The Viti+Culture Podcast

As we explore North Carolina wine, this winemaking veteran crafts a dizzying array of beautiful wines in the Yadkin Valley. If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube. Check out Childress Vineyards at:https://childressvineyards.comVisit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com. Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Travelogue Series: I start a multi-episode travelogue exposition in 2022, by visiting North Carolina and the Yadkin Valley. In this multi-part series on North Carolina, we’ll explore the Yadkin Valley, meet with producers, and feature several interviews for the YouTube portion of the show with those producers. We will feature Finger Lakes producers in between, and ultimately also explore The Hill Country in Texas, and the wine-growing regions of Idaho. * Please excuse errors in the text, this was dictated and gently edited.North CarolinaWhen I moved to the Finger Lakes a decade ago, I was hungry to find as much information as possible about the region. I wanted to find books magazine articles, podcasts, and nearly anything that would shed light on the history of the region that I was moving to. At that time, there really weren’t very many publications. At the very least, I couldn’t seem to find a short history of how the finger Lakes and become one of the most discussed emerging regions in the United States. There was of course the wonderful book, Summer in a Glass, by Evan Dawson, in which he follows a number of different winemakers through the growing season 2009 in the Finger Lakes. In the absence of such a book, I set out to write one of my own, with much more of an eye towards content marketing for our new winery, and dug into all of the old journals, periodicals, and textbooks on American wine I could find. I published A Sense of Place in 2014, and have been able to use it as a great tool to help educate customers and even tasting room associates. I wasn’t able to find anything quite like that on North Carolina, and realized a lot of the lessons I would learn would have to be done on the ground.The Yadkin Valley is vast, covering more than 1,300,000 acres. With such a large span of land, I knew that there was going to have to be variation in the topography, and even the climate to a certain extent, within the AVA. I was a bit surprised flying from my layover in Atlanta into Greensboro, to see a dusting of snow covering the ground. For the cold climate winemaker, I just assumed that North Carolina would be significantly warmer than the finger Lakes I had left behind. I was surprised at the temperature spread on the ground that morning was only about 10°, with a balmy 31°F when I landed. Setting out from the airport, and passing through Winston Salem, more than anything else I just wanted to get a feel for the lay of the land. Whenever I arrive in a new place, in order to get my bearings in a sense for what the place looks and feels like, I’d like to just go for a drive. It gives me a better understanding of where the towns are that get referenced in conversation, what some of the local historical landmarks are, and even where the politics of a place takes place. Knowing that I was in the Yadkin Valley, and heading west from Winston Salem towards Yadkin County, and the Yadkin River, I figured why not plug Yadkinville into my GPS.I had broken up my trip into visiting the southern portion of the EVA for the first day and a half, and the northern portion of the AVA on the second and third days. Highway 218 seems to cut the AVA in half so it was a good working point to begin to discover some of the different wineries I had a particular interest in tasty.To choose just a few wineries in an emerging wine region is an extraordinarily difficult job. In a sense it’s kind of a gamble, you rely on reputation, customer reviews, and references from people who are much more expertise in the region and then yourself, but so much of wine still comes down to personal taste, and aesthetics. What I had decided I wanted to do, in pursuing a slightly deeper understanding of the AVA, was to look at oneThat was an anchor in terms of the history of the region, to look at a winery that was relatively new, but small and focused on extraordinary quality, and to look at one of the biggest producers in the AVA with an extraordinary offering of a variety of different ones. I figured I would have a chance to taste several other wineries along the way and include them in this report.Because in so many ways this was a last minute trip many of the people I reached out to likely hadn’t even opened their inbox by the time I was heading out of town. It was the period just after New Year’s, and often times it’s pretty slow start in the new year in the wine industry. I had however, gotten replies from Shelton, that winery that I referenced as a pioneer in the AVA, and really one of the reasons why there is a Yadkin Valley a View today. I had received word back from Childress, the the winery name and founded by Richard Childress, of NASCAR fame. North Carolina is NASCAR country, and Richard Childress has built one of the largest brands, in fact one of the few I had heard of before traveling to North Carolina, while making wine in New York. I also received word from Diana Jones, of Jones Von Drehle, one of the wineries at the northern end of the AVA, and one that had come extremely highly recommended.  Some of the wineries on my shortlist included Ray Lyn, Raffaldino, Shadow Springs, and a handful of others. I guess from the perspective of somebody who is trying to discover a new wine region, one of my only frustrations was not having more direct links to members of winery staff where I could email or contact them directly. I realize this is a problem on my own website, and after experiencing this, something I’ll be change. Sometimes the ease of having an inbox that serves as a catch-all becomes a crutch for us small business owners, but as someone who is seeking some very specific answers to some very specific questions, it can make sense to ensure that those individuals with deeper questions can reach winemakers directly.In any event, I arrived in Yadkinville, crossing the Yadkin River, and decided to head to town where I could pick up some bottled water and a couple snacks and see what the town offered. Yadkinville is a small town, there doesn’t seem to be much of a culinary scene, and it really is just the county seat. It’s where you go to get permits, and like we have your county planning board meetings. There wasn’t much by way of a presence of wine in the town, but I did notice when I stopped in to the local grocery store, Food Lion, and realized this was a state that sells wine in grocery stores, and they had a small selection of some of the local producers, with Childress being one of them. The wines on offer were very basic, emphasizing the muscadine production of sweet wines from local producers, but there were a few dry reds and whites included on the shelf. Since Yadkinville marked in the center of the AVA, and it was getting to be towards the middle of the afternoon, I figured I would enter wineries into my GPS to see if any were open, and get back on the road. Leaving the main highway I drove beautiful winding roads and very gentle hills in what was largely agricultural countryside. I drove by a winery called Bradford Hills, which was a very small tasting room and an out-building, a small but well manicured vineyard, and it look like a fantastic place to visit on a beautiful summer day. It didn’t look like it would be open until after my flight was departing on Friday, and I quickly realized that I likely would not have a chance to taste many of the wineries that I hadn’t made contact with, during the middle of the week. This meant that a lot of the small producers, wineries about my own winery’s size and smaller, would have to wait for another trip.After taking some pictures I set back out onto the road, looking at my GPS and seeing what wineries I would be passing on my way to Lexington, where Childress is located and where my hotel room was booked. I noticed that RayLyn could be reached with a small detour. From my research it was a winery that I really wanted to taste at, and I noticed they were open, so I made my way. Even though it is winter, there’s still more sun and warmth then we get in the finger Lakes. The grass was still green, though the trees were bare, and the bare trees opened up the countryside even more so that you could see the hills and buildings, that were off in the distance. Making my way from Bradford Hill winery, the landscape became less dramatic, slightly flatter, but retaining the same intrinsic quality. Passing fields that had recently been ploughed, the deep tones of brick and garnet that marked the clay that is found all throughout this region, was everywhere. My GPS led me to RaeLyn