I had an amazing chance to visit a vineyard and not just any vineyard, Millbrook Vineyards & Winery located 26 Wing Road, Millbrook, NY 12545. 1121. Upon my arrival I was greeted warmly and I was welcomed with warm arms. Millbrook is apart of the Hudson Valley AVA, which is one of the newest AVA’s established in New York State. The techniques that they use are standard industry procedures. They harvest grapes at brix level between 21% and 23% because it gives them the yield 12% to 13% on their wines. Everything is hand harvested straight to the crush pad, then inflate bladder which is pushing the juice out from the grapes.

There are multiple grape varieties grown: the white grapes are: Traminette, Riesling, Chardonnay, Tocai Friulano, and Pinot Grigio (which is not grown there, but in California). These grapes are pressed, and then brought inside for cold fermentation and this process is slower without the addition of yeast.Unlike the white grapes the red grapes are all grown there and they are: Pinot noir, and Cabernet Franc. The red grapes are harvested just the same but they incorporate the crushed grapes with the juice to perform maceration (23 days to 7 weeks) depending on what they want it to look like. The rose process goes through saignee which is also known as the bleeding process which goes through one press. Oaking smooths out rough tannins and polished acicity. If oaked it goes to the oak barrel after fermentation. Partially oakes shas one acreage which contains Tocai Friulano which is located on their (Lollipop Hill) and oaked for 6 months lightly. All their reds are fully oaked. Fully oaked, fermented, and straight from crushed to barrel (for 8 months) are their reserved chardonnays. Every single cork is natural from the bark of cork oak trees. TCA (Trichloroanisole) is somethings that detects a taste of “corkiness.”

Special Attributes AVA, Millbrook is known for hudson Valley Cabernet Franc. The owner is John Dyson, and he founded HVCF. Pioneer of Farm Winery Act Passed in 1976 which has helped aging farm to winery. This gives additional tax breaks.

The importance of barrel aging in that there is a combination of mostly French and American oak (mostly neutral oak) which is more than three years old and less than ten (no longer imparting flavor into wine). Barrel aging also helps malolactic fermentation and converted into lactic acid which is for a mouth feel (what you taste v.s what your brain recognizes. Battonage is the process of starting lees. This is a special metal baton that stirs the lees bag into the aging wine. Battonage and lees are important for malolactic and malolactic is second fermentation. This could be a base wine where you put into barrel to age and add flavors.

I visited Millbrook Vineyards & Winery.

The wine tasting set up per guest.

One of the wines for sale that my mom ended up buying.

Equipment used for making the wine.

The grape vines.

Macari Vineyard & Winery Front

Macari Vineyard & Winery Front of the Tasting Room.Standing in front of the building right in front of the entrance and beautiful green garden.

Today, I took a trip to North Fork of Long Island and had visited Macari Vineyard & Winery located on 150 Bergen Ave, Mattituck, NY 11952. The North Fork of long island is located in eastern Suffolk County, New York. This area is divided into two island forks, which is the North Fork of Long Island AVA and the Hampton’s AVA in the South Fork. It is the home to a Maritime climate. Long Island is significantly influenced by water.

Macari Vineyard & Winery- Tasting Room

One Section of the Tasting Room.

Wine Tasting List

Macari Winery had numerous wines they sold/ offer for their tastings. I glanced at the variety of wines presented in front of me. A few struck my mind as I noticed they were the exact ones that were tasted during class. I was unable to try the tasting menu because I was observing a fast today for a religious holiday. Unfortunately the one day I was available to visit the winery coincided with the day I had to fast. The wine tasting was per glass and the prices were different for each of the wine they were offering.

GrapeVines

Macari Winery is about an hour and a half from where I reside. As I was approaching the winery I felt eager to learn all about the winery and excited because it was my first time being at one. There were grapevines on the left and was able to see which season they are in Bud Break. (Study Guide 2018.) The initial appearance of green shoots growing out of dormant buds each spring. During April/May the first signs of life occur, sap rises up and the buds begin to break.

(Photo 1)Equipment used to make wine.

(Photo 2) Equipment use to make wine.

At the Macari Winery I was not able to see the production of the barrel and the steps of how the wine is made. I was only able to see how it was made from a large distance. The production area had difference colored flowers dangling down in a row and gave the atmosphere a warmer feel.

Selling Sparkling Wine called Horses 2016

Inside of the Winery one of the wines they were selling was called Horses 2016. It is a Cabernet Franc and sparkling wine. It is also a limited production. Horses 2016 received its name based off the shape of the Macari Vineyard.

Work Cited:

1.) https://macariwines.com

2.) https://winefolly.com/review/lifecycle-of-a-wine-grapevine/

3.) (For all vocabulary words bolded)- Certified Specialist of Wine: Study Guide 2018. Washington, DC: Society of Wine Educators, 2018.

