Home Wine Press Oct

October–November 2012 Issue 23

Next RAHW Meeting The next RAHW meeting will be Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 12:00 noon, at the Nut- cracker Restaurant, 2159 Empire Blvd., Webster. Feel free to bring a guest! Don’t New York State Fair forget to bring a wine glass. If you are bringing homemade wine to share, please label the bottle with your name and the type of wine. All members are welcome to also attend the Board Meeting that will be held at the same location at 11:00 am, an hour before the gen- eral meeting.

Photo courtesy of Bruce Dunn From left: Dick Catalfo, Bruce Dunn, Paul Carletta, Dick Rizzo, Kevin Pfister, Tom Hatch, Greg Cutt, Jim Emens, Betty Morley, Tim Gregory, Terry Chrzan, Ernie Sulouff, Larry Kilbury, David Gerling. Not all medal- In this issue: ists are pictured

Medalist names ...... 2 The awards ceremony for the 2012 New York State Fair Amateur Winemaking Competition was held on Sunday, August 26 at the State CrossWord Search puzzle ... 4 Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Twenty-two club members were awarded a Jim’s award-winning total of 75 medals in the competition, including one Double Gold, four Cayuga ...... 5 Golds, 35 Silvers and 35 Bronzes. More about wine acids ...... 6 See the next page for a listing of all club medalists, how they placed, and the wines that earned their medals. A complete listing of statewide win- French tasting terms ...... 9 ners can be found at the State Fair website, Review of a new winery ..... 11 www.nysfair.org/competitions/results. Home wine seminar revisited ...... 12 Erie and Niagara County Fairs and more! See page 2

www.rochesterwinemakers.org 1 Home Wine Press October–November 2012

Medals Won at the 2012 State Fair Erie County Fair NAME MEDAL VINTAGE and VARIETY Medalist Banach, Thomas Gold 2010 Cabernet Franc Gold 2011 Seyval/Vignoles blend Congratulations to Kevin Pfister, Silver 2010 Late Harvest Vignoles whose 2011 Niagara Blush (Niaga- Silver 2011 Viognier ra 68%, Concord 32%) took home Silver 2011 Traminette a Bronze medal in the 2012 Erie Silver 2010 Traminette County Fair Home Wine Competi- Silver 2009 Cabernet Franc tion. Bronze 2011 Vidal/Vignoles blend Carletta, Paul Bronze 2010 Pinot Grigio Bronze 2009 Léon Millot More Western NY Bronze 2010 Aurora Bronze 2009 Zinfandel Awards Catalfo, Richard Bronze 2009 Barbera An update on club winners in the Chrzan, Terry Silver 2010 Chardonnay Western New York Amateur Wine Silver 2010 Cayuga 50%,Seyval 50%,oaked Competition held in conjunction Cutt, Greg Silver 2011 Traminette with the Niagara County Fair— Bronze 2010 Traminette/Seyval blend Stephen Mandato also received Bronze 2010 Malbec awards, in addition to those report- Dunn, Bruce Silver 2010 Vignoles ed in our last issue. Bronze 2010 Sangiovese Emens, James Dbl Gold 2011 Cayuga White He received Red ribbons (Silver) Gold 2011 Niagara for his 2011 Traminette and 2011 Silver 2011 Diamond Strawberry Apple blend, and White Gerling, David A. Silver 2010 Diamond ribbons (Bronze) for his 2011 Ap- Silver 2010 Frontenac/Baco/DeChaunac ple, 2011 Diamond Delaware blend blend and 2011 Riesling. Congratula- Silver 2010 Niagara tions, Stephen! Silver 2010 Delaware Silver 2011 Cabernet Franc Bronze 2010 Seyval Gregory, Tim Bronze 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon 100% Know your limit— Hatch, Thomas Silver 2009 Traminette 100%, sweet Please drink responsibly. Bronze 2010 Vidal 100%, dry Bronze 2010 Traminette 100%, dry Bronze 2010 Fall Bright’s Contessa Bella white blend, dry Bronze 2010 Old Vine Zinfandel 100%, dry Bronze 2009 Syrah 75%, Carignane 25%, dry About our newsletter Bronze 2010 Carmine 100%, dry Home Wine Press is published Kilbury, Larry Silver 2011 Seyval Blanc bimonthly by Rochester Area

Silver 2011 Léon Millot Home Winemakers club of Roches- Silver 2011 Strawberry ter, New York.

