Viticulture and winemaking are not static fields of knowledge. They are continually expanding in scope, breadth and depth. It can take a lot of effort for professionals, hobbyists and curious consumers to educate themselves in the many facets of these studies, and stay abreast of new developments. A webinar series sponsored by the Northern Grapes…
Editor’s Note: This short piece was sent to us by Carlo DeVito, owner of Hudson-Chatham Winery and publisher of East Coast Wineries. So far we’ve had a good year in the Hudson Valley. Many of the hybrids in the region have been picked. Chardonnay, cabernet franc, and merlot are still on the vine. A cold, wet…
The official opening of the Cape Winery in Cape Vincent, NY is not until Memorial Day, but a recent springtime Saturday “soft opening” saw over a hundred people in the tasting room, more than a dozen cases of wine leave the premises in the hands of happy consumers, and folks joining the infant “case club.”…
The prospect of growing and making red wine in cool climates meets with some well-known challenges — reaching adequate ripening levels, controlling acidity, getting good color extraction, as well as surviving disease and predators. Until just a few years ago, it might have been considered madness to conceive of, let alone attempt to pursue, the…
It’s the same story that plays out every year. Winemakers are forced to evaluate the complexities of a growing season in a consumer-friendly pitch meant to inflate or dampen expectations of a particular vintage. I tend to believe the dance that Mother Nature, grower and winemaker perform every year and the expectation of resulting quality…
People think that I hate hybrids — but that just isn’t true. There are hybrid grapes that I think are pretty awful generally — I’m looking at you seyval blanc and traminette. But at the end of the day, if a wine tastes good, I don’t care what grape it’s made from. This wine tastes…
I heard from a few of you that you were curious what the NYCR was drinking tomorrow. So, I asked the team to hurriedly send over just that bit of information. Not surprisingly, there are some overlaps (influding a local angle, particularly Finger Lakes riesling) but there is also quite a bit of diversity too:…
This holiday weekend, when you belly up to the tasting bars of your favorite local wineries — or any given winery, really — inevitably you will see on display bottles draped in shiny heavy medallions of bronze, silver, and gold. Annual beribboned medals of merit, glinting under lights positioned just so to draw your eye to their…
The Cornell Cooperative Extension cold-hardy cultivar trial vineyard in Willsboro, NY, on the western shore of Lake Champlain, sits in a place of true natural beauty, and is home to a number of grape varieties that have been bred for disease resistance, and tolerance of extreme cold to points well below -25F. Willsboro is also my…
When thinking about areas known for their wine, Nevada is not exactly the first thought that comes to your mind. The harsh climate of the state is not exactly conducive to wine making. However, one winery on the outskirts of Las Vegas has not only found a way around the climate, but is now a winery providing fine…