Vineyards, and upon entering I was impressed. The site was easily accessible from many of the main highways, and from that perspective, it seems to be ideally situated to attract a steady flow of customers. One of the things I’ve learned as a producer, especially one in an emerging region, is how important it is to be able to attract customers in as convenient of a location as possible. When so much of your business depends on people knocking on that cellar door, you want that door to be easily accessible. RayLyn was marked with a beautiful gate as an entrance, and a a gentle drive through the vineyards towards the tasting room in winery. I passed a small new planting of strawberries and several young rows of blueberries. I particularly like when wine wineries are able to integrate other forms of agriculture into their farms. Whether they are used for any sort of wine production, I think it encapsulates this idea of our responsibility to the soil and to the earth. It also reminds us of the other forms of agriculture that we can be excited about. I’ve begun integrating more produce at our winery, planting cucumbers and tomatoes, peppers and squash, and hope to grow this out in the future.Approaching the parking lot at Ray Lynn, there’s a very nice outdoor tent that they seem to be able to use for banquets or weddings, and likely overflow for the tasting room if the weather is inclement. At this point in the afterno

John Martini, together with his wife Ann, have farmed grapes in the Finger Lakes since 1973. It’s been a long journey, and it’s time for the next generation to captain this ship.If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube. John Martini, who along with his wife Ann, began planting grapes in the Finger Lakes in 1973 after a move to the region from New Jersey.  John and Ann have managed to build a family run Finger Lakes wine brand on the West side of Seneca Lake with Anthony Road Wine Company, endured hard times and great times, and have crafted a legacy their four children and their spouses have a right to be proud of today.  This interview comes as John has passed the torch to his children, and ensured the winery is in good hands for the next generation. Check out Anthony Road Wine Company at: https://anthonyroadwine.com/ Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

We start our discussion on the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina with this great piece from Leisure Group Travel:https://leisuregrouptravel.com/tasty-discoveries-await-travelers-in-yadkin-valley-wine-country/Episode 0031:Wine Reads – January 13, 2022Winter was delayed here in the Finger Lakes, with a fairly wet but warm fall and early winter, by our standards at least, which lulled us into a sense of complacency. Yesterday, however, we had a high of 10° and we’re looking at a few days next week with lows in the negatives. Fortunately most of the vineyards look to be hilled up. In cold regions like this we have a practice called hilling up, where using our tractor, we take some of the dirt from under the vine and pull it up over the base of the vine in a mound. This is meant to protect the graft union, that portion of the vine where native roots stock is grafted onto vitis vinifera. This little bit of a dirt blanket, helps to protect the vine and that extremely susceptible and tender graft Union.  As I mentioned in our previous wine reads, for the first time in many, many years, I’ve planned some trips, some expeditions to far-flung wind regions throughout the United States. I return on Friday from the Yadkin Valley, in North Carolina. I had the opportunity to taste with some truly remarkable producers. Farmers growing grapes in North Carolina face additional growing pressures I don’t really need to think about in the Finger Lakes, and are experimenting with varietals on a very wide scale. The sheer number of different vinifera varietals the folks are growing in North Carolina is impressive. A wide range of French grapes, Italian grapes, and even some Spanish grapes, are being successfully produced in this 1.4 million acre AVA. I have a full report that I’m working on that will be up soon.  Our look at North Carolina will start with a travelogue, both on our podcast and on our YouTube channel, which will examine the breadth in the variety that you will find in this particular corner of North Carolina. That report will be followed by several episodes of interviews with producers in the region. These producers are all very different, and all very unique. Each have their own special niche when it comes to the North Carolina wine industry.Next week, I’m off to Texas Hill Country, and will be attending the Texas Hill Country Wine Symposium.  I’m really looking forward to sharing my thoughts on this region.As I’ve mentioned countless times, but I’ll do it again for our new listeners, my wife is from Toulouse, in southern France. We visit her family as often as we can, and every time we do we always take several days, more if we can, and visit many of the different wine regions throughout the South of France. Places like Limoux, Madiran, Bergerac, Gaillac, Fronton, and dozens of other small wine regions that don’t necessarily appear on the radar of American wine drinkers. I’ve always loved an underdog story. I also love the authenticity that you find in small, particular places that are proud of their unique situation, and terroir. Likewise with American wine, I’m attracted to these frontiers. From places like Hermann Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Idaho, and Pennsylvania, I simply love to explore what folks in our craft are doing in places that aren’t always top of mind for the average American wine consumer or distributor.With that said, this week’s wine read is actually an older article, one I found when I wanted to provide a sort of and prologue to our upcoming episode on the Yadkin Valley. It’s a look at the region through the eyes of a journalist, and though it outlines some wineries I didn’t visit, and quite frankly some that weren’t even on my radar for my visit, one of the things that I have found in the aftermath of my visit to North Carolina, is that there is far too much that has not been on my radar in this state. It’s an interesting place, ideally situated to grow as a wine region, and one which I think will enter the larger conversation of American wine in the years to come. As American wine consumption becomes more mature, I think what we will begin to see is a bit of what we see when I visit Europe. People begin to learn the specific regions, the types of wines they produce throughout the continent, And select those wines for the appropriate food pairings. America is a great and large country, with so many different potential outcomes for the styles of wines people choose to make. To exploit the very best of what we have to offer in this country, we must dig deeper. I dream and see a time when we look at America for all of its diverse viticultural contributions. The point is this, we need to embrace the idea of what different regions in this country are doing well. We need to support these growers so that they continue to explore and figure out what it is their land can provide us with that best suits their place. Jqn 13, 121Today’s Wine Reads is entitled “TASTY DISCOVERIES AWAIT TRAVELERS IN YADKIN VALLEY WINE COUNTRY.”  It comes to us via Leisure Group Travel.com, and was written by Randy Mink, Senior Editor.  The link is at the top of the show notes and right before the article below, so check out the article and support this publication.  