For the vineyard report, I chose Franklin Hill Vineyard as a location to visit. The estate is located on Franklin Hill Road in Bangor, PA. Pennsylvania is fifth in wine production in the United States. “Pennsylvania’s climate – hot summers and cold winters – is more like Europe than California or Australia and presents the ideal terroir for emerging French-American hybrid grapes, and traditional wine varieties” (“Pennsylvania Wine Travel Guide,” n.d., para.4). Elaine Pivinski is the owner of the Franklin Hill Vineyard, and she has been operating the vineyard since 1976. Her vineyard is the Lehigh Valley’s oldest winery and the third winery region in Pennsylvania. Elaine had no wine-making experiences before she went into the wine business. However, her business became more and more prosperous with help from her families and friends. As Elaine said, “believe in yourself – That is always a homerun. That would be the name of my wine,” (P. Elaine, 2019). Franklin Hill has grown from 3,000 barrels per year, to 60,000 per year. They grow different grape varieties such as Vida Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet France, Cabernet Sauvignon.

This was a grape vine from Franklin Hill Vineyard, and the grape vines were all in the dormant stage

An old grape wine. The cordon of the old grape vine looked more thicker compare to the new vine

These are the fermentation tanks and filter machine that I saw in the winery

We went to the Franklin Hill Vineyard on a Saturday morning, and we arrived almost half hour earlier than the reservation time. We saw a huge vineyard in front of us and the grape vines were all in the dormant stage. We were greeted by a hostess asking if we would like to take a walk around the vineyard. She roughly talked about the history of the winery, and leaded us to get closer to look at the grape vines. The newest grape vines were planted around seven to eight years ago. At the beginning, the grape vines were not growing very well because there was no rain, and the grass took all the nutrient from the grape vines. So, the owner decided to use the trickle irrigation in order to feed enough of water to the grape vines. Then, the hostess took us to another grape vineyard to see the older grape vines. I could easily see the different between the new grape vine and old grape vine. The cordon of the old grape vine looked more thicker compare to the new vine, and the old grape vine had more spur. After we visited the vineyard, we came into the winery. In a room, the hostess showed us many of the pictures about the history of the vineyard. She talked about how the vineyard was established, how much effort the owner had put in, and how they won the Penn State wine-making competition. This reward gave Elaine more confidence to focus on her wine business. After that, the hostess finally took us to see their stainless-steel fermentation tanks. The room’s temperature was controlled at 61 degrees Fahrenheit. When we walked in the room, we could already smell the yeast and feel the temperature change rapidly. They do filtration before bottling their wines in order to improve the look of the wine. Then we took a walk to their storehouse. In there, these wines were already pack up in cases and ready to sell. They ship wines across the country, and they have 5% discount for buying a half case (6-11 bottles), and a 10% discount for buying a case of wine (12 bottles).

This was their wine bottling machine

This was the storehouse. These wines were already pack up in cases and ready to sell.

The large stainless steel wine fermentation tanks

We were tasting wines in the wine tasting room

In the tasting room, they offered their six newly released wines for us to taste. It cost only 5 dollars! I ordered three white wines, the Seyval Blanc, Cake and Vidal Blanc, two reds, the RedHead and Sir Walter’s Red, and the last one was the rosé, Kiss. For the Seyval Blanc, I smelled apple, melon and some woods. In the palate, it was dry and citrusy. The Cake impressed me a lot, it smelled buttery, and tasted like vanilla beans, with some extra flavor of yeast and honey.

Seyval Blanc, it tasted dry, citrusy and with a little bit of tannin

After we left the Franklin Hill Vineyard, we went to another vineyard called M&M Vineyard which was only about 10 mins road trip away from the vineyard we just visited. This vineyard was established only three years ago. The owner told us they spent two years looking for land after they had retired. In addition, the owner and his wife were both microbiologist, which fortunately included inventive training in fermentation technologies. They believed they could use the knowledge they learned by creating something very special—wine. This passion drove them to open their own winery and vineyard. “Our site was chosen with the assistance of local and state level viticulture experts and assessment of many different properties for their suitability in supporting robust vine growth” (S. Mohinder, 2019). They planted the grape vines in 2016, and they have grown pretty well so far. They grow Vidal Blanc, Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc, Point Noir, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. They do offer wine tasting, which only costed five dollars, and you can taste seven different types of wine. However, they only sell their wines locally, so you won’t have the chance to buy their wine online. Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take a tour to see the inside of their winery because it is not open for public. Hence, we only had the chance to take a look at their grape vine which was very small and thin. It was about only two feet high.

We took this photo in front of the M&M Vineyard, you could see those new grape vines were very small and thin

Overall, this was a great experience and I had a fantastic time with my classmates. It was also my first time visiting a vineyard, and it was a very valuable and educational trip for me. I had the chance to learn about wine techniques and a rundown of fermentation a wine.

References:

Lehigh Valley’s Oldest Winery │Franklin Hill Vineyards. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://franklinhillvineyards.com/

M&M Vineyards. (n.d.). Welcome to M&M Vineyards. Retrieved from https://mmvineyards.com/

Pennsylvania Wine Travel Guide. (2018, August 24). Retrieved from

https://carpe-travel.com/pennsylvania-wine-guide/

The vineyard I decided to visit is Shinn Estate Vineyards located in North Fork (Mattituck), Long Island. Here I had got the experience through the vineyards thats been around for almost two decades. Of course, this is a small vineyard and winery that is family owned and are all about vintage. April 2017, the former owners Barbara Shinn and David Page sold over the vineyard and winery to Randy and Barbara Frankel.

