Posts Tagged“2012”

Harvest 2012: Pinot Noir at Bellwether Wine Cellars

Kris Matthewson, winemaker at Bellwether Wine Cellars, sends this report from their September 7 pinot noir harvest: [quote]We harvested pinot on Friday, September 7 from Sawmill Creek Vineyard on the East side of Seneca Lake. The brix were right around 23 when we picked. The grapes were in really good condition. We ended up picking most of the acre ourselves, and did some pretty heavy field sorting while we picked, and then table sorted again when we brought the grapes in from the vineyard. After all the sorting was said and done, they were some of the best grapes I…

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Harvest 2012: Riesling at Peconic Bay Winery

Peconic Bay Winery general manager Jim Silver sent this harvest report yesterday: [quote]Harvest of old-vine riesling underway at PBW since 7:30 a.m., and will continue tomorrow (pickers welcome!) Yields not determined yet (about 2T/ac), brix above 19 degrees.  Nearly rot-free, hand sorted in the field by an experienced crew.  Very slight desiccation of some grapes. Top quality vintage similar in style to a blending of 2005, 2009 and 2010.”[/quote]

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Harvest 2012: Chardonnay in Niagara USA

Harvest has ramped up here in Niagara this week as the time for chardonnay had come in several local vineyards. Leonard Oakes Estate Winery had already taken Vignoles before pulling chardonnay in addition to pinot noir for sparkling wine. Freedom Run Winery’s custom crush operation had already brought in Brianna, Edelweiss and Leon Millot before they began their estate chardonnay picking on Monday. The picture at left shows the bounty of chardonnay collected at Eveningside Vineyards yesterday where the yield looked larger than normal and the quality looked to be very good. In the coming days I’ll post the film…

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Hail Storm Hits the Finger Lakes — Has There Been Any Damage?

This morning, Rick Rainey from Forge Cellars published some photos and a piece on the winery blog about some hail that he encountered at his home in Trumansburg, NY. Luckily, none of the vineyards Forge purchases fruit from was affected by the sizable hail that feel at the Rainey home. We have some emails out to local growers — but has anyone heard of any vineyard damage from this hail storm?

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Harvest 2012: Seyval Blanc at Gibson Farms for Villa Bellangelo

Chris Missick from Villa Bellangelo sends this harvest report — and video — about the first grapes processed on their new crushpad: [quote]We harvested Seyval Blanc from a great 10 acre site owned by Marty Gibson, on the west side of Seneca Lake, and crushed the grapes at our winery a few miles away.  The Seyval came in at 19.5 brix, the fruit tasted amazing, and I am looking forward to what our winemaker, Ian Barry, can do with the fruit this year.  Although most of our wines under the Bellangelo label are vinifera varietals or blends, our Seyval, crafted in…

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Harvest 2012: Estate Seyval Blanc at Hudson-Chatham Winery

From Hudson-Chatham Winery owner Carlo DeVito:   [quote] We harvested approximately one ton of seyval blanc from our North Creek Vineyard, Block 1 location yesterday. Brix were at 21. We would have actually let it sit longer, but extreme bird pressure and deer pressure led us to pick it earlier than we would have liked. We had several growing experts come in a take a look at it and help us make our calculation to pick. All agreed that we had excellent fruit, and nice production. We’ve found bird pressure immense this year. Possibly, with the drought-like conditions in the…

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