https://leisuregrouptravel.com/tasty-discoveries-await-travelers-in-yadkin-valley-wine-country/Tasty Discoveries Await Travelers in Yadkin Valley Wine CountryCLUSTERED AROUND MOUNT AIRY, DOBSON, ELKIN AND OTHER TOWNS IN NORTHWESTERN NORTH CAROLINA ARE MORE THAN 45 WINERIES, EACH WITH THEIR OWN STORY TO TELL.From a patio overlooking vineyards and the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, I drank in the scenery while savoring my flight of four craft beers from the tap, beers so tasty that I couldn’t decide which one I liked best.That’s right, beer. Though my adult son and daughter chose to sample the wines of Round Peak Vineyards, I decided to go rogue and try beers brewed by sister company Skull Camp Brewing.Touring North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley wine region last fall, we came to learn that each of its 45-plus wineries has its own personality and quirks, its own style of winemaking and a unique story to tell. Most of the wineries are small and family-owned. All offer a relaxing experience enhanced by an easy-going Southern hospitality.The Yadkin Valley of northwestern North Carolina extends from the Virginia state line to south of Winston-Salem, encompassing both the Blue Ridge foothills and the Piedmont. From its headwaters near the Blue Ridge Parkway’s Thunder Hill Overlook, the Yadkin River flows more than 200 miles southeast into South Carolina, making it one of the longest rivers in North Carolina.The valley’s terrain and climate are similar to those of France’s Burgundy and Italy’s Piedmont wine regions. Wineries in the federally designated Yadkin Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA), not surprisingly, specialize in French- and Italian-style wines. The dry loam soil is ideal for growing European varietals such as Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Tannat and Riesling.Yadkin Valley’s wine industry took off in the 1990s and has really blossomed in the last 15 years. New wineries crop up all the time. Many of them occupy old farms that once raised grain, tobacco or cattle.PAIRING WINES AND BEERS WITH A ROUND OF DISC GOLFRound Peak Vineyards produces 10 French and Italian varietals, using only grapes grown on the 13-acre property, which is just outside of Mount Airy. It is the Yadkin Valley’s northernmost winery.Perhaps Round Peak is best known for its Nebbiolo, a red wine made from an Italian grape rich in tannins. Owner Ken Gulaian said, “There’s only two of us that grow that grape in North Carolina because it’s a bit of a challenging grape to grow. It’s probably the grape with the most tannins, which a lot of people know are antioxidants.”Round Peak Vineyards Wine Tasting on Outdoor PatioRound Peak Vineyards. Credit: VisitNC.com/Sam DeanFrom our perch on the terrace attached to the tasting room, we had views of Round Peak and Skull Camp mountains. Meandering through the vines is an 18-hole disc golf course with baskets constructed of retired wine barrels and recycled bicycle wheels. People can rent discs or bring their own.At sunset we had a chance to walk around the vineyards before retiring to our four-bedroom house, one of two vacation rentals at Round Peak (available through Airbnb and VRBO). Amenities include a fully equipped kitchen, screened-in back porch, two baths and multiple televisions. The walls are adorned in wine-themed decor.Both homes (“cabins,” as they’re called) sleep up to eight, an arrangement that works well for families or guys/girls getaways. While the homes certainly would not accommodate a motorcoach tour, Round Peak welcomes bus groups for tastings and tours.Earlier in the day, we had spent time in Mount Airy, which plays up its claim as the hometown of actor Andy Griffith. Star attraction is the Andy Griffith Museum, and shops on Main Street deal in souvenirs related to “The Andy Griffith Show,” the classic 1960s TV sit-com about a sheriff in the sleepy Southern town of Mayberry. Squad Car Tours takes tourists around Mount Airy in restored vintage Ford Galaxies, the kind Andy and his fumbling deputy, Barney Fife, drove in the show.A SHADE OF GRAYHaze Gray Vineyards, on a former corn and tobacco farm near Dobson, pays tribute to America’s military. The tasting room, which opened in December 2019, is painted haze gray, the color of U.S. Navy ships, and the mountains visible from the property have a grayish haze. (The phrase “haze gray and underway” is a reference to Navy surface ships that are actively deployed.)Haze Gray owners Deane and Becky Muhlenberg planted the vineyard in 2015 and opened the winery three years later. There’s also a cabin to rent.What’s the military connection all about? Deane spent 30 years as a flight officer in the Navy, and his family’s record of military service dates back to the America

If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube. Tom Wark, executive director of the National Association of Wine Retailers, a public relations professional specializing in the wine space with Wark Communications, and publisher of the widely read Fermentation Blog, joins me on this podcast. Check out Tom Wark at: The Fermentation Blog at: https://fermentationwineblog.com/ The National Association of Wine Retailers https://nawr.org/ Wark Communications https://warkcommunications.com/Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube, and visit my winery in the Finger Lakes at Missick Cellars. Episode 0029:Wine Reads – January 1, 2022Hi, this is Chris Missick, and welcome to Viti+Culture, and our segment Wine Reads, where we take a look at some of the most interesting, compelling, and even controversial stories and articles in wine.  On the heels of this holiday break, I have decided to take a few spur of the moment trips, one to the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina, and the other to the Texas  Hill Country in mid-January.  I’ve heard so many great things about both regions, and the Hill Country in particular, and figure it will be a nice break from the upstate winter we’ll be fully enmeshed in.  With that in mind, my Google News Alert with the keyword Finger Lakes popped up with this message about Fredericksburg, widely considered the heart of the Texas Hill Country AVA.  It’s an AP wire story, so I don’t have an author to directly credit, but you can find the article by googling the title, Fredericksburg pleases the palate in a Texas-size way.So here we go:“California has Napa and Sonoma; New York has the Finger Lakes and Texas has Fredericksburg,” said Jesse Barter, owner of Hill & Vine Restaurant as he poured a ruby-hued Tempranillo into my glass.It does indeed. The Hill Country west of Austin and north of San Antonio includes Texas-sized acreage devoted to wine production, making it the second largest AVA (American Viticultural Area) in the U.S.The Central Texas Hill Country is one of two major wine-producing regions in the state – the other being the Llano Estacado (Staked Plains) in Texas' northwestern corner.Here in the Hill Country, some 100 wineries dot the landscape along Highway 290, known as the Wine Road, from Fredericksburg to Austin. Fifty of those are in Fredericksburg itself, with 50 more in the permitting process.More about the wines later, but back to Barter and Hill & Vine. When I was there for dinner the restaurant had been open for three weeks, and if you were lucky enough to snag a reservation at all, the waiting time for a table was often two hours or longer.The buzzy crowd sipping cocktails while they waited didn’t seem to mind. Yes, the food is that good. Most everything has a Texas twist — the hummus, for example, contains black-eyed peas. The taco is stuffed with snapper from the Texas Gulf Coast, while the onion rings use onions from the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas.I ordered the watermelon and green tomato salad with mint and basil leaves, spiced local pecans and herbed goat cheese with a citrus vinaigrette dressing, and thought it the tastiest salad I have ever had.That was followed by the smoked Santa Maria Tri-Tip with smoked chili butter, sea salt, roasted butternut squash and Brussels sprouts with a chili salsa. Dessert was Croissant Bread Pudding with bourbon anglaise sauce. You get why people are willing to wait two hours for a table.Now, back to that award-winning Tempranillo. You just know that this being Texas, they wouldn’t be satisfied with a mere medal of excellence, and they didn’t have to be. Hill & Vine’s vintage won a saddle (yes, a saddle) at a wine competition during the Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show, and pardner, that beats a medal any day.Hill & Vine is just the latest addition to a remarkably robust dining scene for a town of 12,000 people. Alas, I didn’t make it to the Granite House or Vaudeville Bistro, two lauded dining spots, but I did do dinner one night at Otto’s German Bistro.The German influence is strong in the Hill Country as German settlers were the only ones able to forge a tenuous co-existence with the native Comanche Indians who ran off others attempting to put down roots. Today, you’ll see examples of German culture everywhere.The menu at Otto’s transcends schnitzels and sauerbraten to include dishes such as Steelhead Trout and Deep Sea Prawn with green pea puree, sugar snap peas, snow pea shoots and tomato oil, and veal loin with broccolini, mushrooms, sweet potato puree and almonds.I did go German and ordered the Wurst Platte (smoked paprika gruyere sausage, German potato salad, house made sauerkraut and house made spicy mustard.) I was glad I did.The menu changes weekly, and Otto’s gets most of its ingredients from local, organic or sustainable farms, ranches and fisheries.There’s no dearth of breakfast and lunch options either. Try Caliche Cafe for the former — the Salmon Eggs Benny are to die for. Clear River Ice Cream & Bakery makes a good lunch stop — you don’t have to eat one of their 47 flavors of ice cream for lunch, but you can if you want to.Finally, don’t miss Das Peach Haus. This multipurpose facility tempts those in search of shopping, sipping, dining and learning.The general store sells everything from jams and jellies to chipotle and BBQ sauces. Shoppers can sample their