Bronze 2011 Malbec Bronze 2011 50% Rougeon/50% Chancellor To unsubscribe, change your email address, or submit questions or Bronze 2011 50% Rougeon/50% Léon Millot Bronze 2011 Vignoles news, please email newsletter@ rochesterwinemakers.org. Bronze 2011 Vidal Bronze 2011 Cayuga © 2012 RAHW All rights reserved. continued on next page

www.rochesterwinemakers.org 2 Home Wine Press October–November 2012 State Fair medals continued from previous page

NAME MEDAL VINTAGE and VARIETY

wine and food pairing Lindsay, Dan & Silver 2008 100% Cherry Patricia Bronze 2009 100% Noiret Food: Lemon cake Bronze 2008 100% Montepulciano Wine: Viognier Bronze 2009 50% Riesling, 50% DeChaunac rosé Recommended by: Charene Bronze 2010 33% Niagara, 34% Diamond, Beltramo, Director of Marketing, 33% Cayuga Cline Cellars, Oakley, California, Morley, Betty Silver 2011 Vincent on chowhound.com. Silver 2011 Lakemont/Cayuga Know of a great wine and food Bronze 2011 Vincent/Rougeon

pairing? Submit it to newsletter@ Pearce, Ken & Silver 2011 Pinot Noir (from White Pine rochesterwinemakers.org. Please Bridget Vineyards) include the source of the recom- Silver 2011 Pinot Noir (from Bill Davis) mendation. Silver 2011 Cayuga Bronze 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon

Bronze 2011 Riesling Bronze 2011 Cabernet Franc Classifieds Pfister, Kevin Silver 2010 Niagara Blush (Niagara 70%, Concord 30%) Silver 2011 Blushing Lady (Ives 68%, Traminette 32%) Silver 2011 Lucky Lady (Ives 50%, Geisenheim 50%) Rizzo, Richard Silver 2011 Red Currant (estate grown) Silver 2011 Cayuga Silver 2011 Sauvignon Blanc Bronze 2011 Cayuga/Seyval/Aurore rosé blend (Maiden's Blush from Fall Bright) Smothergill, Dan Silver 2011 Pinot Gris Silver 2011 Iona Silver 2011 Cayuga Silver 2011 Riesling Bronze 2011 Dutchess Bronze 2011 Muscat Ottonel Sulouff, Ernest Bronze 2011 40% Cayuga (NY), 60% Riesling (Chile) Zoghlin, Mindy & Gold 2010 Dandelion Ben

SAVE THE DATE!

2013 WineMaker International Amateur Wine Competition— accepting entries through March 15, 2013. Largest home wine competition in the world. Ship entries to Vermont. Entry fee $25 per wine. Results posted after May 18. www.winemakermag.com/competition.

SAVE THE DATE! www.rochesterwinemakers.org 3 Home Wine Press October–November 2012

Play it easy or play it hard! Choose your level of difficulty:  For easiest solving, see the word list on page 5 and find those words in this puzzle.

 For more challenging play, use the clues on this page to suggest

words that may be found in the puzzle and search for those words. Use the list on page 5 only if you get stuck.

H C T I P X X M K I D M E C N I

D F A U T O L Y S I S O D O I P No. 5 Z N P H O S P H A T E N I L T C Wine Yeast F E A V S N I M A I H T X D R R E G X M N L M N V R C R O T O W (Answers on page 10) E Y K S E O A O A A E A I O G H T X F E N L I I R T P C D L E I H O S I C E L T R R R H N E N T

