Manager</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">First and foremost, I would like to clear up my current Avifauna issue. Is it <span class="yshortcuts">Kildare</span>, or Killdeer? And why am I concerned with this situation? The answer is simple: it doesn’t matter with whom I discuss this matter; no one is certain what this bird's true name is. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><a name='more'></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">To put an end to it all, Kildare is a county in Leinster Province, Eastern Ireland. Killdeer, named for its cry, is a North American bird of the plover family, with a high, piercing cry and a habit of faking a broken wing to distract predators from its nest. The killdeers' arrival at Fox Run Vineyards typically means that I have two to three weeks to tie and prune all of the vines prior to bud-break. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpZcSFWISkGQ3uNPuRyjyF9Hqht77qCBjlWQXoYwFa3QBaNRm0GoAXc5TnjKas7kJHNyMCbg8TxUH57XAsQRRQj1H4ca6QM-yGh6Cu86G4rrb-eicoHf-V0XYCi-pYD85VDYFBGdP30KT/s1600/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpZcSFWISkGQ3uNPuRyjyF9Hqht77qCBjlWQXoYwFa3QBaNRm0GoAXc5TnjKas7kJHNyMCbg8TxUH57XAsQRRQj1H4ca6QM-yGh6Cu86G4rrb-eicoHf-V0XYCi-pYD85VDYFBGdP30KT/s1600/images.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy's one of my favorites. I call him Bruce.</td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">It is now four weeks since the Killdeers' arrival, and indeed the buds have broken. Rainfall is three inches higher than normal, and while I have finished pruning, tying will not be completed until Friday the thirteenth at the earliest. Hopefully the remainder of the trellis work will be finished before the killdeer decide to depart. Trellis work, for those of you that do not know the term, is the process of repairing broken posts and wire that were damaged during the last growing season. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">It has been my observation that the killdeer leave shortly before bloom begins, and at times I wish I could follow their flight patterns. In my experience, there never seems to be enough time to accomplish the tasks the vineyard demands of the vineyard crew. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<span lang="EN" style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">To wrap this up, and make sense of it all: as quickly and predictably as the killdeer leave, they return; and harvest, in turn, is imminent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-73175948138427485682011-05-09T11:08:00.014-04:002011-05-14T07:26:27.537-04:00Tawny Time, Part II: It Was NOT Like Giving Birth<div class="MsoNormal">By Peter Bell, Winemaker</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As I write this, I’m looking back on the last month or so of work, during which we assembled and bottled our latest Tawny fortified wine. Every time we complete a difficult blending task, there descends on the lab a palpable sense of accomplishment: that almost goes without saying. How to describe that feeling is the hard part.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
<a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal">I could invoke Samuel Morse’s famous first telegraph message, “What Hath God Wrought?”, but that would be far too pompous and presumptuous. Anyway, the deity that Mr. Morse invoked is probably way too busy these days guiding the hands of, say, iPhone engineers to want to fuss over a small quantity of wine. It’s just wine, after all - a product that seems to have virtually made itself during Biblical times - not some brand new communication device that is poised to change the world.<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I could also come up with some trite comment about it being like giving birth. Never having been pregnant, much less brought a baby to term, I can only guess what the experience is like, though I can well imagine the final hours being a unique mix of excruciating pain and (eventually) a flush of joy and ecstasy. Plus lots of amniotic fluid – that I can vouch for, having been present at the birth of both my boys. But in any case, equating the birthing of a special blend with having a baby is more than a bit of a stretch, and I’m not thinking of the delicate tissues of the birth canal here.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Okay, so in the absence of anything good to use as a metaphor for all the gestation we went through, what <i>bons mots</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> can I invoke to describe this process?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is where the brutally honest reader will say out loud, “How about you just talk about making the blend?” <i>Touché. </i><span style="font-style: normal;">So let me just tell the story straight. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-style: normal;">Early in April, we took samples of each of the 17 barrels of our various tawny components and let them cool to room temperature. A quick smell and taste of most the younger ones confirmed that they were still far too undeveloped to merit further consideration. (Their time will come, probably mid-decade.)</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia took detailed notes on the five that remained, and then made up a series of blends using some or all of them in varying proportions, which we designated <i>A</i> through <i>F</i>. Here are some of the comments that were made as we tasted through them: </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Blend A: <o:p></o:p></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “What I’m smelling here most strongly is that toasty wood aroma which I bet will go away. When I swirl this I’m getting dates. Figs and dates. Vanilla, nutmeg, cocoa.