peach cobbler or peach cider while browsing.I had dinner there beside a small lake and under a canopy of pine trees more reminiscent of East Texas than the Hill Country, and those wishing for a full dining experience can reserve a table. They recently opened a distillery where you can sample their gin and whiskey, and if you’re interested in cooking classes, they are happy to oblige. About the only thing you can’t do is pick the peaches.Don’t fret. At Jenschke Orchards, you can pick all the plump peaches you want from the 3,000 trees in their orchards. You will have to think of a creative way of getting them home as the Orchard doesn’t ship outside of Texas.As strange as it may seem to those who equate the American wine scene with California and Oregon, Texas is one of the country’s leading wine producers, and Fredericksburg ranks right behind Napa as a destination for lovers of the grape.As for that grape, because of its hot climate, Texas excels in Mediterranean varietals – those found in sultry, steamy southern Spain and Italy.During a lunch and tasting at Signor Vineyards, I tasted some of these under the expert tutelage of winery host Andre Boada, whose wine pedigree comes courtesy of his Spanish father and French mother. My favorite of the wines Boada poured was an Albareno white, originating in the Galicia Region of Spain, but utilizing Texas grapes.Signor is one of the Hill Country’s most beautiful wineries. Open only three years, it has become such a popular stop they are adding 40 casitas in the vineyards for overnight guests. Even if you don’t stay overnight, you can sign up for one of Boada’s food and wine classes (Friday and Sunday, $50).Two other wineries I highly recommend are Pedernales Cellars and Narrow Path Winery and Vineyards.At Pedernales, the vineyards overlook the scenic Pedernales River, and their white wines come mainly from its sister winery in the High Plains around Lubbock. Narrow Path has a tasting room in Fredericksburg, but make your way to nearby Stonewall to sip in style in their main tasting room overlooking the vineyard.If you want to combine wine tasting and shopping, do head for Fredericksburg’s picturesque main street. At Becker Vineyards, sip a Viognier from their vineyard 12 miles outside of town where, in addition to grapes, five acres are given over to lavender fields.To get your alcoholic intake in a different form, drop by Chocolat, specializing in liquor and wine-infused chocolates. The shop offers some 400 different European-style chocolates rotated throughout the year, with about half on display at any given time. Chocoholics will think they have died and gone to chocolate heaven.When it comes to quality wine, watch out Napa, Sonoma and Finger Lakes – Fredericksburg is gaining on you.I was fortunate enough to get some great recommendations from the fellows over at the podcast Cork Talk, which focuses on North Carolina wine.  I also reached out on a whim to Chris Brundrett of William Chris Winery in the Hill Country.   I had learned about him and William Chris winery from the wonderfully produced Texas Winemakers, a docuseries currently available on YouTube that features an amazing array of different Texas winemakers and viticulturalists.  He informed me that the Texas Hill Country Wine Symposium had been planned for the week I was visiting, and so I promptly purchased a ticket, and plan on tasting and meeting with a number of great producers in the AVA.  I’ll be bringing my equipment with me, and plan on reporting on the regions while I’m there.  I’m excited to report on my findings, and in the meantime, if there is a destination, or a winery that you recommend, drop me a line at viticulturepodcast@gmail.com.  In our next episode, this Thursday, we’re sitting down with Tom Wark, a pro in the wine public relations space, and the author of one of the most influential wine blogs - The Fermentation Blog.  Tom is insightful, opinionated, extremely intelligent, and willing to tackle the tough issues in the wine and culture space.  I think you’re going to love this show.  Thanks, and see you soon. Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

Please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube. Today we are exploring how one person found his way into the wine industry, and the steps he's taking to learn winemaking. Matt Butts is currently working in the cellar after years of working in tasting rooms, and a career in welding before that. In this show, we highlight one path towards becoming a winemaker, and the steps Matt has taken to achieve his dreams.Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube, and visit my winery in the Finger Lakes at Missick Cellars. Episode 0027:Wine Reads – December 2, 2021https://wineindustryadvisor.com/2021/09/02/winemaking-hybrid-grapesTRANSCRIPTHi, this is Chris Missick, and welcome to Viti+Culture, and our segment Wine Reads, where we take a look at some of the most interesting, compelling, and even controversial stories and articles in wine.  With harvest behind us and winemaking ongoing in the cellar, I had bookmarked a story from September, that I thought would shed a fascinating light on an entire category of winegrapes that many grape growers on the West Coast of the U.S., and certainly in many of wine growing regions around the world, have very  little experience with, than is hybrid grapes.  Although I personally farm vitis vinifera, Riesling, Cabernet Franc and Chenin Blanc, I work with growers and make wines from a wide variety of hybrid grapes here in the Finger Lakes.  From Seyval Blanc, Vidal Blanc, and Cayuga, as white varietals, to Marechal Foch, De Chaunac, Marquette, Baco Noir, Chambourcin as red varietals.  Some receive their own bottling, most are components in delicious, but cost effective blends, and all are worthy of more attention and some discussion.  I’ve enjoyed some wonderful hybrid wines from Switzerland, and tasted some remarkable hybrid wines from places like Missouri, Michigan, and Tennessee.  These varietals make winemaking possible, where vinifera otherwise wouldn’t survive or thrive.  They also lend a new light on sustainability efforts, requiring less sprays, and less concern over certain aspects of canopy management or cold damage.  Coming to us from the Wine Industry Network ADVISOR, Kathleen Willcox discusses these varietals in a piece entitled The Future of Winemaking is Hybrid, and details why “U.S. winemakers are seeking out non-vitis vinifera grapes.”  Links to the article are in the shownotes, and I encourage you to check out the article.  According to her bio, Kathleen Willcox writes about wine, food and culture from her home in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. She is keenly interested in sustainability issues, and the business of making ethical drinks and food. Her work appears regularly in Wine Searcher, Wine Enthusiast, Liquor.com and many other publications. Kathleen also co-authored a book called Hudson Valley Wine: A History of Taste & Terroir, which was published in 2017. You can follow her at @kathleenwillcox.  So here we go:The Future of Winemaking Is Hybridhttps://wineindustryadvisor.com/2021/09/02/winemaking-hybrid-grapesBy Kathleen Willcox - September 2, 2021Why US winemakers are seeking out non-vitis vinifera grapes—Kathleen WillcoxThere will always be a place for conventionally produced vitis vinifera. But, in truth, more and more influential producers and consumers are looking for something with a little more soul, and a lot more edge.Hybrids—especially in the challenging grape-growing zone of the East Coast—have become ascendant for several reasons.First, more consumers are seeking out unconventional, organically grown wines. IWSR predicts that by 2023, about 976 million bottles of organic wine will be consumed, up 34 percent from 720 million in 2018.Younger wine lovers are especially keen to find wines produced from sustainably grown grapes, according to Silicon Valley Bank’s most recent Wine Industry Trends and Report, which stated “sustainability, health and environmental issues,” in tandem with concerns over “social justice, equity and diversity,” are driving the purchasing decisions of Millennials and members of Gen Z.Unfortunately growing classic vitis vinifera in certain East Coast regions is nigh impossible without nuking them with chemicals.But growing hybrids pretty much anywhere is arguably easier. And more eco-friendly.Thankfully, the pioneering work of scientists and early adopters of non-vinifera grapes have helped yield a new generation of growers, producers and consumers who embrace them.The Hybrid SciencePrograms at Cornell University and University of Minnesota have created thousands of new varieties of grapes designed to combat diseases and weather challenges. Grapes that emerge from these programs are typically crosses between so-called European vinifera, and others native to North America and Asia, like riparia, labrusca and rotondifolia.Cornell has been working on developing hybrid grapes for more than 100 years.