Posted on May 11, 2016 by li_cindy416

They have their branding on every napkin they have.

The famous upside down tree.

One of the sculptures Walter Channing made.

The winery my friends and I decided to go to is Channing Daughters Winery, at 1927 Scuttlehole Road, Bridgehampton; it is about a 2 in a half hour drive from Manhattan. This place is known because of the various grapes they use to make every wine and the unique story behind upside down tree. The upside tree as we see it was caused by a storm several years ago, but to Walter Channing he saw the upside tree as an artwork which gave him the idea of making wooden sculptures it various ways to describe his wines.

For every wooden sculpture Walter Channing has made, he used them as the branding label; his famous branding label of course is his first inspiration the upside down tree. However, the branding label and sculptures aren’t the main reason that attracts customers to buy and taste their wines. The main reason is because the way they blend and the unique taste of their wines are what catches every customer’s attention. For instance, the Vervino Vermouth- Variation 5 this is a fortified wine that they made with neutral grape and sweetened with their local honey. They had botanicals added, they are musk melon, peaches, flowering basil, flowering dill, lemon balm, papalo, lemon verbena, and many more. Each botanical adds on a unique flavor to the wine which makes it unique and flavorful for the late summer.

Another wine that left a lasting memory to me was the red wine, Over & Over– Variation 8 -Long Island AVA. This wine was made with lots of effort, they used methods called ripasso and the solera system. By blending the two most common red wine making methods together the Channing Daughters team come up with a one and only unique wine. These two methods are unique because they use ½ of one grape production and blend it with another, then with that half they blend another half of it to another wine, continuously creating their over & over wine. Since, they blending different wines their grapes consist of Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Tocai, Sauvignon Blanc, Tocai Friulano, and many more.

In addition, their customer service from their staff is pretty well considering we only saw one person the whole time we were there for. He was in charge of preparing tasting wine for customers and explaining the knowledge of how and what each wine is made of. For every wine he poured for each customer was very explanatory and in details that showed the importance of each wine we tasted. Throughout the time we were at the winery we got to taste more than the two I mentioned earlier; we tried the 2014 Scuttlehole Chardonnay which consist of 100% Chardonnay, 2013 Sauvignon, 2013 Tocai Friulano- Sylvanus Vineyard, 2013 Vino Bianco, and the 2012 Brick Kiln Chardonnay. In the 2012 Brick Kiln Chardonnay, it had a very floral taste to it.

Last but not least, I want to talk about the way the whole winery was designed. It was being once you entered you would drive between two fields of grapes grown on the sides and enter a store with different wooden sculptures all around you. Since each wooden sculpture was made by Walter Channing, he wanted every customer to see what he has made and where his inspiration all came from. Each wooden sculpture had its own meaning to it. Thanks to the Channing Daughters Winery, I experienced something new and gained a lot of knowledge that I didn’t have before.

Winery and Vineyard Visit Blog

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Eliana Guerron

I decided to go to Millbrook Vineyards and Winery. It is considered one of the top wineries in New York State and is located in the Hudson River Valley. They have been in business since the 1970’s. They have an extension of 130 acres where only 30 are planted with few varieties. Less than half of the vineyard is planted with Chardonnay, the rest is Cabernet Frank, Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Tocai Friulano. This vineyard produces wines with French and Italian wine making techniques. This area used to be a dairy farm. They have been making wines for 30 years with the first commercial vintage in 1985.

The employees were very attentive from the time I entered the attendant ask me if I would like to attend the tasting or the tour. I chose both. I am glad I was able to tried the 6 wines they offered. I liked the blend of Riesling, Traminette, Tocai Friulano, and Pinot Grigio. It had notes of peach and melon on the palate, however I enjoyed more the 100 percent Riesling they offered because it was not as sweet as the previous one. The attendant of the tasting room was very knowledgable about the different wines, grape varieties , and food pairing. I asked him if the wines were organic and he said the vineyard do not use Fertilization or Irrigation but sometimes they have to use Fungicide. I also was surprised about the third wine Pinot Noir on the nose you can feel the strawberry and cherry with notes of violet, so on the palate you also can taste the same combination of berries. It was unusual because normally with wine you feel one thing in the nose an another thing in the palate. I told the attendant what I was experiencing and he told me I was right. At the end of the tasting of the wines we also tasted olive oil with bread produced in Tuscany, but bottled here. It was really good. This experience made me realize that because I study wine now I am able to critique wine in a professional manner. The glasses we used for the tasting had the logo of I Love New York on one side and the logo of the vineyard on the other side. It was ours to keep as a souvenir.