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “My problem with this one is that it’s more like fresher wine with whisky lactones on top. But I like the pruney flavors.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Neither of us felt that this approached what we were looking for in a Fox Run Tawny.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Blend B:<o:p></o:p></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “Hmm…figs and milk chocolate, coconut and orange rind, and I love the toasted almonds, but it needs a little sweetening. I like the evolution.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This was way better. It seemed as if we might be getting somewhere.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWjNhcZ1tZP0A6IVC5m2kajTg0v2ehH9GgF9od2t2M8yE2nXsuiu6MJEU5ZLLlI1Alu113Cd25csQ0CMe8UlDx1ZED1yF7eWTL5E1YFxkgFmUCEbXUSTdfwDCts47en9tlPiXqKiPra6Y/s1600/Tawny+Barrel+Samples.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTWjNhcZ1tZP0A6IVC5m2kajTg0v2ehH9GgF9od2t2M8yE2nXsuiu6MJEU5ZLLlI1Alu113Cd25csQ0CMe8UlDx1ZED1yF7eWTL5E1YFxkgFmUCEbXUSTdfwDCts47en9tlPiXqKiPra6Y/s320/Tawny+Barrel+Samples.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tawny Blends A through F</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Blend C:<o:p></o:p></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “This one smells like butterscotch, which you know I like. A lot of chocolate and coffee too. It reminds me of candied orange peel, then toasted almonds. I like that. Mmmm…there’s the finish I like. But it’s almost too powerful.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “I see that density as a symptom of too many things trying to compete with each other. Let’s see if a dilution with white wine would untangle it.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “Yeah, if we can just lighten the intensity here and pull in some suppleness there, we’ve got something really attractive.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So that is what we did: took some of the same wine and added a few percent of a barrel-fermented Chardonnay. That blend was called C+.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">No go. Even a small amount of the younger white wine caused the flavors and texture to crash.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Blend D: <o:p></o:p></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “I’m just trying to settle my brain down and really think about what I’m smelling. Something like salted nuts.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “This sounds crazy, but I wrote ‘blood or carcass.’” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “You can’t say that in the blog!” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This one had us stumped. It was a fascinating wine, but we just didn’t know what to make of it. We decided to revisit it a few hours later. Onward…</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Blend E<o:p></o:p></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “Oh yeah. That’s voluptuous chocolate, making its way to orange. What length. Cocoa, not milk or dark chocolate. This tastes like dessert, which makes me happy. How long can this one go on?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “Where’s that glass again?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “Just follow your nose across the room.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “I love the chocolate. Hazelnuts and chocolate and certainly some rancio too.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Blend E was a keeper.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Blend F:<o:p></o:p></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><u><br />
</u></div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “Hoo hoo! Orange and toffee and salt. I wonder where that salt came from? You can’t smell salt. Salt air maybe. Lightning storm freshness…ozone?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “This has gotta be our blend. All that orange peel that shows up at the end?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “Plushness. Brazil nuts, macadamias. I like it. Long. Raisins and apricots. Soft.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “Pretty good in the mouth, but is it too dense?” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “Now I’m getting almond and orange and toffee. But yeah, it’s pretty assertive.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “Let’s try it with a few percent of Special Dry White.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Can wine be too intensely flavored? Yes, certainly. And what exactly is Special Dry White, you ask? It’s a term I picked up in Australia, and it’s nothing but a euphemism for good old <b>water</b>. In very warm climates, it’s often necessary to add water to a must, juice or wine to keep the final alcohol content at a reasonable (non-mouth-searing) level. At some point, someone decided to call it something more sexy than ‘water.’ (We can also assume it served to throw government inspectors off the trail.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“<span class="body">I'll try anything once…twice if I like it…three times to make sure.”</span> Mae West said that. Her words might as well be posted on the wall in the lab, to remind us that we should all be little Mae Wests when it comes to trial blends. There’s nothing to lose, since a blend on this scale comprises only a few tastes’ worth of wine. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In went a few percent of S.D.W., and we called that blend F+. Here’s what we found: </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “The butterscotch and dates are showing up, and some really nice crème brulee.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “Yeah, exactly. Vanilla custard, nutmeg.