“Genetic sequencing technology has come a long way, and in the past 10 years we have been able to use sequencing to quickly determine cold hardiness and disease resistance,” says Bruce Reisch, a professor who specializes in grapevine breeding. He joined Cornell in 1980, and since then, has released 10 new wine grapes and four seedless table grapes. He explains that they are not genetically modifying the grapes, merely determining which ones will flourish in challenging conditions, and pursuing the more promising hybrids.For wineries like Shelburne Vineyard in the Champlain Valley, where winters are harsh, springs rainy, and summers humid, the work of scientists like Reisch is nothing less than essential.“Shelburne has been planting hybrids since 1998, and while they pioneered hybrid grape growing in Vermont, we have all been thrilled to see how much the market has grown and developed,” says winemaker Ethan Joseph, who joined Shelburne in 2008. “We’ve learned how important site selection, careful vineyard management, and low intervention winemaking are. We treat our hybrids with as much care and thought as other growers treat their vitis vinifera, and that has allowed the terroir and the best qualities of these grapes to shine through.”Joseph’s ultimate goal is to eliminate the use of chemicals, a feat he says would be “impossible” if they grew all vitis vinifera. He’s most excited about Marquette (a Pinot Noir hybrid with notes of cherry, pepper and summer berries), Louise Swenson (a white hybrid with acidity, and floral notes), and La Crescent (a white wine hybrid with notes of apricot, citrus, and peach).In 2017, Shelburne went out on a limb and pushed aggressively into the natural wine and hybrid space with Iapetus. “That line has skyrocketed,” Joseph notes. “Now it comprises about 40 percent of our 5,000-case annual count.”Convincing the ConsumerColleen Hardy, co-owner of Living Roots Wine Co. in the Finger Lakes and Adelaide, concurs. She launched Living Roots in 2016, in partnership with her South Australian winemaking husband Sebastian as a kind of cross-global viticultural experiment.“We wanted to use grapes in both regions that are, first and foremost, climate appropriate,” Sebastian Hardy says. “In the Finger Lakes, that means Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Gewürztraminer, but also Aromella, Arendell, Rougeon, Regent and Petit Pearl.” The couple, who sells 85 percent of their production from their tasting room, doesn’t have trouble hand-selling their hybrid and hybrid-vitis vinifera blended wines. “Once we talk visitors through it.”Colleen Hardy says that finding high-quality hybrids is dependent on the grower. “We offer to pay more if they grow it with the same care that we expect with vinifera, and hold off on spraying,” she says“In the Hudson Valley, especially if you want to grow organically, hybrids are necessary,” says Todd Cavallo, who founded Wild Arc Farm in Pine Bush, N.Y. with his wife Crystal. “We lost our entire crop of Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir in 2018. We replanted some of the Pinot Noir, but the rest we planted to hybrids.”Wild Arc’s one-acre estate vineyard is primarily experimental though; they source most of their grapes.“We are working with other like-minded producers who want organically grown hybrid grapes,” Cavallo explains. “A lot of [hybrids] have been grown for bulk wines, but we are promising growers that if they change their farming practices, we’ll pay more.”By working cooperatively, Cavallo and others hope that they can simultaneously increase the value of hybrid fruit, and change market perception. Philadelphia-based Alexandra Cherniavsky, a sommelier and consultant who finds distribution for wineries at restaurants, has seen the market for hybrid wines change firsthand. But she believes there’s still a long way to go before restaurants are ready to open their lists to hybrids.“Once people try wines made from hybrid grapes, they’re a lot more open,” she says. “They sell well in tasting rooms, where the winemaking team can explain their history and provide context.”But if they’re going to take off, they need to appear on more restaurant lists. “Wineries should approach local restaurants armed with the educational materials and context they provide at the tasting room. If they know how to explain them to diners, they’ll be a lot more liable to put them on the list,” Cherniavsky says.Not Just for Challenging ClimatesThe East Coast is hardly the only place hybrids are found. At Bells Up Winery in Newberg, Oregon, winemaker Dave Specter says that their Seyval Blanc is farmed with fewer chemicals than his vitis vinifera. And, the wines have achieved “cult status,” selling out every year.“We are the only planting of Seyval Blanc in Willamette Valley, and only the second in Oregon. It’s not only a part of our plan to diversify our vineyards and enable us to react to climate change, but also part of our larger push to appeal to younger, more adventurous consumers,” he says.A parallel movement, PIWI, is happening in Europe, although as Reisch explains, it’s slightly different.“Most of Europe does not have the harsh winters that we do here,” he says. “The hybrid programs there are inherently very different, because their grapes are being crossed with the goal of resisting different disease and weather pressures.”Some regions have yet to open the door to hybrids; they’re banned in France in wines with appellation names, but for a certain type of American winem

If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube. Today we are speaking with Phil Plummer of Montezuma Winery, as well as Idol Ridge and Fossenvue Wineries in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Phil's work with these wineries and brands is broad in scope, but some of his small lot projects had come to my attention for their purity, clarity, and deliciousness. Our broad and wide ranging conversation visits deep dives on winemaking, art, music, and social commentary. Phil understands much more than winemaking, but he certainly is mastering the art.Check out Montezuma Winery at: https://www.montezumawinery.com/Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube. Episode 0025:Wine Reads – November 24, 2021Although I can not say Thanksgiving is uniquely American, as our Canadian neighbors celebrate Thanksgiving at least a month or so before those of us in the United States, the holiday does possess a uniquely American mystique, with art, music, movies, cartoons, and other cultural motifs proliferating our celebration of this day throughout the world.  Considering some of our largest listenership comes from folks outside the U.S., it’s pretty clear that there are hundreds of people listening who won’t be sitting down at a table tomorrow to eat turkey, say a prayer of thanks for the blessings in their lives, and dig in to a large meal and hopefully, lots of really cool wines.  Additionally, although I understand it can be really helpful, I kind of get tired of all those lists with the “Great Thanksgiving Pairings” in the title.  So, in light of our own Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., and the fact that every culture has some holiday they celebrate that generally involves the ritual of gifting a bottle of wine, I thought I’d share this thought provoking piece from Mike Veseth, over at the WineEconomist blog, at WineEconomist.com.  I share my own thoughts after reading the piece, but his article, dated November 23, 2021, and titled “An Economic Theory of Thanksgiving Wine,” combines economics, wine, and the spirit that really captures the multidisciplinary approach we take here.  For today’s special Thanksgiving Wine Reads, here’s Mike’s post:https://wineeconomist.com/2021/11/23/thanksgiving-wine/Thursday is Thanksgiving Day here in the United States and many of us will gather with family and friends for the holiday feast. If you have been invited to share Thanksgiving with others (and if you are interested enough in wine to be reading this column), then you must confront a perennial problem: what wine should  you bring?Deadweight Loss?Why is the choice of a gift wine an economic problem? Well, it isn’t much of a problem if you plan to drink it all yourself. Then you should just buy what you like — but don’t expect to be invited back next year!Since the point will be to share the wine with other guests, the choice is more difficult because just as you can’t be sure exactly what dishes will be served, you cannot be certain what wines the other guests will like the best.There is a pretty good chance that you will experience what economists call a “deadweight loss” which is more or less where the benefit that the guests derive from your wine is less than what they’d have gained from a simple cash transfer.   