A Y U O S A X A A A A E O R N E N M H A L E T T L L G T B A B L

O O M V R S S N Q C U Z R N V A L Y I O T D J E G B S C A T K B Z N L S E C Y M O R A H C C A S

J O A R E T A R D Y H E R O D W C E P E V W Y E A S T H U L L S Y K C U T S T F S O R B A T E F

CrossWord Search clues: 1. Yeast pee 11. Yeast line that includes EC-1118 22. Unhappy yeast situation 2. Sometimes-desirable dead yeast 12. Yeast graveyard 23. Main yeast food decay 13. Red Star’s best-seller yeast 24. B healthy for yeast 3. What yeast “exhale” (two words) 14. The N in YAN 25. Liquid yeast company (two 4. Not sensitive to chills (two 15. Fickle friend of fermentation words) words) 16. The P in DAP 26. Oregon maker of Vintner's 5. Fruit-pigment-retaining ability 17. Add yeast Choice (two words) 18. Celestially-named yeast compa- 27. A.k.a. “yeast ghosts” (two 6. The DA in DAP ny (two words) words) 7. Primary wine alcohol 19. Make dry yeast active again 28. Activated culture (two words) 8. What we need yeast for 20. Wine yeast genus 29. Fermentation catalyst inside 9. Clumping ability 21. Second name in yeast birth con- yeast cell 10. Canadian yeast company trol © 2012 RAHW

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LOG NOTES: CrossWord Search No. 5 Word List 1. Alcohol 2. Autolysis Winner of 2012 NY State Fair Double Gold medal 3. Carbon dioxide By Jim Emens 4. Cold tolerant I can give you an approximate account of the process. This was only 5. Color extraction my fourth year of making wine. I consult Tom Banach often through- 6. Diammonium out the process. Here goes. 7. Ethanol 8. Fermentation First weekend of October 2011 I picked up six gallons of Cayuga juice 9. Flocculation from Fall Bright. Waited 24 hours to allow juice to warm to room 10. Lallemand temperature. Added corn sugar to 21.5 Brix, then added a yeast starter 11. Lalvin made with Cotes des Blanc yeast (see below for Yeast Starter direc- 12. Lees tions). Also added ¼ gram per gallon of Lallemand optiWHITE. 13. Montrachet After 24 hours added ½ tsp Fermaid K yeast nutrient. After three days 14. Nitrogen added another ½ tsp Fermaid K yeast nutrient. After fermentation al- 15. Oxygen most stopped, added ¼ heaping tsp DAP, dissolved in water prior to 16. Phosphate adding. 17. Pitch Waited one week and racked wine. In December I put wine outside for 18. Red Star cold stabilization. Last year took about two months before getting a 19. Rehydrate full week of cold enough temperatures to achieve this. Brought wine 20. Saccharomyces indoors and racked immediately. 21. Sorbate 22. Stuck Last week of March I back sweetened it. I used ¼ cup of table sugar 23. Sugar per gallon and dissolved it in about one quart of wine. I slowly added 24. Thiamin small amounts to wine, mixed and tasted to a desired taste. My sister 25. White Labs Roxanne was a tremendous help in this area. I know everyone’s taste 26. Wyeast is different but we tried to keep it semi-sweet. I ended up using about 27. Yeast hulls two-thirds of the sweetened quart. 28. Yeast starter I let the wine stand for one week to make sure there was no further 29. Zymase fermentation occurring. I filtered the wine through a .5 micron filter and bottled. I would like to especially thank Tom Banach for all his help he gives me each year. His knowledge of winemaking is awesome. Without his help I would be lost. I hope this is sufficient information to help others in the wine club. Directions to make Jim’s Yeast Starter

For a 5-6 gallon batch: Fast Fact 1. Start with 100 ml distilled or bottled chlorine free water that is 100– In Australia, dessert wines are 105 degrees F and add 1/4 tsp Go-Ferm (or grams marked on pack- known as “stickies”. et). Stir to dissolve Go-Ferm. www.wineaustralia.com 2. Sprinkle yeast on top and let sit for 15 minutes. 3. Add 300 ml 75–80 degree F distilled or bottled chlorine free water, ¼ cup corn sugar (dextrose) and a pinch of Fermaid K yeast nutrient. Stir and cover for 2-4 hours. 4. Pitch into Juice or must at 72–80 degrees F.

www.rochesterwinemakers.org 5 Home Wine Press October–November 2012

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 PART 3— Illustrating the Effects of Ionization States

By Dale Ims In previous Home Wine Press articles concerning acids we have pointed out that the acids present in our wines and juices may not be completely doing their pH-lowering, acidic thing in those liquids due to the fact that they (the acids) are not completely ionized in those environments. If you’ve ever added acid to a juice or must and found that the added acid reduced the liquid’s pH less than anticipated, you have likely already experienced the effects of incomplete ionization.

