Oh B(e)aby!!!

Sorry I haven't run my mouth in a little while. I'm lazy what can I say. Many good times have been had over the last 4 months but not many of them had that WINE like what I had the other day. I spent an evening on the Island with some good peeps from work and we did it right; grilled quail and pork, Champagne, Rhone verticals, Riesling, Cali Cab, Burg and a little J here plus some Lemoncello there. At any rate, about 2/3's of the way through the night this bottle came out, which I had happened to bring (naively I admit). It was a 2004 Paolo Bea Montefalco Rosso Reserva "Pipparello". Ba-Gong!!! That shit lit it up. I mean after many bottles preceeding it this wine still made everyone stand at attention. Youthful, elegant, hypocritical in all its glory. It had this crushed-powedered-red berry-licorice thing that really enveloped the palate. But what made it sing was this silver-lining-typed acidity and grace. I didnt' get much for oak flavor and I'd expect that's exactly what the guy is going for. It made me think that the wine just happened that way. O'natural, clean but in a pure way not in a 'we filtered the shit out of it' way. Like I said, it was meant to be that way. It reminded me of some of the new things that are coming from Puzelat. I guess hypocritical to me means balanced because it touched on many things; intensity but restrained, full yet very light on the palate, rich with extreme elegance. After some research I found out that it's a small estate in Umbria that has had a Bea in or around it since 1500; roughly 25 acres, it's a blend of 60% Sangiovese, 25% Montepulciano , 15% Sagrantino, sees a good amount of time in oak but nothing heavily new and everything is done by hand and fully organic. Just for posterity's sake, I took it out to dinner last Saturday as well. Nicholas Roberts Fine Foods in Norwalk is a pretty awesome place. It's right off of #1 on Main Street and just down the street from BJ Ryan's. I had this Filet Mignon with a lobster reduction sauce, wax beans and fingerling potatos. Perfect match. Filet was spot on, potatos held up their end of the bargain and who doesn't like wax beans? Good atmosphere, BYOB which is exactly why I went (well that and the food) and not far from home. If you haven't been there yet, you NEED to check it out. Great prices and really a diamond in the rough when it comes to food in Norwalk. The Paolo Bea ripped again. Somethings are just inevitable. Keep an eye out for this producer. I'm sure it is very small production. There are a few different wines produced and I'm looking forward to trying the Sagrantino. I guess it is their top wine.

The Birth of a Finger Lakes Riesling (Part 1)

The Cork Soakers is a blog about tasting and appreciating wine, but with this entry, I want to take a step back and look at the making of a wine and follow its progress all the way to a finished product that we can hopefully enjoy. Basically it’s just a long, convoluted way of making some alcohol so I can (in the words of my Uncle Russ) “go behind Kenny’s barn and get drunk”.



I have a small 16 vine planting of Riesling vines (clones 239, 9/110) on rootstock (3309, 101-14) on a southeastern slope of HONEOYE LOAM in the Finger Lakes AVA. We all know Riesling is king in the FLX, but my little vineyard sits on the smaller Owasco Lake and has a shorter growing season than what can be found on the bigger lakes. However, what the vineyard lacks in proximity to a larger lake, it makes up for in soil potential, as some of the best organic vegetables in the state are grown a stones throw away. The flavor concentration that comes out of Jim Shea’s gardens are second to none, but will that translate into grape flavor concentration or just too much vine vigor? Follow along to find out!

The Riesling vines are in their 3rd leaf, show a moderate amount of vigor despite the wet year and are currently carrying a small crop load. I might be lucky to end up with 40 lbs. of fruit (mature vines could yield 120 lbs or more) which should make about 15-20 bottles of finished wine. I don’t want to stress the youngsters by carrying too much fruit; I want them to spend most of their energy digging deep and sowing their wild roots.

This season so far has been spent positioning shoots upward through the catch wires in the VSP (vertical shoot positioning) training system and keeping the leaves and fruit clean from rot and disease. All the spays used are organic, but it’s been an ideal year for black rot, downy and powdery mildew, so I’ve had to stay on top of things. So far so good.

The clusters are small with smallish berries, but they have good exposure and an open canopy to keep things breezy and dry. The season has been cooler than normal and a bit wet, but we’re hoping for a rally, and so far August has warmed up and dried out. 2006 was another year that was wet and cool, and while FLX reds suffered, the aromatic whites excelled, so I’m hoping my 16 riesling vines can rise to the challenge. Verasion (when grapes change color from a nascent green to red or golden yellow) is still a month or so off, but my bird netting will be going up soon nonetheless, and I’ll keep spraying to fend off the rot. Until we see those grapes changing color, stay tuned for the next step in the birth of a FLX Riesling.

-Oscar the Grouch-