The story (which is possibly true) is told about the time Malcolm Forbes threw himself an extravagant birthday party where the guests were served some of the rarest, most expensive wines on the planet. Forbes went from guest to guest pouring the evening’s show-stopper wine. Finally he came to Warren Buffet. Wine? said Forbes with a smile. No thanks, Buffet replied. I’ll take the cash!Warren Buffet understood the concept of deadweight loss and wanted nothing to do with it!The Problem of Other People’s MoneyThe problem is asymmetric information. You know your own preferences and budget situation pretty well and so you have a fairly good idea of what you are giving up when you buy an expensive bottle of wine as a gift. But you don’t know the preferences of the other guests very well or whether they would prefer your wine or a simple cash payment to be spent on something else. You can’t be sure that their gain is greater than  your loss.This leads (I hope you are following along) to the conclusion that you are most efficient when you spend your own money on yourself because you can fairly well calculate both the gain and the opportunity cost. You are less efficient (in terms of deadweight loss) when spend your money on others. You are even less efficient when you spend other people’s money on yourself. And you are hopelessly inefficient when you spend others people’s money on other people. What do you think?So it would seem like the most efficient thing to do would be to decline that dinner invitation and stay home with your wine. How sad! No wonder economics is called the “dismal science.”It’s Not About the WineBut here’s the notion that saves the day. Thanksgiving is not really about the wine (or the turkey or the green bean casserole), it is about the sharing. Thanksgiving is more public or communal good than private good. And so, if you do it well, the particular elements of Thanksgiving including the wine will play a secondary role to the general warmth of the shared experience.I used to get frustrated when wine wasn’t the centerpiece of gatherings, some of which were actually organized to celebrate the wine. But then I got over it. Wine is doing its job when it makes everything else better. Don’t you agree?This fact changes a bit how you might approach your choice of a Thanksgiving wine to share. Cost is nearly irrelevant. Picking a wine that draws undue attention to you (and  your fine taste or great wealth) almost defeats the purpose.  A modest wine that makes everyone smile — maybe something with bubbles? — will serve very well. And then you can concentrate on what Thanksgiving is really about.That said, no one will complain if you bring a nice Port, Madeira, or Sauternes to savor at the end of the meal.>>><<<Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Enjoy the wine and the feast and most of all each other!I must say, I couldn’t agree with Mike more.  Thanksgiving is, my personal favorite holiday.  Yes, it is a day of some indulgence, but if that indulgence stops with food or wine, you have missed the point of life.  It is a day that is set aside as special.  You wear a nicer shirt, you may even throw on a sports coat.  You put out your finer china, the special family set you only use a few times a year.  You honor the tradition of generations past you may have never met, while your kids run around making memories that they will carry with them and share with generations you’ll never meet.  Importantly, based on your family tradition, you share the same meal.  Each family has their own special side dishes, prepared in their own special ways - that one specific dish that if you went to someone else’s Thanksgiving they may not have, and even if they did, would be made in a different way.  These are the things that create a family culture, and as a country, though we lose some of the finer touches that happen at each individual table, we share as a national culture by trimming our work hours, trimming a turkey, and sitting together with the one’s we love.Wine is an important part of all of this.  It is the lubricant of conversation, the complement to our hard work in the kitchen, and the reflection  on time and place that make this life worth living.As for my Thanksgiving pairing suggestions, I’d be a bad businessman if I didn’t say to pair your dinner with a Missick Cellars wine.  Although, of course, they’d be great!  I would be a worse winemaker, and a worse host, if I didn’t say, find a wine that means something.  A place you and your family have visited.  A flavor profile that reminds you of your childhood that you can share with your family.  A year or vintage that has some deeper meaning to those around the table.  Thanksgiving is a time for meaning, and the most important wines on your table aren’t those that merely taste the best with turkey, or cranberry, or potatoes, or some vegan vegetable protein for those that don’t eat meat - it is the wine that tells the story of some part of your family, your history or your place.  It is about the story of something you connect to.  Thanksgiving connects us as a people that exist in a place that is not just merely lines on a map, but reminds us that we Americans are a nation.  We need that right now.  We can also use wine to remind those around us of the great times we’ve shared, as we enjoy a moment together where we make new memories.  I must admit, I studied political theory as an undergrad, and no small part of those studies were dedicated to economic thought.  As an actual economist, Mike nails the point here.  Bubbles, a fun dessert wine, and something not too ostentatious capture the spirit of the day.  I always encourage American wines on such an American holiday, and there are so many great places in the US making wine today.  Grab one, or  few, of those bottles...but also think about a bottle that ties your family to the American narrative.  Open a bottle that provides an emphasis on your own family story.  Whether your national roots are English, Belgian, Italian, French, Brazilian, Mexican, or Lebanese, or any of the great places that make wine in between - enjoy the holiday, open a bottle of summer in a glass, and study, remember, and cherish the faces around you.  This, is what life is all about.Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube.  Sorry for the misfire - harvest got me out of practice!Episode 0024:Wine Reads – November 18, 2021Welcome back to Viti+Culture, and welcome to season 2.  It’s been a few weeks since our last podcast, but here we are, rested and ready to deliver some great content.  Harvest is finally over, a few fermentations remain bubbling away, the cellar is cleaned, our equipment is winterized, and we are moving into our next phase of cellar work - stabalizing and bottling sparkling wine, preparing to bottle our early release wines like our Cabernet Franc Rose, our White Merlot, and some of our Chenin Blanc, and finally disgorging some of our sparkling wines, such as our 2017 and 2019 Chardonnay based Blanc de Blanc, and Chenin Blanc.  I’ll keep you updated as to what winemakers are experiencing in the cellar as we move forward with season, and key you in to some of the winemaking decisions we have along the way.We are also launching a new segment - Wine Reads - where we choose an article from the world of written content on wine, read it on the show, and share our thoughts and opinions on the topic.  If you’re a wine writer, feel free to forward me an article for consideration at viticulturepodcast@gmail.com.  I’m happy to look it over, and maybe even discuss it with you on the show.  We will continue to produce and publish our long-form interviews on YouTube, but some of the shorter content will be podcast and Substack only, so make sure you’ve clicked subscribe in your favorite podcast platform, and sign up to our Substack newsletter.  For our first Wine Read, I figured I’d actually reflect on the 2021 vintage by reading the letter I’m preparing to send out to our Missick Cellars Wine Club.  I’m excited to be shipping out the first Finger Lakes produced Sparkling Chenin Blanc with that shipment, as well as some other really cool small lot wines, but I also generally engage with our members by sharing some of my deepest thoughts, and letting them know what is going on in the cellar.  Here’s a sneak preview of the vintage, an audio taste of our wine club, and a survey of what the final tally of the 2021 vintage felt like. Remember, if you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube.  It really helps with the ratings and in introducing new folks to the show.  Be sure to tune in next week, where I speak with Phil Plummer, winemaker at Montezuma, Idol Ridge, and Fossenvue wineries.  Phil embraces the ethos of our show, those of the philosopher-maker, and intertwines culture, art, history, and music in some subtle, and not so subtle ways, into each of his wines.   