It occurred to me that one way to illustrate the effects of incomplete ionization of an acid would be to experimentally examine how the pH of a solution of acid in water varies with the concentration of the acid. Such an experiment would require the measurement of the pH of solutions of water with known amounts of the acid added, and then comparing those measured values to the pH values which would be expected if the acid were completely ionized under all conditions. Switching gears I did some preliminary planning for such an experiment, but in doing so If you’ve ever added acid I realized that it would be difficult to accurately prepare the solutions to a juice or must and required to get a reasonable set of data over a range of pH; we’ll show found that the added ac- later that it takes less than 0.1 milligrams of tartaric acid to lower the pH of a liter of water to 6.0! id reduced the liquid’s pH less than anticipated, After thinking about such an experiment a bit more, it occurred to me that it should be possible (and easier) to calculate the pH levels rather you have likely already than measure them. For strong acids like hydrochloric which are always experienced the effects completely ionized in solution, and where there are no complicating fac- of incomplete ionization. tors like buffers, it is easy to calculate the effects of the additions of the acid on the pH of a solution. However, for the relatively weak bi- functional acids like tartaric and malic, it becomes more complicated. The complications arise from the fact that—depending on the pH level of the solution—the acid molecules may doubly ionize by the loss of two hydrogen nuclei, singly ionize by the loss of only one hydrogen nuclei, or fail to ionize at all. In fact, at typical wine-level values of pH, some of our acid molecules are present in each of the possible ionization states. The equations used for calculating the ionization states of acids as presented in the earlier article utilize the pH value of the solution and the pKa value(s) of the acid to determine the states. Here, however, we continued on next page

Our Aug.-Sept. 2011 issue contained “Acids in Wine—An overview of what acids are, how they work and which ones we should care about” and our Feb.-March 2012 issue contained “Acids in Wine, Part 2—Ionization States of Acids: How wine acids’ pKa values control pH and why pH will go only so low.” Both articles are on our website. www.rochesterwinemakers.org 6 Home Wine Press October–November 2012

Wine Acids continued from previous page were trying to calculate the pH of a solution with a known concentration of acid, but an unknown distribution of ionization states. While there may be a way to directly calculate the pH values of solutions of these weak bi-functional acids, I could not find it. An iterative approach The differences be- After some further research and a good bit of thought, it occurred to me tween the pH values in- that we could do the required calculations using an iterative trial-and- dicated by the blue line error procedure which utilized the process I already knew for calculating and those indicated by the fractional ionization states. Briefly, this calculation procedure in- the red line are due to volves making an estimate of the pH value of the solution of interest, then calculating the fractions of the acid which are present in the singly the increasingly incom- and doubly-ionized states, then from those fractions and the total amount plete ionization of the of acid in the solution, calculating the total concentration of hydrogen tartaric acid as the ions in the solution (usually denoted as [H+] for the hydrogen ion con- concentration of the ac- centration), and then finally calculating the pH from that hydrogen ion id is increased and the concentration. If the pH you calculate is the same as the estimate you pH level is reduced. started with (unlikely in the first round!) your estimate was correct. If the pH value you calculate is not the same as the one you estimated at the start, you make a new, wiser estimate (i.e. between the previous estimate and the calculated result based on that estimate) for the pH value and do all the calculations again. After a few cycles of this calculation (iterations) you should reach the point where the calculated and estimated pH values are equal, and that is the end point for this particular acid concentration. That all sounds like quite a bit of work, and it would be if there weren’t com- puters and spread- sheets; with those it’s really not difficult. I used that iterative process to calculate the pH value for solutions (assuming each solution to have a volume of 1 liter) Figure 1. How pH varies with the concentration of tartaric acid. The blue line is how tartaric acid would affect pH if it were always completely ionized; the red line is the with various estimated actual pH because tartaric acid is bi-functional and does not completely ionize. amounts of tartaric acid added and then made a chart illustrating how pH varies as tartaric acid is added to a 1- liter solution with water. The chart is shown in Figure 1, with the red line (“corrected”) indicating the data set calculated using this iterative technique which considers the ionization states of the acid. continued on next page