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tricia: “That’s yummy. I love that. I love that.” </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But after we spent a half hour tasting back and forth between F and F+, while also referencing a bottle of last year’s Tawny that we’d fetched from the library, our comments were not as effusive. F+ waned a bit in our estimation, and so we abandoned that little side experiment. The decision was to not shy away from full-frontal flavors.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A week passed, during which time we were busy with other projects. Then we made up new samples of our favorite blends: D, E, and F.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peter: “Okay, let’s find the All-Star here.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We knew that one of these blends was going to be our Tawny. The problem was that each blend, if fully assembled, would represent a vastly different quantity. We work within the confines of what our Tawny program can give us at any given time, not what the marketing department asks for. The twain shall meet sooner or later, once we have a larger stock of older wines, but for now, there’s no pushing quantity at the expense of adherence to our model.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Blend D comprised 95 cases’ worth of wine. Blend E, 38 cases. Blend F, 63 cases.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This time we tasted, repeatedly, the three wines over a period of four hours. As is my wont, I did a lot of pacing back and forth. (I also used this occasion to reminisce about the many times I’ve been asked, “Are you the taste tester?” – a question that is invariably followed by, “That must be the greatest job in the world!” This is why it’s crucial to have a place to conduct our sensory evaluation that's removed from the public eye.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Evaluating these last Tawny blends was an exercise in reining in the temptation to hyperbole, as in, “These are ALL fantastic!” Eventually one blend must be declared the winner so that we can go ahead and make it up in real life, and get it into the bottle. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Having three glasses on the lab bench, and tasting them over and over, can become futile pretty quickly. One time-honored trick we employ, when we can’t make up our minds, is to look at the glass we’ve taken the most tastes from, and call it our favorite. But this time the glasses all had about the same quantity of wine left in them. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So out came the blindfold. I have a drawer full of these things left over from plane trips, and we use them to aid in making final blending decisions. The person wearing one (Tricia in this picture) not only can’t see anything, but has what I call ‘acquired helplessness’ – each glass has to be put in her outstretched hand, and she can’t use any external cues as a guide to what it smells and tastes like. Needless to say, the serving order is mixed up. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlxhhZh_SNdYogpmjhOQJXEzdvY-pJ0I_K4OAfG8V9fz-Gj9X8CJGzONr56ozJWL7_C2DTZfitKvxJoS-0pU0cjC3kRrwfDNzCAP3XMCmOJh_aqysZNvoAkW6FbTYgw-7BKhv01XXLSomH/s1600/Blindfold+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlxhhZh_SNdYogpmjhOQJXEzdvY-pJ0I_K4OAfG8V9fz-Gj9X8CJGzONr56ozJWL7_C2DTZfitKvxJoS-0pU0cjC3kRrwfDNzCAP3XMCmOJh_aqysZNvoAkW6FbTYgw-7BKhv01XXLSomH/s320/Blindfold+2.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Acquired Helplessness Really Makes You Focus</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is a great way to focus only on the things that matter, and the S and M specialist who did the blindfolding has an obligation to take careful notes of what is said. And this is what was said, sequentially, by both of us: “I like <i>that</i> one.” <i>That </i>one, in both cases, turned out to be the illustrious Blend E.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A few Sundays later, while waiting for some journalists to show up, I put the blend together. The 60 gallons it comprised didn’t even come up to the bottom door of the tank, but this tiny amount of wine should be enough to keep Marketing off our backs for a few months at least.</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-49131771914249667072011-05-05T09:50:00.005-04:002011-05-09T12:10:42.017-04:00Why I Love My Jobby Kyle Anne Pallischeck, Tasting Room Manager<br />
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<b>Community:</b><br />
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1. A group of people living together in one place, esp. one practicing common ownership.<br />
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If you travel around to any of the numerous wineries in the Finger Lakes, you'll surely hear someone behind the tasting bar recommending a wine from a winery... other than the one they're working at. Some people find this surprising, as the expectation seems to be that we are all competitors. In reality I think it's a true representation of the community that has developed in the wine industry of the Finger Lakes Region.<br />
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2. A group of people having a religion, race, profession, or other particular characteristic in common.<br />
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In my scant two months at Fox Run Vineyards I've met countless people involved in the industry - from winery owners to other tasting room managers and staff, local hospitality business owners to vineyard workers and winemakers. Everyone I meet endeavors to attain the same goal: the success of the tourism and wine industry in this beautiful region we've chosen to call home. It may be a cliche, but the old adage "It takes a village to raise a child" seems to fit this area quite well. The community has reared its "child", the Finger Lakes Wine Country, into a mature and delightful "grown-up".<br />