We continued the tour on how they make the wine. We entered in an area where they have the stainless steel tanks and then the area where they keep the barrels. The tour guide first told us how they hand pick the grapes then the fermentation process lasts from 6 to 20 months. He showed us how the color of the grape juice changes from one day to the next day when they make red wine and the skin is kept with the juice for color. I saw a barrel where you can see the inside through a glass and ask him about it, he explained to us about the Malolactic Fermentation and the sediments, Leeds that form on the bottom of the barrel. The tour guide also told us how Cold Stabilization in white wine forms crystals in the wine called Tartaric Acid. The winery removes it and sells it to another company to be processed as a tartar powder. Then we went to see the bottling process where they bottle 270 bottles at a time in a machine in circular motion and they only used solid corks.
I really enjoyed this experience. I definitely would like to come back to Millbrook Vineyard. They said the best time to come is in the summer and fall. It would have been nice if the restaurant had been open for visitors all year round.

Life cicle of the vine

Vineyard

Marketing of the wine

Tasting room

Wine making

Vineyard from above

Frost

Posted on April 29, 2016 by Prof. Karen Goodlad

We spend a lot of time talking about frost, I thought this article could make the issue more real: http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/Frost-Strikes-France’s-Burgundy-and-Loire-Wine-Regions

Dundee Hills, Oregon: Pinot Noir Country and So Much More

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Prof. Karen Goodlad

In March 2014 I was in the Oregon wine country, touring tasting and learning. Learning a lot. I drove north from Salem towards Dundee, and at first I felt that the wine country was quite similar to Long Island but boy was I wrong. Yes, there were flat places and a maritime climate. Yes, there were sod farms and farm stands with local produce but that is about where it ends. What I thought were apple trees were filbert trees, where on Long Island there would be flat land at every turn in the Willamette Valley a turn off the road can lead up a steep hill.

The maritime climate was showing at its peak with grey skies, a deep dense fog and a constant mist and light rain. It was cool and the damp March air was heavy, blanketing the vines as they rested for the winter. I was able to just see the faint outlines of the hills that surround the valley and the pine trees that tower over head with their commanding presence. Their beauty helped make this region unique.

On Dundee hill various vineyard management philosophies were evident. At White Rose Winery: http://whiteroseestate.com/ the vines were trained very close to the ground to accommodate for the fog that often covers their vineyards. With some vines pruned and others still showing their canes the growth that takes place was evident. The pruned vines sat just inches from the ground but the canes shot up over six feet from the ground. I had seen this type of pruning before but only in books.

Just a few hundred yards away was Domaine Drouhin: http://www.domainedrouhin.com/en/ and Archery Summit: http://www.archerysummit.com/, their properties are adjacent to each other but their planting styles are worlds apart. At Domaine Drouhin their vines are planted very close together, spaced about three feet apart and four feet wide. This dense planting results in more vines per acre than many of the surrounding vineyards but they tend to drop a significant amount of fruit leading to similar yields per acre. Archery is on the south side of the hill and uses wider planting and a north-south planting pattern.

This is Pinot Noir country and the wines express their sites beautifully. Though, through all this Pinot Noir I was surprised to see chardonnay on the tasting menu at Domaine Drouhin. They use a Dijon clone and have had great success in this cool maritime climate. Earlier wine makers tried to use other clones with less success, Drohin, however, shows beautifully with a balance between a crisp French style and new world expressions.

My visit to Domaine Serene http://www.domaineserene.com/ was inspired by Prof. Roger Dagorn, MS. “A must see” he said and he was right. I found elegance here, not only in the wine but in the winery too. The lawn and winery are immaculate and all encompassing with a wrought iron mastodon on the lawn created by a local artist representing a time long gone. The wines I tried were the Evenstad Reserve, 2009 and 2012 Pinot Noir they had red fruits on the nose and pallet yet was beautifully spicy as well. The heat of the 2009 vintage was evident and will ensure the wine lasts for many years to come.

My last visit was to The Four Graces http://thefourgraces.com/, a wine we use in the wine class to show the style of Oregon Pinot Gris. Unlike the previous wineries the tasting room for Four Graces is on the valley floor at the edge of the town of Dundee. The tasting experience here was warm and friendly, relaxed yet intense with site specific details. Here I did not stay with only Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc from their various vineyards but of course tried their Pinot Noirs as well. Of outstanding mention was the Black Family Estate wines http://thefourgraces.com/vineyards/black-family-estate-vineyard.html. Though they are labeled as Willamette Valley they are predominately Dundee. This was among the most full body of the Pinots I tasted on this day and well worth my final stop.

As in many wine producing areas locally sourced food is of great importance. If you ever do get a chance to visit the Willamette Valley be sure to have lunch at Red Hills Market http://www.redhillsmarket.com/. They offer local food at great prices. The roasted ham sandwich with honey butter and melted gruyere was a treat as was the salad made with those local filberts that seem to be everywhere. Finish with a Stumptown coffee and then head back to Portland.

So, as I sit and write this post I am happy to add another wine region to my travels, another experience spent talking to people with passion and a deep understanding of their vineyards and wine. I love that in so many of the wine regions I have traveled there is outstanding locally sourced food and art that inspires. Wine has a way of bringing the best of what is available to one place and that is evident in Willamette Valley.