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Wine Acids continued from previous page Notice that this chart uses a logarithmic scale for the x-axis; we use the logarithmic scale for the x-axis of the chart for a couple reasons, but the primary one is that there is a very large range of tartaric acid indicated—the smallest amount is 10 micrograms and the largest is nearly 100 grams—and a linear x-axis would squeeze most of the data points into a small region at the left side of the chart. Tartaric acid shows its true colors In order to visualize the effects of the incomplete ionization of the ac- We found a way to illus- id, we need to include a second curve which would be correct if the trate the effects of the tartaric acid were always completely ionized. That second curve is the blue line on the chart (“uncorr pH”), and it is seen to be an essentially incomplete ionization of straight line which underlies the red line at the left side of the graph. a typical wine acid on the The differences between the pH values indicated by the blue line and pH of a solution without those indicated by the red line are due to the increasingly incomplete doing all the complicated ionization of the tartaric acid as the concentration of the acid is in- sample preparations and creased and the pH level is reduced. measurements At the lower acid concentrations (and higher pH values) in the chart, the fact that the red line lies atop the blue one indicates that in that region of concentration and pH the tartaric acid is completely ionized. However, as the solution pH drops below a level of approximately 4.5, the increasingly incomplete ionization of the acid results in actual values of pH which are increasingly above the estimates based on the as- sumption of complete ionization. The pH level at which the two curves begin to diverge in the graph is set by the value of the upper pKa value of tartaric acid, and a close examination of the red curve in the graph shows a second change in slope of that curve at a pH value of about 3.0 which is due to tartaric acid’s lower pKa value. While the logarithmic scale in the above chart tends to make the effects of the incomplete ionization appear relatively insignificant, an example using numbers from the chart illustrates the magnitude of the effect: assuming complete ionization of tartaric acid, we would need to add 0.8 grams of it to a liter of water to get a pH of 2.0; however, to reach that level of pH we would actually need to add 15 grams! Summary We found a way to illustrate the effects of the incomplete ionization of a typical wine acid on the pH of a solution without doing all the complicated sample preparations and measurements that we initially thought would be required. The results show that at a pH level above 4.5 or so, tartaric acid is completely ionized in solution with water, but at pH levels below that value, the effects of the incomplete ionization of the acid become increasingly apparent.