They too now focus on the Biodynamic and organic farming in order for the winemaking process to have an accurate outcome on the viticulture.A fun fact about Shinn Estate is that it is 1 of 3 vineyards that include all ingredients in the back of wine bottle labels. Shinn Estate Vineyards consists of 20 planted acres, a renovated Wine Library. The grape varieties grown here are: Malbec, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon, and one of my favorites Riesling. And now in June 2017, they introduced their first ever Rosé called Rose Hill Rosé that is a blend of Merlot, Riesling and Chardonnay. It has a dry and crisp flavor with a light after taste. Might be because it has the aroma of strawberry and other tropical fruits.

Because this wine tasted very delicate and unique I was curious about what would be a food pairing for this rosé, and was told by one the employees that it would be best paired with Shellfish such as Sautéed Mussels and even poultry like a chicken salad. I was very surprised when they brought out the Rose because it was said that the rainy days was sometimes a problem when grape growing because the soil would get ‘moldy’ and ‘dewey’ what we would call diurnal temperatureswith plenty of rain shadow. This would cause the grapes to take longer to ripen. This Rosé along with the other grapes for the wines are harvested by had, when it through the fermentation stage, it is done with natural yeasts.

The equipment used for the winemaking are stainless steel barrels and the usual oak barrels used for the fermentation process. the grapes are placed one they are selected for wine production. This grapes take longer to ferment using these barrels because it is stainless steel

Looking around I see white wines, red wines, sparkling wines and like mentioned before, the newest addition, the Rosé

In the tasting room, I take a look at some of their wines. I also discovered that their wine can be found around restaurants in NYC such as the Gramercy Tavern, Rainbow Room, Blue Hill and some others mentioned, but can’t remember.

Grape Vines: Here are the grape vines going through the Bud BreakStage. Because the temperatures here are diurnal, sometimes this stage takes longer to take place because heat and sunlight is needed. The weather in Long Island tends to be rainy, which then turns the soil very moldy and too difficult for it to maintain dry for the grapes to ripen.

Wine Testing Menu

Employee was explaining to me about their winery and vineyard.

“Be open minded and get out of the comfort zone”, it was the first sentence I heard when I explained that I am a student who is studying wine in college.
There are way too many wines out in the world, and people think that wine will be good if the price is expensive. But some of the wines are just expensive because they are somehow well known. 

Gate of vineyard was close, so could not get closer look of vine.

Channing Daughter Winery is mineral soil, and climates of maritime with water from sea. The Vineyard grows and makes 6 different rose grape variety, 17 white, 4 pink, 4 orange (skin Fermentation of white), 18 red, 2 fortified, 6 Vervino Vermouth (Aromatized fortified), 3 sparkling, and 6 Petillant Naturel.
Because they make so much of different types of wine and prefer manual-harvest, decided to partner up with North Fork Vineyard, and makes wine with half of their grapes.

Still next to the wine tasting room – Vinification facilities are not open for customers.

Wine tasting room

As I joined the wine tasting, employee was repeating the word Flight which is the industrial explanation of trying wine. As we flight, he explained about the wine we try, and educated customers in to the wine in general. For example, when one of the customer was asking to have champagne, he started to talk about “method champenois”, and “riddling”.

During the wine tasting

He also talked about how all of their rose wines are bottle fermented and as wines are filter more and more, they lose its flavor more and more.
And also, there should be a guide line of making wine, but no rules should judge any wine making process because no one knows what kind of great wines can come out when its free of those rules.

Sediment of white wine (yeast)

During the wine tasting, I was able to see the sediment of Tocai Friulano which is the white wine. It came out of last pour of the bottle.

Vervino wine which puts the picture of its aroma instead of explanation in the word

Vervino wine is one of the very special wine that they carry. It’s fortified and automatized wine. With grape brandy it makes the beautiful aroma, and it’s slightly sweetens with a little bit of local honey. Everyone in the tasting room enjoyed this wine so much. But the only concern about this wine is that aroma is too strong, it overcomes every other flavor and last very long.

Wines for sale that were not on the tasting.

Wines for sale that used for tasting.

Wine club info

They do have a wine club for free every month, providing 11 different types of wine, and and 2 bottles to take home. It surely was amazing experience, to learn more details about wine.

Citation :
1. All About Orange Wine. (2018, November 01). Retrieved from https://winefolly.com/review/orange-wine/
2. Is manual harvest really better than mechanical harvest? No! | BKWine Magazine |. (2017, October 04). Retrieved from https://www.bkwine.com/features/winemaking-viticulture/raw-truth-manual-mechanical-harvest/
3. Parts of the Grape Vine: Shoots. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://articles.extension.org/pages/31098/parts-of-the-grape-vine:-shoots
4. About Our Wines. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.channingdaughters.com/about-our-wines-1