Being born and raised in New York City, I thought I saw all that the city had to offer. Red Hook winery is a hidden gem in pier 41. The walk to Red Hook winery was breath taking. I would never think there was so many little factories and stores hidden in this pier.
The moment I walked into Red Hook winery, the first thing i noticed was the 5 large oak barrels in the middle that served as tables. We met Bob Foley, who owns a vineyard in Napa Valley. Bob came in as a special guest just to speak to us about his experience on viticulture and viniculture. Bob Foley’s most famous bottle is the Claret which is a blend between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
Bob worked with wine for over 20 years and said the fundamentals of wine making was flavor, texture, aroma and color. For red wine, they ferment musk. For white wine, juice will be fermented. During fermentation, yeast and sugar will convert into alcohol and carbon dioxide. Red wines should be fermented between 70°- 85°F and White wines should be fermented between 45°- 60°F. There are three different ways of temperate control but Red Hook winery uses Air conditioner for control.
I was glad to see how a winery produced wine in person. We learned so much about viticulture, its nice to see what happens after the harvest. After doing research prior to visiting the winery, I already had some knowledge as how the fermentation process worked. Visiting the winery, seeing the barrels and tasting the wine before the bottling process was a great learning experience.