www.rochesterwinemakers.org 8 Home Wine Press October–November 2012

Did you know? WINEMAKING TERMS DEFINED: Grapes and wine come in all the colors of the rainbow, and then More French Terms— some. In the Tasting Room You know that white grapes, which by Jill Misterka are actually green or yellow, produce wine that is anywhere from Engage in witty repartee at your next wine tasting event using these pale yellow to gold in color. Red French language terms, which are not in alphabetical order. grapes are sometimes purple, blue NOTE: dzh is pronounced like the last g in garage. or almost black, and can be used to make red wine or rosé (which is vin (vahn; the n is pronounced very subtly) wine. French for pink). You may know dégustation de vins (day-goo-stahs-YONE duh VAHN) a wine that orange wine is made from tasting. white grapes fermented with the sommelier (suh-mehl-YAY) a restaurant wine steward. Several or- skins as you would a red. But how ganizations worldwide certify sommeliers. A female wine steward is a familiar are you with gray wines? sommelière (suh-mehl-YARE). Probably more familiar than you millésime (mee-lay-ZEEM) the year a wine’s grapes were harvested. thought as you’ve likely heard of Called vintage in English. Pinot Gris, but you may not have known that gris (pronounced gree) sabrage (sah-BRAHDZH) a method of opening a bottle of sparkling is French for gray. Pinot Gris is wine using a sword or knife. The blade of the sword is pushed vertical- known as Pinot Grigio in Italy be- ly up the bottle neck in one quick movement to catch the bottom of the cause grigio is Italian for gray. collar and crack it off. The erupting bubbly is supposed to wash away any glass shards. Called sabering in English. Besides Pinot, other vines that come in noir (which is French for Types of wine: black), blanc (French for white) vin de goutte (vahn duh GOOT) wine made from free-run juice. and gris versions include Grenache and Frontenac. Sauvignon Blanc vin de presse (vahn duh PRESS) wine made from pressed juice. comes in a gris version, as do sev- vin nouveau (vahn noo-VOE) wine from the latest vintage. eral other lesser-known vinifera varieties. vin de garde (vahn duh GARD) wine that has been aged or is being aged. Related versions have almost iden- tical DNA and vine and leaf char- vin d'assemblage (vahn dah-sahm-BLAHDZH) blended wine. acteristics. A gris vine may be a vin de cépage (vahn duh say-PADZH) wine labeled by grape varie- mutation from either its red or ty. In France this often implies a low quality wine, as most of theirs are white variety. instead labeled as being from a specific region. Called a varietal in The grape berries of a gris may be English. grayish-blue, brownish-pink, or vin de glace (vahn duh glass) ice wine or wine made in that style. another color that is somewhere Words to describe wine: between the red and white versions. The resulting wine will be consid- tranquille (trahn-KEEL) containing no bubbles. Called still in Eng- ered a white if it turns out yellow lish. or gold, or a rosé if it’s pink. perlant (pare-LAWN) containing a small amount of bubbles. Called Sources: en.wikipedia.org; spritzy in English. www.thewinecellarinsider.com; continued on next page www.winegeeks.com; WineMaker Feb-March 2012.

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French Tasting continued from previous page pétillant (pay-tee-YAWN) containing a medium amount of bubbles. Answers to Called semi-sparkling in English. CrossWord Search No. 5 mousseux (moo SOO) containing many bubbles. Called sparkling (Over,Down,Direction) in English. 1. Alcohol (7,6,SW) blanc (blahn) white. 2. Autolysis (3,2,E) 3. Carbon dioxide (13,13,N) rouge (roodzh) red. 4. Cold tolerant (14,1,S) brut (broot) very dry. Used mainly for sparkling wine. 5. Color extraction (1,15,NE) 6. Diammonium (11,1,SW) sec (seck) dry. 7. Ethanol (1,6,S) demi-sec (deh-mee SECK) medium dry. Called semi-dry or off dry 8. Fermentation (8,16,N) in English. 9. Flocculation (16,16,NW) 10. Lallemand (9,10,NW) doux (due) Literally means mild, but for wine means sweet. 11. Lalvin (7,8,SW) And finally, for home winemakers: 12. Lees (6,5,SW) 13. Montrachet (12,1,S) vin de pissenlit (vahn duh pees-awn-LEE) dandelion wine. 14. Nitrogen (15,1,S) Disclaimer: Some of these terms and/or their pronunciations may be 15. Oxygen (2,8,N) regional to only certain parts of France. For the nouns the male or 16. Phosphate (3,3,E) female articles have not been included. 17. Pitch (5,1,W) 18. Red Star (4,14,NE) Special thanks to Polly Smothergill for sharing her expertise in 19. Rehydrate (13,14,W) French by proofreading this article. And thanks to all our readers for 20. Saccharomyces (16,13,W) your patience while we explored French viticulture and oenology. 21. Sorbate (9, 16,E) In our next issue: Alternative winemaking. 22. Stuck (6,16,W) 23. Sugar (11,12,N) Sources: Techniques in Home Winemaking by Daniel Pambianchi; 24. Thiamin (12,4,W) www.boissetfamilyestates.com; www.beyond.fr; fr.wikipedia.org; 25. White Labs (16,5,S) en.wikipedia.org; www.winex.com; champagnesabrage.com; 26. Wyeast (6,15,E) www.winespectator.com; www.centralcoastwinereport.com; 27. Yeast hulls (7,15,E) www.winegeeks.com; www.larousse.com; www.wordreference.com; 28. Yeast starter (1,16,NE) dictionary.reverso.net; www.forvo.com; french.about.com. 29. Zymase (1,13,NE)