So, here we go, our 2021 Missick Cellars Wine Club Newsletter:Dear Wine Club Member,                                                        When I was deployed as a soldier in the Army with Operation Iraqi Freedom, every few months we were able to take an R&R day, and head down to the large U.S. base in Kuwait on the coast of the Persian Gulf called Camp Doha.  Camp Doha had a PX (post exchange) that was both sized and filled with the inventory of a Super Walmart.  It was where we could stock up on nearly everything we needed, or wanted, to get us through the long weeks back at our small desert outposts.  Camp Doha also had a Starbucks and a Burger King, all of which brought a sense of normalcy, but also a little bit of cognitive dissonance.  I remember browsing those location oriented Starbucks mugs while waiting in line that list the city you are in, and looking at the one with Kuwait City and the skyline depicted.  I wish I would have bought one as a memento.  The pearl of Camp Doha in those days however, was a place called the Marble Palace.  It was a short bus ride from camp, and had a large recreational pool adjacent to the Gulf, there were therapeutic masseuses, and in many ways, offered everything you could find at a luxury resort.  It was, for a day, potentially overnight if you had some other business to attend to, a respite from the dusty tents we slept in, the day to day monotony of my job as a Signal Corps non-commissioned officer, guard tower shifts in 110 degree temperatures, and hours spent sitting under the skud bunkers scattered all throughout my home camp with a battle buddy, talking about home.  Harvest certainly does not carry the emotional intensity or gravity of deployment, I would not sell our servicemembers short by drawing a straight line between the experience of deployment and the intensity of the harvest or the crush pad.  There are analogies though, and in many ways, the pace of harvest rarely allows for the periods of pause and contemplation that a deployment permits.  Nonetheless, as harvest approaches, the mind prepares for what you know will be extremely long days, endless physicality, isolation from family and friends (outside the wine industry), discomfort, and exhaustion.  Similarly, it provides a purpose, a mission, with goals that must be accomplished, in specific periods of time with little room for error.  The elements of weather, of available resources, the risk of physical danger around powerful equipment if you’re careless or thoughtless, and the knowledge that there is an end date, all provide a very similar psychological framework to that the soldier experiences.  You have set out on a path, the end goal is known, there will be surprises and challenges, but at the end of this period, victory is in sight.I recalled my time at the Marble Palace, a place I hadn’t thought about in years, after returning home for the first time in what felt like weeks (though it had only been a few days), to spend an entire day and night with my family.  It was mid-October, about half-way through crush, and having the chance to push Andrew and Audrey on the swing-set in the backyard, sharing dinner at the table with the family, and having my wife Laure massage my shoulders that night made home feel like the R&R I had been craving.  I particularly enjoy pairing our wines with meals during harvest.  It puts a perspective on the hard work we are presently enmeshed in, and opening the time capsules of vintages past during dinner with the family, ties moments of our past to moments of the present, even as we all sacrifice and work for the future that is gurgling away through its fermentation in the cellar.   Perhaps the moments from my deployment were fresh with me this year after what we witnessed in Afghanistan in August, and during which I spent countless hours speaking with other veterans and checking in on friends that I knew had spent years of their life in that country.  Perhaps it was because we were shorter on cellar staff this year than in years’ past, placing extra burdens and extra work on myself and my assistant.  Maybe it was simply because I see my children growing so fast and am realizing how quickly time goes with every year we gather around the table to watch them blow out that additional candle on the cake.  And finally, it may have been because this was such a difficult harvest, where extra vineyard work coupled with crucial picking decisions dictated the quality of the wine that was made, and with our first year of a significant harvest from our estate vineyard, I felt an enormous amount of pressure to deliver the best possible effort to everyone who enjoys our wine.  2021 was our most difficult vintage since 2018.  As with 2018, moisture was the catalyst for a lot of stress on vineyard crews this vintage.  The heavy rainfall, high temperatures, and high dewpoints which kept vineyard canopies and clusters too wet for too long in 2018, had analogs for all of us who farm grapes in the Finger Lakes this year.  Granted, temperatures were not as high as three years ago, and dewpoints were not as deleterious, the rain proved a difficulty that we had to navigate around.  There were indeed some much needed breaks, three or four days here, maybe a week there, but from August through the end of October, the rain fell, and we needed to be cognizant of when it was falling.Though 2021 wasn’t our largest harvest, between our own wines and some custom crush projects, we processed nearly 70 tons of fruit, with about 6 tons coming from our own vineyard.  We managed an incredibly clean harvest of Chenin Blanc, Riesling and Cabernet Franc, with multiple passes in the Riesling in order to produce some different styles of estate wines, from sparkling to still.  Our vineyard, planted in 2019, is in what is called its third leaf, in other words, its third growing season.  The third leaf is generally when you can expect to get your first real crop, with an expansion of yield occurring in the following vintages.  Of course, yield is not the most important aspect.  The vineyard must be balanced, producing enough fruit to match the energy output of the vine, but not so much that you stress the vine or dilute the concentration of flavors that a vineyard can deliver.In addition, we worked with our traditional growing partners at Gibson Vineyard and Morris Vineyard, to bring in varietals like Seyval Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Riesling, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Valvin Muscat, and some other hybrids that will go into our Foreword series.  Although we have a significant amount of wine still fermenting, I must share with you that I am more proud of this vintage than nearly any in the last 10 years.  There are vintages that naturally make great wines.  The weather is perfect from April to November, harvest happens on your schedule and not based on the risk of rain, and every piece of equipment cooperates fully with no downtime or repairs required.  I think of vintages like 2012, 2016, and 2020, where a winemaker can only get in the way of making good wine.  Nature gave us great, clean and ripe fruit, and we need only fulfill its promise.  Vintages like 2021 require inordinate amounts of at

Andreas Hütwohl is instrumental to Weingut Von Winning, a producer of renown Grosses Gewachs (Great Growth) wines in the Pfalz, centering on Riesling, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay.  Andreas and I delve into the traditional winemaking practices that have garnered Von Winning acclaim, and we chart his course from studying Biology, to pursuing winemaking.  Andreas is an energetic, insightful leader in the German wine industry, and his perspectives offer an exciting new take on the future of high end German wine.Check out Von Winning with Skurnik Wines and Spirits at: https://www.skurnik.com/producer/von-winning/ https://www.von-winning.de/en/weingut/Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