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3. A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.<br />
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It's a team effort almost all the way around. There have been countless winemakers learning through the tutelage of others in the region who have then gone on to start their own production facilities and labels. Staff can be found floating between different wineries, helping out in almost any way possible. For some people it's a pastime, for others it's a lifestyle. But pull it all together and it creates one large community.<br />
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4. A group of interdependent organisms of different species growing or living together in a specified habitat.<br />
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Pay close attention, because in the coming years the development and success of this region will not rest solely on the product and output of one or two places alone - the phenomenon of the Finger Lakes Wine Region will be a product of the community and all those involved in it.<br />
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(Definitions were provided by <b>Dictionary on MacBook</b>.)<br />
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You don't have to be deeply immersed in the wine industry to get a sense of what I'm talking about here. Evan Dawson's book <u><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Glass-Coming-Winemaking-Finger/dp/1402778252/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304623215&sr=1-1">Summer in a Glass</a></u> provides interwoven stories of members of the community, and the Tierce Riesling and red blend stories are tangible examples, being a collaborative effort of the talented winemakers from Red Newt, Anthony Road and Fox Run. <br />
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But for me, attending the Riesling Rumpus last night, kindly hosted by Red Newt Cellars and Bistro, really set the my feet in concrete with this, well, family. Being among old friends from the trade excited to see each other and share stories with newbies inspired me to no end, and has helped clarify that it's not only the wine that will make this region world renowned, it's also the very organic 4th definition of community. Read that definition again, please, and see if you agree.<br />
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<b>Music of the Day: </b><br />
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<ul><li>Audra Mae - <i>Sons of Anarchy: </i>"Forever Young"</li>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1UGofokkYYo" width="480"></iframe><br />
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Support Artists: Buy the Music You Like.<br />
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</b>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-45611567186942850632011-05-02T16:19:00.001-04:002011-05-05T09:53:21.910-04:00How Everyone Should Learn About Wine<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">by Alyson Galipeau</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
I thought I didn't like wine until my first visit to Seneca Lake, two years ago. A wine-loving friend, originally from Rochester, directed me there, saying that if I wanted to learn about wine, Seneca Lake was the place to visit. <br />
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The following year, she accompanied me on my second visit to the region. Through her I discovered Fox Run Vineyards, a favorite winery of hers whose Meritage she especially praised.<br />
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Well, I tried the Meritage and found it a bit on the harsh side for my palate. Still, I felt it deserved another shot. So when Spring finally showed its face this year, I figured a solo road trip was in order, and drove seven hours west from New Hampshire back to Seneca Lake.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">On a gray, blustery morning, hardly Spring-like as it turned out, I marched up the hill to the wine production facility at Fox Run Vineyards. I had shown up unannounced, but was nevertheless hoping to get a chance to meet the winemaking staff. After two years as a wine newbie, I was ready to really learn something solid about my passion. Wine was no longer going to be one big secret, full of conflicting information dispensed by older persons in khaki shorts and sandals.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">A set of narrow metal stairs led up to a hidden room: the wine lab. Inside, I met winemaker Peter Bell, his assistant Tricia Renshaw, and a friendly black dog named Max. The room was filled with beakers of all shapes and sizes, and the counters boasted mysterious, faded purple stains. Jars of pale liquids, a container of sugar, and a digital scale completed the look. Tricia handed me a wine glass of blend she’d just put together. It was something new, they said, something that hadn’t been tried before. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4K23forYne-PrjxpfHqcYLBQUWuU1btnZguVaZUJO8xjSWArFYysqLqsFawFCgkWjdfqwECZXjomDoxdaitmqycsw6tOVD5refN7xresRUDxxbX-yB8RP4lbo6Jq7PtmIWhUxWKQ2pVje/s1600/Alyson+and+Max.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4K23forYne-PrjxpfHqcYLBQUWuU1btnZguVaZUJO8xjSWArFYysqLqsFawFCgkWjdfqwECZXjomDoxdaitmqycsw6tOVD5refN7xresRUDxxbX-yB8RP4lbo6Jq7PtmIWhUxWKQ2pVje/s320/Alyson+and+Max.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Max is renowned for his ferocious attacks on visitors.</td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">I sipped from the glass, trying to remember all the odd bits of information on how to taste wine, and what to get out of it. But everything I knew was overshadowed by the actual taste of this secret blend!