Site to See volerewines.com Guys can skip this one (unless they’re looking for gift ideas) but female readers might appreciate Volére, a line of Italian wines sold in purse-shaped wine boxes. Imagine a girls’ night out carrying a cream color handbag filled with 1.5 liters of Pinot Grigio…or the red one with a Merlot-Pinot Noir blend…or the pink purse with rosé. So cute, and only $12.99. Look for them at select wine shops.

www.rochesterwinemakers.org 10 Home Wine Press October–November 2012

New Wayne County Winery

By Jill Misterka The Lake Ontario Wine Trail gained a new member when Ontario Barn Vineyards joined Young-Sommer Winery, JD Wine Cellars and Thorpe Vineyard as the newest winery in Wayne County (Casa Larga is the only Monroe County member of the trail). Ontario Barns Vine- yards is located in the town of Ontario, just east of Webster, and is named for its big red 1875-built barn tasting room. I had a special interest in this property, as it is within three miles of our Photos by Jill Misterka home and had previously belonged to Frank and Vera Fugmann, par- The tasting room and inspiration for ents of a high school friend. Frank, an amateur wine and sparkling the name Ontario Barn Vineyards is wine maker who passed away earlier this year, had provided tastings open weekend afternoons until De- for—and shared his old-world winemaking secrets with—the owner- cember 16 to-be, and his grapevines and fruit trees came with the property. The new owner, Christopher Staub, became an amateur winemaker and honed his skills for the next five years before turning pro. Ontario Barn Vineyards specializes in dry wines: Carmine, Noiret, Cab Franc rosé, a blend of the three called Fiddle Barn Red, and Char- donnay. In addition they produce dry pear, apple-persimmon and peach wines, each from estate-grown fruit blended with small amounts of estate-grown Niagara (their other grapes are purchased from Smith Bros. Farms in eastern Wayne County). Since a delay in federal approval for the labels kept them from releas- ing most of their wines earlier—and since their 2011 vintage consisted of a whole 70 gallons—Ontario Barn became a tasting room for Castel Grisch, Lamereaux Landing and several other Finger Lakes wineries. Barry’s Crossing, with its Irish fiddle and mandolin music, got toes That also provides the sweeter wines some visitors may look for. We tapping and hands clapping paid $3 per person for a tasting of four wines. We headed over on the first Friday in October for a release party for their 2011 reds. As with all of their once-a-month Sunset Wine Tasting Events, this one featured live music. We enjoyed Irish fiddle music from a very talented duo, Barry’s Crossing. The annual Ontario Barn Festival each summer (they’ve had six—this event predates the winery) features several bands, food, a craft sale and other activities. Chris plans to add some additional wines, including Riesling, for the 2012 season. Even though our favorite wines there are made by other wineries (and I like my fruit wines at least a little fruity), we look for- ward to supporting our hometown winery and burning a few wine calo- ries grooving to a great band before a short ride home.

Ontario Barn Vineyards 513 Whitney Road, Ontario, NY 14519 716-202-4469 www.ontariobarnvineyards.com Open Saturdays and Sundays from 12:00 noon to 5:30 pm until Owner Chris Staub with his wife, December 16 (reopening again in the spring). Liya Moolchan, and some of their reds

