Say it ten times fast, then spell it backwards while standing on your head.  Wine Olympics. Anyway, its a German term that refers to rearranging your vineyard plot with regard to row orientation, aspect, grading, efficiency, etc.   Such a term exists because the planning and planting of a vineyard is extraordinarily site specific and infinitely complex.  Only when you’ve cultivated several different varieties with several different training systems can you begin to understand the dynamics of your site and market, and it is likely that you didn’t have it right the first time.

With this concept in mind we have selected several different varieties to plant which will receive many different training styles and canopy management systems.  This will allow us to learn how to best utilize our site for optimum fruit quality.  We will be planting the following varieties on the first and second week of May, Gruner Veltliner, Blaufrankish, Traminette, Golden Muscat, Valvin Muscat, Diamond, and Norton.  Next year we will plant with even more diversity and exclusivity, stay tuned.

The Midwest Grape & Wine Conference is the third largest wine industry trade show in the U.S.  We had the good fortune of attending this conference to attend seminars that will help us in the vineyard and winery as well as making some great contacts at the trade show.  In planning for the upcoming production equipment requirements we found some tanks that would be suitable for small batch red wine production that will help us achieve the quality we are looking for.  We ordered nine 230 gallon egg shaped fermentation vessels.  The production room will look like a scene from H.R. Giger’s Alien.

The egg shape is functional for red wine production.  The claims are that a natural vortex is created through convection created by fermentation. It has no corners to baffle and disturb motion. In theory, Brownian motion will naturally be directed by coriolis forces to establish a natural vortex in such a tank, constantly refreshing lees contact and thus protecting and enriching the wine.  Sounds a bit over-thought right?  If you didn’t have to check Wikipedia for Brownian motion and coriolis effect then here’s a link to be a contestant on Jeopardy.  Who would have thought something as seemingly simple as tank geometry could be as important in wine production?  Apparently someone figured this out long ago (see photo.)

Wine by definition is an alcoholic beverage from juice of a plant product as use for a beverage.  The more common form grapes almost always becomes assumed in this case.  Along with several grape wines we have plans to have several interesting offerings that fit this definition outside of the scope of grapes.  One we are especially excited about right now is a wine made from apple juice.  This isn’t Mott’s though, we went to the local orchard and selected a specific variety of apples that we believe show similar qualities of fruit chemistry as grapes. 

A common misconception is that many different varieties of apples will give you complexity.  Complexity in flavors is a direct result of TDS (total dissolved solids.)  Some varieties will intrinsically have more TDS than others, and these are the things that our taste buds react with to perceive flavor.  The variety we selected is classified as a winter dessert variety and has about 5 times the dissolved solids of your ordinary cider apples.  We look forward to sharing our creation with you this summer, 100% single variety, come to the winery to find out which variety we used.

Please excuse the gap between posts on this one, so many things require attention and I only allow myself a certain amount of attention in a 24 hour period.  That being said, I am excited to be back on the blogging scene to share some exciting new developements.  First, I challenged you to find a bottle of wine made from our unique varietals and comment.  I will assume that it was difficult to find wines made from grapes other than the mundane varietals you see everywhere in which case I’m happy we can give you some insight into an unexplored area of wine.  So let’s discuss Norton.

Most grape varieties used to make wine have some sort of vinifera or European decent.  These grapes are very different than wild grapes you see growing on the side of the road which are usually very small and tart.  Norton is one of the few varieties native to the Americas that is used to make dry red wine.  It is rare and extremely difficult to cultivate and make into wine.  Norton is certainly a rare gem and we are happy to be able to include it on our wine list when we open next year.

Norton is said to have originated somewhere near Virginia.  We thought it would be appropriate to age it in a barrel made from Virginia oak so it felt more at home.  We did a little tasting before the wine went in the barrel and it is showing a lot of sweet spice character like cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg which is a common characteristic of this variety.  I guess this means we’re on the right track.  Okay, so we only have one barrel, that’s 225 liters.  At 750 milliliters per bottle that means we will only have 300 bottles available.  We are going to impose a 2 bottle limit per customer per visit because we want everyone to have a chance to experience this delectable potable.

At this point you can see somewhat of a trend.  We are different.  It’s not easy going against the current.  Of course, how could you be a real winery if you don’t have a Chardonnay?  Well, okay, I’m giving in.  We will have a Chardonnay, but it’s nothing like what you’re used to.  We let it hang on the vine well past a reasonable level of ripeness to the point where the berries shrivelled and the sugars concentrated.  Then we made a dessert wine out of it.  Blasphemy right?  It’s not that we don’t want to meet your expectations, we want to change them.  Prepare to be amazed…