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">“You guys!” was all I could say. It was delicious.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Recognizing an educational opportunity, Peter took me downstairs into a large room filled with wooden barrels and stainless steel tanks. Each was marked with a code, and its contents were accessible by using either a triangular key or a metal tube known as a thief. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Once the sample valve key had allowed us to bring forth our first sample, a Chardonnay, Peter politely asked me to wipe off my lip gloss. At last, I was about to learn my first wine secret! I thought about the reasons for this odd request, as I wiped the coppery glitter from my mouth. Perhaps the propylene carbonate in the gloss interfered with tasting the true flavors of the wine? Well, no wonder I knew so little about wine: my lip gloss had been the problem all along!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">“That stuff’s really hard to clean off the glass,” Peter said.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Oh.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMN_EOY2uoYwjQQr53ZOc4kP301WIeJmxt6CZEbEaNapSx2trkXB2QbvucLwF_VlnLNtKROUdy_8JqotU_-HYIwW9efPCHZvBy5dVlUbuDpwHq2maxHrS8pmNheSJNCTSRSDYYMb7DReeF/s1600/Sample+Valve.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMN_EOY2uoYwjQQr53ZOc4kP301WIeJmxt6CZEbEaNapSx2trkXB2QbvucLwF_VlnLNtKROUdy_8JqotU_-HYIwW9efPCHZvBy5dVlUbuDpwHq2maxHrS8pmNheSJNCTSRSDYYMb7DReeF/s320/Sample+Valve.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is me, losing my sample valve virginity.</td></tr>
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</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">The next wine secret revealed was how to hold the glass. It was then I realized that all those models shown partying in wine brochures were actually doing it all wrong. Wine glasses should be held by the stem, not by the bowl. And if you’re really good, or want to emulate a winemaker, you can hold it by the base—the flat part that sits on the table.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">Secret number three: how to swirl your wine. I had seen people doing this in some wineries, but never knew why. Now I did. Each wine has a distinct aroma profile, and swirling the wine in a glass unfurls it. But you have to <i>really</i></span><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"> swirl the wine, almost until it appears to be in a centrifuge. That’s how you coax the aromas into what’s called the headspace. My first couple of tries at swirling only resulted in the Chardonnay slopping over the edges of the glass. I quickly learned that it’s much easier if you swirl the glass on a flat surface.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">The next step, requiring some immediacy, is to inhale. Put your nose right into the glass and breathe deeply. That’s how you smell a wine’s essence, whether it be fruit, spice, or any of the hundreds of other descriptors that professional wine tasters evoke. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">What’s great about wine is that sometimes, what you pick up from smelling a glass is not what you end up tasting. And even among the same wine types, each one has a different overtone. Each Chardonnay, each Riesling boasted a different personality, a different sparkle. Some take on the form of pears, some of apples, cherries, or even mangos. It’s all part of the magical soil and climate combination of the Finger Lakes.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">From the Chardonnays and a series of beautiful Rieslings, we moved onto various red wines. I learned the secret of tannins and their role in mouthfeel and body. The earthiness of all those Cabernet Sauvignons I’d had that lingered in my mouth? The lingering dryness? That was from the tannins.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">For our last exercise, we revisited the Chardonnays. After tasting the reds, those very wines now tasted completely different from how they did previously. They seemed less fruity and more bland. This was an important part of the last secret Peter imparted upon me: you can learn a lot about wines by how they contrast with other wines.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">That Merlot that seems so smooth on first taste might come to taste harsh next to a lighter Pinot Noir. The Riesling that came off as dry at first might later taste sweet after sampling a Pinot Grigio or a Sauvignon Blanc. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: Times; font-size: 10pt;">There is only one way to learn and appreciate all a wine is capable of, and that is to taste them. Then, all the wines’ secrets will be revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-30983864974127214292011-04-29T07:58:00.009-04:002011-05-03T10:05:22.081-04:00It's Tawny Time Againby Peter Bell, Winemaker<br />
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It’s been quite some time since our last bottle of Fine Old Tawny was sold. This is one wine that can’t be made fast enough to meet the demand, and the 40 or so cases per year that we put out tend to get snapped up quickly. So this is what it must feel like to have your wines on allocation!<br />
