by Stacy B. Brody, Rutgers Student and Enthusiastic Intern
You all know about Fox Run Vineyards, but you don’t know much about me. So I think I should fill you in a bit. I don’t have a complex or anything, I’m not going to go from my birth, day by day, hour by hour (though this is quite interesting and we really should discuss this), but I’ll give you a brief bio about me.
In college, there are two words that are very sacred to the average student: “Spring Break”. This week-long vacation is more than just a few days off from classes and academic responsibility. It is an opportunity to regain a sense of sanity after the seemingly endless duration of midterms. While some of us were lucky enough to venture off to a tropical oasis, I spent my Spring Break at home in everyone’s favorite state… New Jersey. Although I was unable to sip fruity drinks while sinking my toes into the sand, the weather was steadily above 50 degrees, which was paradise in comparison to the tundra of Geneva, NY.
Yesterday I drove over to Ithaca, New York, to teach a class at Cornell University. The lecture I gave, titled Balance in Wine, has been a regular of mine in that class for 17 years now. I often begin by telling the students (most of whom are not planning to become wine makers) that understanding this concept is probably the single most powerful tool for understanding wine.
Full disclosure, I am not the person at Fox Run most qualified to speak about the following topic. That person would be John Kaiser, our fantastic vineyard manager, who I also hope will contribute some blog posts in the future about the crucially important and often publicly overlooked work he is responsible for. Nevertheless, the arctic air mass that settled over us this weekend and through tomorrow is what prompts the conversation and posting today.
By some accounts, the air over us and that radiational cooling last night represent the coldest temperatures this area has seen in five years or more. No doubt these are dangerous temperatures, it does not take more than a few minutes outside for exposed skin to be frostbit, but for most of us it would be an exaggeration to say that it is much more than an inconvenience. Here at Fox Run, however, we are talking about the weather and cold in far more serious terms - as is so often the case in an agricultural enterprise.
In the vineyard it is not just a question of how the low temperature will impact production for the 2011 vintage (a topic for another post entirely), but how the cold will immediately damage vines. The real concern with low temperatures like those we have been dealing with is vine death, as lost vines become a mounting issue when the temperature drops below -5 degrees Fahrenheit. Thus, where for most people this cold snap is bothersome for a few days and will be forgot with the next storm, in the vineyard temperatures this low are a serious concern into and beyond the spring.
Needless to say, we follow the forecast and temperature very closely this time of year when arctic air like this is descending on the region. After emailing Peter midweek about the low temperatures predicted for this past weekend, I asked the same question many of you are probably thinking, "Can anything be done?" The long and short of it is, frankly, no. In some densely planted wine regions of the world, they use fire pits or even helicopters during harvest time to change the temperature by a few degrees to stave off an early-frost. But when it comes to temperatures this cold, there is no real template and the heat would dissipate absurdly quickly. This is truly winemaking on the edge.
Here at Fox Run we are fortunate to have some snow that will act as insulation against the worst of the cold, and also have hope that the brief cold snap two weeks ago completely shut down the vines so they are less vulnerable now. Beyond this, however, Peter suggested praying to the deity of my choice as the only defense we have. So the next time you are at Fox Run or elsewhere around the Finger Lakes for a visit and to see vineyards, take a look at some of the areas that are unplanted and bare of vine. More likely than not, you're looking at a hollow where cold air gets trapped and settles during the nights.
By: Kelby Russell, Winemaking Team
Music of the Day:
LCD Soundsystem - LCD Soundsystem; "Losing My Edge" (one of the most important, influential, and hilarious songs of the 00s for exposing the joys and troubles of the new music/information world the internet brought to listeners and hipsters):
It was only a few weeks ago that anyone and everyone connected to Fox Run started getting bombarded with questions regarding what wines pair well with Thanksgiving Dinner. As you could see in my post on the subject, the broad answer with a meal that diverse and with a main entree so versatile was to drink any wine that wouldn't tire you out (due to too much alcohol, tannin, etc.) and especially to make sure it was a wine you enjoyed (because that is what really matters). Now as we approach and immerse ourselves in other major celebrations of the season, each of which marries gaiety with some form of excess, the questions of "what wine" are no less important.
To me, the most interesting part of wine pairing questions during the holidays is the larger premise behind the question: that a distinct set of wines exist that are appropriate for the holidays. Even if we cannot place our finger on what exactly makes a wine a "Holiday Wine," we all seem to have some understanding that it deserves special attention (and capital letters). Frankly, I'm most interested in what all of you and consumers in general think of when they approach a holiday wine selection - and hope to see some ideas in the comments below. In the meantime, here are a few attributes that I tend to weigh and juggle for these special wines:
Pairing Food: The most obvious factor that might go into designating a wine as a Holiday Wine is that it pairs well with traditional foods of the season. Thanksgiving brings to mind zinfandels for many who read American wine writers anytime after the 1980s, because it seemed appropriate at one time to serve an American wine with an American holiday and now is rooted like tradition (regardless of suitability to the meal). For those who have a standing rib roast for Christmas or New Year's, a classic claret-style red might beg for Holiday Wine consideration.
Price: There is no way around the fact that all consumers, including everyone in the wine industry when they are out shopping, use the price of a bottle as an indicator of the quality within the bottle. These assumptions may be entirely off base, perhaps the wine just has better marketing or an artificially low supply, but nevertheless they are still made. And when it comes to the holidays, similar to how everything else is treated from food to spending, excess (high price) is often rewarded as being correct for a Holiday Wine. This isn't to say that the fun gatherings this time of year do not deserve expensive bottles of wine, but neither does it mean that just because a wine is expensive it should be considered a Holiday Wine.
Tradition: Relatively straight forward, I suppose. If you always have a nice Chianti Classico on Christmas Eve with a big Italian-American feast, that style of wine is always going to be a Holiday Wine for you and yours. It may even come down to a specific producer or bottle if it has really entrenched itself. For better or worse, when it comes to this signifier of Holiday Wines I am still in my early 20s and struck hard by wanderlust, so I'm far more prone to experimentation even within the context of tradition.
Sensory Analysis: This comes surprisingly far down my list, but I don't think that is inappropriate given how important the first three are in most of our decisions on wine during the holidays. To some extent, there are simply wines that can call to mind images of the holidays simply by their aromas and flavors. Whether these be aromas of cloves, cinnamon, red fruit, or anything else that we associate with the holidays, a wine can certainly vault itself into being a Holiday Wine if it suddenly serves as a Proustian portal to holidays (real, imagined, or idealized) gone by.
Connection: This word may be as nebulous as terroir is, in that giving a precise definition is as frustratingly difficult. Instead, by way of example, here is what caused me to think of this entire topic. While I was in New Zealand I purchased about a case-worth of wine, bottle by bottle, from small producers I was impressed by and wouldn't find elsewhere. Now when I look at these bottles and contemplate opening them for a meal, I am drawn back to beautiful landscapes and my remarkable experiences traveling through that nation in the spring. This may not have a direct connection to anything relating to the holidays, but to the extent that it brings me back to these special memories it feels right for the joy and reflection of this season.
So there you have it, a partial listing of categories that help make a wine become a Holiday Wine. As I said at the beginning, I am more interested in what other people think of when they pick out wines for the holidays. Every such bottle tends to have as fascinating a story behind it as the person who selects it.
