On December 4, 2004 we loaded up the car and travelled to Millbrook Vineyards & Winery in Millbrook, NY. This is one pf the largest operation in NY State at about 8,000 cases of wine per annum according to their literature. We took the tour and standard tasting ($5 per head) and had the good fortune to be guided by John Graziano, their winemaker since the winery was founded in 1985.
The winery sits on 130 acres of land that formerly belonged to the Wing family. Currently 30 acres are under vine, not all of which are mature (producing). This accounts for only part of the fruit used in wine production with the remainder being grown in two subsidiary vineyards in California (Williams & Selyem and Pebble Ridge) or purchased from vineyards in the Finger Lakes region and Long Island, both in NY State.
The vineyards are all located on the southwestern faces of the hills that comprise the vineyards. The rows run north-south and are spaced at about 10 feet. This allows all the vines to recieve direct sunlight all day long. Four ponds were added to the landscape to act has a heat source, thus creatying a controlled micro-climate. The water holds heat and releases it into the ground thus lengthening the growing season on nearby fields. Pretty neat.
They grow several varieties of grapes: Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc and I forget what else. All activity on this estate reflects a desire on the part of the owner to emulate as closely as possible the French methodology. This forces a specific set of grapes, wines and production styles while eliminating any chance of innovative wine produciton or introduction to take place. There will never be a fruit wine or blend (other than grapes). No local "flavor." Francophiles.....hrumph!
There are two processes used at this estate for the production of wine, one for red wines, the other for white.
Red wines are made by crushing the grapes in a large plastic vessel used for the primary fermentation. The must is then inoculated with a French yeast culture (strain unknown to me, and I knew better than to ask) and allowed to ferment for about a week on top of the mash (skins, stems and everything else). The mash floats to the top of the must (a result of the CO2 produced as a byproduct of fermentation) and is punched down into the must at eight hour intervals.
After fermentation is complete, which is determined by measuring the residual sugars, the must is filtered through a 17-stage steel filter to remove the mash and put into 60 gallon oak barrels to age. The barrels are of two varieties, American and French. The American barrels cost around $250 each, while the French are near $900 (actual price varying depending on the value of the Euro).
White wines are made by crushing the grapes similarly, but the mash is removed and the must is innoculated and fermented either in a stainless steel vessel, or oak barrels depending on the result desired. Fermenting in steel allows for emphasis of the flavors of the fruit; fermenting in oak infuses the wine more heavily with the qualities of that wood.
After fermentation and barrel aging, both types of wine undergo an identical process. All barrels of a single type are emptied into a large stainless steel vessel and blended to ensure consistency in the batch. This is necessary as there will always be variation in the wine from barrel to barrel.
There is one variation in the process here. White wines are chilled, a process known as tempering or cold-stabilizing, which causes the formation of tartrate crystals (know as wine diamonds) in the wine. The tartrate crystals are removed during filtering, to provide a more visually appealing product. There is no relationship between their formation and the taste or quality of the wine.
The wine is then filtered through the steel sieve and pumped through a diatomaceous earth (DE) filter on its way to the bottling machine. This filtering causes the resultant product to be crystal clear. The DE filtering eliminates the need for fining (clearing) over time by allowing the suspended particulate matter to settle to the bottom and thereby both speeds the process and eliminates waste as no wine is lost in the sediment cake.
Bottling is a semi-automated process involving an Italian-made bottling machine and four operators. Bottles are blown out with a high pressure air stream, given a N2 charge, displacing the air, filled and corked. A plastic capsule is applied and the completed bottle of wine is labeled and boxed.
The age-old process of converting sugar into alcohol and CO2 is alive and well. The methods employed remain the same regardless of the source of the sugar, the fermenting agent, or the scale of the operation. The differences are in the details: Where you get your sugars, what strain of yeast you use, what you age your wine in, how you process it before bottling, how it is stored. This is what determines the nature of your product.
Fermenting is fermenting. Wine is wine.