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<a name='more'></a>There are currently 17 barrels of Port wine in what we call the Tawny Program. They range in age from less than one to 14 years old. All but one reside in a custom-built room that has its own hot and dry mini-climate. Three times a year or so, we fetch samples from each barrel, let them cool to room temperature, and then subject them to a few hours of intense sensory scrutiny. A given barrel will change appreciably in the space of four months, as the fresh berries and jam flavors of a younger Port give way to more complex ones. It's important to track their development, because each barrel will eventually become part of a blend.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What do we want out of our Tawny? Well, I have to say that I'm the only one here who has spent any time consuming the wine that is my model, since it is seldom seen outside of Australia. Australian Tawny Ports -- they actually call them aged fortified dessert wines -- are denser than the Portuguese versions, and a little sweeter; altogether more assertive.<br />
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Here's how a Tawny style differs from the more common Ruby style:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>A deep reddish-brown color.</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Alcoholic drinks (I exclude beer here) that have a brown or brownish color are that way for one of three reasons: 1) They are oak-aged spirits such as brandy or whisky, or are meant to give that impression by the addition of caramel coloring (think inexpensive rum); 2) They are table wines that have spent too much time in the bottle and have become oxidized; or 3) they are fortified wines that have been subjected to a deliberate, slow and controlled oxidation process. Tawny Port is a number three. Our Tawny Room -- you can come and visit it sometime if you cozy up to the right individuals here -- is a well-insulated box, just big enough to hold 16 barrels, that is kept at a steady 90 F (32 C) in order to accelerate the process we call ‘tawnification’ [neologism alert].</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Little Slice of Australia: the Tawny Room</td></tr>
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Aromas and flavors of dried fruits, especially dates, raisins and figs.</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> All of our Port-style wines start off smelling of fresh and lightly cooked fruits, namely berries and jam. The extended, warm period of aging we subject our Tawny barrels to causes those flavors to be transformed into dried-fruit analogs.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Subordinate aromas of chocolate, coffee, butterscotch, toffee, wood-aged spirits, and <i>rancio</i></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><i>. </i></span>No, we don’t add flavorings to the wine! I wouldn’t bother to even point that out but for the fact that it’s a common question. The long aging that these wines undergo allows them to develop aromas that <i>remind </i><span style="font-style: normal;">us of brown foods and drinks. Not surprisingly, the responsible aroma compounds are, in many cases, the same ones that are in the foodstuffs we reference. And, in case you’re wondering: <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1.0in;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b>RANCIO, </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">imprecise tasting term used in many languages for a distinctive style of wine…achieved by deliberately maderizing the wine by exposing it to oxygen and/or heat. The wine may be stored in barrels in hot storehouses (as for some of Australia’s Liqueur Muscats or Liqueur Tokays)…the word rancio has the same root as ‘rancid’ and the wines which result have an additional and powerful smell reminiscent of nuts and melted, or even rancid, butter. <o:p></o:p></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 1in; text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: left;"><i>(excerpted from Jancis Robinson’s <u>Oxford Companion to Wine)</u><o:p></o:p></i></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div></div><div class="MsoNormal">As I have written in an earlier post, Australian fortifieds and I go <i>way</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> back. I love what comes out of Portugal, but my model here has always been what’s made in Australia. It’s a bit cheeky to try and pull off something in that style here in the cool Finger Lakes, and I wasn’t really sure I was managing it until I had a visit from Aussie viticulturist <a href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/peter.dry#Biography/%20Background">Peter Dry</a>. </span>After we'd tasted through a bunch of table wines, I proffered a barrel sample of my tawny without any preamble other than “Here”. Peter smelled it, gave me a sly grin, and said, “You bastard! This is an Australian style Tawny!” Bingo. (This happened in the days before “WTF?” became the go-to expression of astonishment.)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>4. Mouthfilling, luscious flavors.</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> In many, many of our winemaking endeavors, we actually reward wines that are delicate and full of <i>suggestions</i></span> of flavors rather being than full-on assaults to our senses. For example, oak in wine is fine, but in-your-face oak is offensive to most people. But with our Tawny, we’re not really afraid of full-frontal flavors. ‘Lusciousness’ is not scientifically definable, but it’s something we understand intuitively; and the pursuit of lusciousness defines our Tawny winemaking. This process is helped immeasurably by the evaporation that goes on as the wine ages: we lose about 20 gallons of (mostly) water from a 60 gallon barrel as it basks in the heat of the tawny room.