Rassie Vineyards Gewürztraminer

Last week I was standing next to a Concord vineyard and got my first big sensory cue that harvest is about to begin: the air smelled like Welch’s grape juice. Of course, I already knew that we were soon to start bringing in grapes; – vineyard visits and grape samples had brought this fully to my attention – but there is nothing like that first hit of grape smells permeating the air to really bring it home.

With recent conditions being generally warmer than usual and reasonably sunny and dry, we are running a touch early this year. As it is, tomorrow, first thing in the morning, we will be pressing our first load of grapes. Bacchus, a German variety bred from Riesling, Silvaner and Müller Thurgau, takes the honors this year. Bacchus is a wonderful grape with an exuberant fruitiness grown for us by John, Cindy and Mike Moorhead, and they have supplied us with this variety since the early 1980’s (at least). It will be a small pressing, with the juice destined to become a key part of the blend for our award-winning Falling Waters sparkling wine.

Later in the day, we’ll be processing Gewürztraminer from Alan Rassie’s vineyard. This variety can often be a heartbreaker. It has small, very tight clusters that, in overly wet years, can develop internal rot that destroys the grapes. No problems with that happening this year, though, and we see a very nice wine developing that you won’t want to miss.
In general, it appears that we are a little ahead of our normal harvest times, if only by a couple of days. The long-range weather forecast for September is calling for above normal temperatures, and only intermittent wet periods. This sounds lip-lickingly good to me—this period of ripening after veraison is critical, and not enough sun or too much rain and humidity can undo the benefits from favorable conditions earlier in the year. That’s not likely happening this year, though, so harvest 2018 is looking like a very happy story.
Looking ahead, we’ll be in full swing with Niagara, Fredonia, and Seyval this next week, having fresh Niagara and Fredonia grapes available on the weekend of the 15th (by preorder, please) and juices available starting on Monday, 9/17.

Bob Green
PIWC Executive Winemaker

The continued warm and relatively dry weather is giving us something that we don’t always have in our harvest—the ability to let fruit hang and ripen under full sun and heat. This time of the year we usually have to start considering trade-offs – carefully watching fruit quality and health of the leaves and often having to harvest before we would really like to beat the onset of deterioration from mold or disease. Right now, with the conditions we have been seeing, disease just isn’t a problem and we are free to let the fruit continue to develop sugar, burn up acid, and start tasting really good.

In one of the early Harvest Notes, I commented on the early onset in veraison in one of our grower’s Cabernet Franc vineyard. At that time, it was promising but too early to tell the ultimate effect this might have on final fruit quality and whether it would lead to accelerated development and an earlier harvest. Based on past experience I was betting “no” on early harvest. Most often when grapes are ahead of schedule coming into harvest, it always seems to even out by the end, and harvest ends up being at the normal time. So it was a bit of a surprise and a testament to this season’s great conditions when we tested the Cabernet Franc earlier this week and found that everything was indicating a fully mature crop. We harvested on October 2, and the grapes are now in the fermenter, on their way to becoming what looks to be a phenomenal example of this phenomenal variety.

Speaking of red wines, we pressed off the fermenting Chancellor, one of the earlier red varieties and the resulting young wine was deeply colored with nice berry-like aromas and full tannins. The Dornfelder has also completed fermentation and will soon be barreled for aging. Starting next week, we’ll be bringing in more of the late-season varieties, starting with Blaufränkisch and Carmine.

Another variety that is worth mentioning is Chardonnay. This year’s fruit was clean and ripe when delivered, with a nice balance in of sugar and acid. Last year’s Chardonnay was aged in 500L (132 gal) French oak puncheons, and this will be taken out of barrel in the coming week for bottling and to make room for the new vintage. These are special barrels—the size, just over twice the size of a normal barrel, changes the volume to surface area ratio and gives a more subtle and nuanced extraction of oak from the barrel. The result is a more elegant expression of fruit with a fine oak structure. Given the degree of perfection of the 2017 fruit, fermentation in these barrels should yield a truly spectacular wine.  Stay tuned for release in 2019!

Bob Green
PIWC Executive Winemaker

Contributed by Dan Wolfe, Associate Winemaker.

We ended with what was a beautiful week with a few days of constant rainfall. None the less, we continued crushing and pressing. In addition to Concord, we also crushed Chambourcin and Cabernet Franc grapes this week at the winery. Additionally, we pressed Catawba and Vidal grapes. If you haven’t stopped by yet to pick up your juice for home winemaking, we still have some available for pickup- call for availability or stop in to inquire. We continue to rack, ferment and filter this year’s harvest. We are also looking forward to selling our wines in PA grocery stores in addition to our own tasting rooms this year with the new changes in liquor laws.

Dan Wolfe joined Presque Isle Wine Cellars in 2011 and is our Associate Winemaker. Dan started making wines from wine kits in 2007 and the hobby quickly became an obsession. His habit then escalated to buying fresh grape juice at harvest time, and he started experimenting with blending different wines. Dan has entered his wines in many local and out of town competitions, bringing home Gold medals and best of show in places like California. He is a member of the American Wine Society and judges wine competitions locally and around the state.

Contributed by Dan Wolfe, Associate Winemaker.

This week we are beginning to crush our red grapes, and still pressing our white. We will be possessing Riesling, Vidal, Concord and Traminette (pictured above) this week.  Additionally we’ll be crushing Blaufrankisch, Cab Franc and Noiret. The weather continues to hold out making working conditions ideal- these conditions are also ideal for the grapes.

We are continuing to take orders for our Italian juice pails coming in at the end of the month- make sure to place your orders before it is too late. We still have Australian and local juice and young wines for sale daily at our winery- online ordering for these are also available.

Dan Wolfe joined Presque Isle Wine Cellars in 2011 and is our Associate Winemaker. Dan started making wines from wine kits in 2007 and the hobby quickly became an obsession. His habit then escalated to buying fresh grape juice at harvest time, and he started experimenting with blending different wines. Dan has entered his wines in many local and out of town competitions, bringing home Gold medals and best of show in places like California. He is a member of the American Wine Society and judges wine competitions locally and around the state.

Contributed by Dan Wolfe, Associate Winemaker.

This week has been another great week of weather and pressing. This week we processed Vignoles, Valvin Muscat, Cayuga, Steuben, Chambourcin, Gewurztraminer and Riesling. Many of these varieties are available to purchase as juice for our winemakers- click here to learn more. Customers are busy making their own wine as they come in for juice with containers as small as 6 gallons and as large as 60 gallon drums. No matter what your needs are we are here to help you with your wine making- call us with any questions you may have, we would love to talk wine with you! 814-725-1314.

See all the winemaking supplies we have available here.

Dan Wolfe joined Presque Isle Wine Cellars in 2011 and is our Associate Winemaker. Dan started making wines from wine kits in 2007 and the hobby quickly became an obsession. His habit then escalated to buying fresh grape juice at harvest time, and he started experimenting with blending different wines. Dan has entered his wines in many local and out of town competitions, bringing home Gold medals and best of show in places like California. He is a member of the American Wine Society and judges wine competitions locally and around the state.