If you enjoy the content, please rate us 5 stars!Today, we are speaking with Katerina Axelsson, who while working towards her Bachelor in Science in Chemistry from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, paid her way through college by working in a large regional wine chemistry lab.  Her hard work ethic and obsession with unlocking the secrets of sensory science and consumer preference, led her down the path towards tech start-up, entrepreneur, and CEO.  Today, she leads Tastry, touted as being the world’s first artificial intelligence driven sensory sciences company, with a tag line that Tastry taught a computer to taste.  From my research, there’s a chance that Tastry is about to revolutionize the global wine industry with a variety of models to connect boutique wineries with as yet unknown customer bases, those seeking AI based blending solutions, and an overall deeper understanding of exactly what is in our wines.Check out Tastry wines at:https://www.tastry.com/Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube. Episode 0021:Finger Lakes Viticulture – September 2, 2021I want to start by thanking each one of you that has downloaded the show, shared it with friends, subscribed, ranked, and commented via your favorite podcast platforms.  As of this week, our show ranked 79th in the US on Apple Podcasts in the food and wine category.  We’ve also built a strong audience in both New Zealand and Norway, where in each of those countries, we ranked in the top 10 on these charts as well.  Thanks for the support, as we continue to climb charts, build listenerships, and grow this community.  In six months, we’ve accomplished alot, and I promise, there is so much more to come!Thanks also for joining us for our bi-weekly “in the vineyard update.”  With the calendar now showing September, things are about to get extremely busy as harvest is nearly here in the Finger Lakes for my winery, Missick Cellars.  I had planned to end Season 1 of Viticulture in August, and take a few months off to focus on the winemaking tasks at hand.  With some great shows edited and ready to be delivered to you, we will keep on pushing through into October with interviews with winemakers, technologists and philosophers.  As of now, I’m not planning on producing any “In the Vineyard” updates for YouTube throughout harvest, but we will drop some special audio only updates, so stay tuned. For Season 2, we will continue with our long form interviews, we will feature some podcasts via a sub-series called “In the Cellar,” and will be adding a new Substack feature called “Long Reads.”  In this segment, planned as a separate release of the podcast, we’ll go through some long form written content on broad subjects ranging from wine, viticulture, and makers generally, reading passages and providing commentary.  As we’ve mentioned many times, growing degree days don’t tell the whole story of a vintage, but they do give us a window into the nature of a vintage.  So far this year, as of August 30, we are at 2261.  So far, over the last decade only four vintages have shown more accumulated growing degree days. 2012, 2016, 2018 and 2020 were all slightly warmer, with 2016 marking 2,310 GDD, 2018 marking 2,363, and 2020, with 2,307.  In contrast to our current positioning at 2,261 GDD, throughout the previous decade, the other 6 vintages ranged between a low of 2059 GDD and and a high 2180 GDD.  The challenge in the vineyard remains moisture.  Moisture with this heat can create a situation with compromised fruit in the vineyard, and that compromised fruit usually means sour rot.  Sour rot is unmistakable and nasty.  Essentially, as berries move past rapid cell division and begin accumulating sugar post veraison, once sugar content in the berry exceeds 8%, the potential for sour rot exists if the skins become compromised.  As long as the juice and sugar are enclosed in the skin of the berry, this problem will not raise its head.  In general, the skins become compromised from a number of different variables.  From birds and insects feeding on berries and breaking skins, to mechanical or growth cracks.  Mechanical cracks happen when operating machinery in the vineyard and some implement injures the berries, and growth cracks most often happen after heavy rains, which cause the grapes to swell beyond their capacity to hold the water, and cause ruptures in the skin.  Finally, skins can become compromised by powdery mildew as well.  Once the skin has been damaged, the stage is set for sour rot.  Most sour rot is caused by acetic acid which essentially turns the sweetening juice inside the grape into vinegar.  It’s spread by the drosophila fly, which is a tiny fly that swarms cluster and acts as a vector for the spread of the acetic acid.  Sour rot is not something that is a major problem in every vintage in the Finger Lakes, but it is a persistent issue we deal with.  Some years are drastically worse than others.  I’ve referenced 2018, which was a vintage with a perfect confluence of circumstances to promote sour rot.  In 2020, the vintage was nearly perfect with no real pressure on the grapes from sour rot.Although 2021 is nowhere near as bad as 2018, it certainly has not been a relatively easy vintage like 2020.  The pressure we are dealing with is above average, and that will impact picking decisions and therefore wine styles.  It was also mean a variable harvest across varietals and sites.For a peek behind the curtain of the mind of a winemaker, I am noticing increasing pressure from sour rot in our Riesling, but not in our Chenin Blanc or our Cabernet Franc.  Consequently, I will target an earlier harvest than usual for our Riesling.  Without high sugar ripeness, and with higher titratable acidity and low pH, this is not the optimum picking for producing weighty dry riesling.  It can however, make delightful low alcohol and Kabinet style Rieslings.  To understand what I mean by Kabinet, with a K, we need to take a look at the German classifications for Riesling based on what we call the must weight.I’m going to really simplify this and the German classification system, but must weight is the average sugar reading for a particular lot of picked fruit.  In the United States, we use a measurement for sugar ripeness known as brix, where the higher the brix, the higher the sugar.  As a general rule, the German classification rates wine types from lowest brix at harvest to highest brix at harvest as Kabinet, Spatlese, Auslese, Beerenauslese, and Trockenbeerenauslese.  Wines, at least in the first three classifications, can be produced from dry to off dry, and even some sweetness.  Picking at a Kabinet level usually requires a minimum brix of 17.  We can make a very simple calculation for potential alcohol based on brix, by multiplying the brix by .545.  In other words, at 17 brix, a wine that is fermented to dryness has a potential alcohol of around 9%.  In order to find a sugar acid balance, these wines will often be left with some residual sugar, and finished with a potential alcohol of around 8%.  At these levels, these grapes may not produce the most complex wines, but they can make delicious, low alcohol, very enjoyable wines.  Additionally, due to the low alcohol, high acid, and bit of residual sugar, these wines can have very long lives.  When grapes are becoming compromised, and the decision is made to pick early, all is not lost.  We can still make delicious, approachable and enjoyable wines.  Of course, the other component of that is to make sure you’re picking only the cleanest fruit.  In circumstances like this, we will continue dropping bad fruit, and ensure that our hands are not even touching sour rot clusters when it comes time to harvest our fruit.    As a veteran, the news of the last few weeks have been difficult to watch.  I’ve made time to reach out to many fellow veterans, friends who served selfelssly in both Iraq and Afghanistan.  The images on our televisions and in our news feeds brings back a lot of memories for many vets, and I’d like to encourage you to check in on those you may know that have served.  Lend a listening ear, be a friend.  Many need that right now.  If you like this podcast, please be sure to rate us 5 stars in Apple podcasts and like our videos on YouTube.  It really helps with the ratings and in introducing new folks to the show.  Be sure to tune in next week, where I speak with Katarina Axelsson, co-founder and CEO at Tastry, touted as being the world’s first artificial intelligence driven sensory sciences company, with a tagline that Tastry taught a computer to taste.  Katarina’s story is inspiring, and weaves wine and technology in a way that represents the cutting edge of the wine industry. Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

If you enjoy the content, please rate us 5 stars!Todd Eichas, who after 30 years working in industry as an electrician and training manager, partnered with his wife Dani for their second act as vintners and operators of a Seneca Lake bed and breakfast.  New Vines, the name of the winery and the bed and breakfast, produces my favorite Gruner Veltliner in the Finger Lakes, and their inn has garnered endless praise from guests who have stayed with them.   New Vines provides an amazing agri-tourism experience, in a comfortable intimate setting. Check out New Vines wines at:https://www.newvines.com/Visit our website at www.VitiCulturePodcast.com, and don’t forget to share with your friends via all major social media platforms @VitiCULTUREPodVisit Bellangelo Winery and Missick Cellars at www.Bellangelo.com and www.MissickCellars.com.You can watch the interview on our YouTube channel here: Get full access to The Viti+Culture Podcast Newsletter at viticulturepodcast.substack.com/subscribe