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">5. <b>Plenty of sweetness, but a ‘dry’ finish. </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Our fortifieds clock in at about 12% sugar, making them by far the sweetest wines in the portfolio. Aside from a possible tiny touch-up of sugar right before bottling, all that sweetness derives from the grapes themselves, and it is captured way back in the earliest moments of the wine’s inception, when we arrest the fermentation with lashings of fortifying spirit. How do we keep the finish from being cloying, which is a definite no-no? The aging process takes care of that: concentration, modification and extraction of flavor compounds, and plenty of tannins, have the effect of offsetting the perception of sweetness after the wine is swallowed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">6. <b>Heat from the alcohol that makes it clear to the taster that this is a fortified wine.</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Ethanol, the particular alcohol that’s in fermented beverages, in interesting in terms of its sensory effects. In broad terms, it has a three-fold contribution: it gives a slight but discernable sweetness to wine; it adds body, known as viscosity; and, especially at higher concentration, it has an irritating effect on the oral mucosa. This irritation effect, which we refer to here as ‘heat’, is key to the overall pleasant flavor of fortified wines. Yet a tolerance for it, followed by an actual fondness for it, is an acquired taste. Remember your first taste of something alcoholic? I'll wager you were deeply put off by the near-pain from the alcohol itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, is all that too much to ask of our Tawny? Not really, but making this wine is one of the taller orders we bestow upon ourselves. I am extraordinarily fortunate to have a boss who doesn’t mind tying up a big chunk of capital in a product that demands a six- or eight-year span between the making and the marketing. And also to have here the illustrious Tricia Renshaw, who appears to have been born with a tawny-infused silver spoon in her mouth. It’s no wonder that I ask her to make all our key blending decisions. More on how she recently did that in my next post, but for the full story on her talents please get hold of a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Glass-Coming-Winemaking-Finger/dp/1402778252/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1304078016&sr=8-1">this book</a>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-12088267200982676862011-04-25T05:06:00.002-04:002011-04-29T08:02:52.676-04:00Update from the Southern Hemisphere: College Is In Session?By: Kelby Russell, Winemaking Team Member from afar<br />
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Vintages are a rite of passage in the wine industry; each one survived is another notch on the belt of the winemaker. Most of the time these notches are accumulated one at a time as each fall approaches, but for those entering the industry it is now common to "chase" the vintage from hemisphere to hemisphere to get in two per calendar year. Chasing vintages is certainly far easier than the hobby of those who can be found chasing tornados any evening on cable TV, but it often feels just as wild and tiring by the end of it.<br />
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</div><div>Writing from the middle of our vintage in Tasmania, I'm surprised that what strikes me most is not the seasonal difference between where I currently reside and where my body feels like it should be (living through fall-winter fall-winter is counterintuitive to say the least). Rather, the most interesting thing is the fact that chasing the vintage bears a close resemblance to only one other thing in life: starting at college. Sound far-fetched? I wouldn't blame anyone for thinking as much, but the parallels are hard to dismiss once you've gone through both.<br />
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I remember leaving for college and all the apprehension and activities surrounding it. The anxiety of leaving home, a fair bit of travel, unfamiliar terrain and shops, meeting an entirely new group of people, having to settle in for a long haul of work (or not, I suppose, depending on the college experience you choose), not knowing what was next, etc. Was I excited for whatever would come next? Absolutely. But the learning and life skills were just as unknown as anything else.<br />
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Leaving for a vintage is not all that different. You have to leave home, whether that be a wine region or where you live in the interim. By definition of having to switch from one hemisphere to another, the travel component is certainly there in an extreme iteration. When you arrive you invariably have to fill out mountains of paperwork for everyone from the winery to visa services to establishing a bank account - just walk through any college town when the freshmen are moving in and the similar urgency to set up banking is apparent. Depending on far you traveled from home, there may be local-knowledge barriers that you have no way of knowing in advance. Last year in New Zealand I spent a week going to every large store I could think of to purchase contact lens solution without luck, until someone directed me to the only places you <i>could</i> purchase it in New Zealand - pharmacies. <br />
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Beyond all the nuts-and-bolts similarities (I would list accents/language as well, but I had a harder time understanding the Boston accent than I ever have hearing the Australian 'twang'), the way that vintage most closely mirrors beginning college has everything to do with the people. You are instantly thrown into a group of people from all over who you don't know, yet are close to you in age and motivation - and you are expected to move in together. I've heard many people debate whether living together or traveling together is more difficult for a relationship; imagine having to do <i>both </i>with people you've never met while simultaneously working with them.<br />
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When you start working, the beginning-of-college feel is once again driven home. The first two weeks tend to include a very basic training program and an extremely light workload before the vintage starts, so everyone hangs out in flip-flops and tosses frisbees or takes trips to the beach. You might think that the only thing missing are frat houses and toga parties, but I've seen and heard of vintage parties far crazier and more akin to frats than you might ever guess (wineries can be crazy places, especially when a bunch of 20-30 year olds show up). There is even a distinct phenomenon known as "vintage love," the haphazard and chance combinations of people who just happened to end up at the same place at the same time. We may not technically be moving into dorms and signing up for meal plans, but if we had to do that as well it wouldn't feel out of place.<br />
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Despite all this (or perhaps because of it) there is an unspoken knowledge that all this fun and relaxation are very definitely the calm before the storm of vintage wipes outs all vestiges of relaxation, short workdays, weekends, and anything resembling a sleep schedule. Where I am this year, we have a vintage crew of seven people from around the globe, and everyone has prior vintage experience. This is a blessing. Not only does it mean we all know how to get around a winery very well, it also means we know what to expect in terms of the strain of vintage. Does that mean we have been immune to the above? Hardly. But at least it means we haven't had to worry about anyone cracking under the first time work and personal stress of a vintage.<br />
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Those who start meeting folks in the wine industry, especially the viticulture or winemaking sides, often comment on how unique all the people are that they meet. It seems like everyone has a fascinating backstory of how they got to the wine industry or what they did beforehand. I used to think this was because the path to the wine industry was still so hidden in post-Prohibition America that it required an interesting path just to find it. When I think about what those of us entering the industry willingly put ourselves through and eagerly anticipate twice a year, however, I now think that it might simply be that those of us who make it and enjoy it must be a bit cracked to start with.<br />
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There's nothing wrong with that, so far as I'm concerned. Especially when the diploma is a bottle of wine.<br />
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<b>Music of the Day:</b><br />
<ul><li>The Middle East - <i><a href="http://www.myspace.com/visitthemiddleeast">I Want That You Are Always Happy</a></i>; "Land of the Bloody Unknown" (Hooray Australian music, not enough of which makes it our way!):</li>
</ul><div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/68DANp3e7v4" title="YouTube video player" width="425"></iframe></div><div><br />
Support Artists: buy the music you like!</div></div>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4944446017640653895.post-56849863229772175572011-04-22T12:28:00.001-04:002011-04-25T13:27:59.974-04:00How I Nourish My SoulBy Sharon Winslow, Fox Run Outside Events and Donations Coordinator<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">When I was in my mid thirties, my husband gave me a set of golf clubs for Christmas. I was very surprised to say the least. He said he thought that if I would give it a try, golf might become something that we could do as we grow older together. And he was right: it worked. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">That was thirty years ago, and I'm still at it. We baby boomers just keep on going! My first female golf partner was my good friend Deb Manahan. It just so happens that aside from being a great friend, she was the golf coach at the high school, club champion at our local country club, and a great golfer. So I lucked out having her as a partner and mentor. She helped me with my game and the all important etiquette of the game. I have played in local leagues and tournaments and before retiring, with customers, both men and women. I currently play in a mixed league at Lakeside Country Club in Penn Yan, NY, sometimes with guys and sometimes with gals. Lakeside is a great 18 hole course overlooking our beautiful Keuka Lake. I also enjoy Seneca Lake Golf Club, another 18 hole course overlooking another of our treasures, Seneca Lake. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">We are fortunate to live in the heart of the Finger Lakes, and to have several courses with spectacular views overlooking these glorious lakes. I have played a couple of times at Turning Stone Casino's course, Shenandoah, and they were rounds to behold at a most amazing course in a spectacular natural setting. Another noteable course is Reservoir Creek,located in Naples, NY. It was built into the natural terrain of our Naples Valley and is a great combination of wooded and links style holes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">On our local courses we are surrounded by vineyards, woods and water. Playing golf for me is good for the heart and good for the soul, and it has enhanced my life beyond measure. All of our children play golf, and a couple of grandchildren also play, which is awesome. Being out there in the midst of natural surroundings, taking a minute to breathe it all in and savor the moments, makes me realize that ah yes, life is good. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;">The only way it gets better is by following a round of golf with a glass of Fox Run wine: now that is heaven.</span></span>Fox Runhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13717058671300106391noreply@blogger.com0