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Article and photos by Jill Misterka Highlights of A highlight of summer for local amateur winemakers is always the the Last Meeting Home Wine Seminar put on by the NYS Home Wine Committee of the The 41 members and guests who American Wine Society, and this year’s program was exceptional. attended the September 8 meeting Here are a few points gleaned from the August 11 event: included new member Phil Pa- We thought we’d accidentally stum- lumbo. Wines shared included bled into a college chemistry course some State Fair medal winners. when Daniel Pambianchi started his The club has Nomacorc corks for discussion and slides about wine sale (see page 3). The supplier for acids (though RAHW members club shirts has moved to Rush, NY, were prepared—if we’d read Dale and an updated price list is forth Ims’ articles about pKa, pH, buffer- coming. ing, deacidification, etc. in past newsletters). Eventually Daniel Jill Misterka thanked members Tom Banach, David Gerling, Hank came back down to our level with Daniel Pambianchi useful info like the difference be- Kingston, Ernie Sulouff and Serena tween TA and VA, which other wine characteristics balance high acid, Michels for contributing to the last how to control acid extraction during pressing, and what the “freezer newsletter issue. She also thanked test” can tell us. Polly Smothergill, Dan’s daughter, for volunteering to proofread arti- Brandon Seager of Red Newt Cellars generously shared six samples of cles containing French terms (see aromatic white wines while explaining how he made them, from start- page 9). ing with the right grapes, Brix levels and yeast, to always ending with fining. Our webmaster, Tim Fitch, reported that he was preparing to update Tom Mitchell warned us, accurately, that harvest would be very early the software of the Content Man- this year, then we enjoyed the great pizza included with admission. agement System that our website After lunch, a bundle of energy from Cornell U named Melissa Aellen uses. This should be transparent to thoroughly explained how to detect, prevent and correct (when possi- viewers of the site. ble) several wine flaws. A few in- Hank Kingston reported that we teresting things we learned: if you now have 69 households as mem- use sorbate, don’t use less than the bers, with 97.5% of 2012 dues recommended amount or the yeast paid. We are definitely going to will become immune and you’ll receive membership cards, which make things worse; screw caps are will be handed out at the November the best closure for preventing oxi- meeting and may be presented for dation, but not if they’re plastic possible purchasing discounts at lined; and those corks made from our suppliers. A page of prototype agglomerated cork pieces and glue cards was passed around to view. are called technical cork and are Melissa Aellen quite good at preventing TCA. Also, Hank expressed thanks to club members for the printing of Dessert came last—dessert wine, that is—as we learned how to make and distributing of our new club late harvest and ice wines and port from Mark Patterson of Casa Larga tract cards. This has helped in get- Vineyards and Jonathon Oakes of Leonard Oakes Estate Winery, while ting the word out. sipping on an example of each style. Only thick-skinned, strong- stemmed grapes will hang until winter, but not all varieties taste good Terry Chrzan reported on the Sem- as late harvest wines, so choosing the right vines is the first step. Mak- inar this past August (see article at ing ice wine is so labor-intensive it’s not really a moneymaker for win- left). eries, but it generates awards and publicity. continued on next page

www.rochesterwinemakers.org 12 Home Wine Press October–November 2012

Viticulture 2013 COOK WITH WINE: On February 6-8, 2013, the Roch- ester Riverside Convention Center Coq Au Vin (Chicken in Red Wine) in Rochester, New York will be the site of Viticulture 2013, a wine and By Jill Misterka grape industry conference and trade With apologies to Julia Child we present a version of a classic French show sponsored by the New York dish that is easier than hers was (this one doesn’t require washing so Wine & Grape Foundation and many pans). Julia was right about one thing, though—this dish is even Cornell Cooperative Extension. better when prepared ahead, making it ideal for company. The conference occurs every three ¼ cup olive oil years and has seminars on viticul- 2 onions, sliced ture, enology, marketing, and legal 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced and financial issues that affect the 8 oz. white mushrooms, sliced wine industry. Cold Climate Wines ¼ lb. bacon, chopped will be the focus in 2013. See 1 chicken, cut up, or 3 lb. breasts, thighs and legs (6-8 pieces) www.vit2013.com for more infor- 2 cups beef broth mation. 2 cups dry red wine 2 bay leaves 1 ½ tsp. dried parsley, or ½ cup chopped fresh parsley Highlights continued from prev. page 1 tsp. whole thyme Ernie Sulouff was preparing to take ¼ tsp. black pepper orders for the Italian juices as soon salt, to taste (omit if using salted broth) as the price list was received, with 6 tbsp. butter delivery expected to be early Octo- 6 tbsp. all purpose flour ber. Ernie also stated that he knew Heat a deep, 12” diameter skillet on medium; add olive oil, onion and a home winemaker with equipment garlic and sauté until tender. Add the mushrooms and sauté until barely for sale. tender. Remove vegetables from the pan into a large bowl and set aside Mindy Zoghlin reported that the until later. club by-laws are being updated, In the same pan fry bacon until clear (partially cooked). Add chicken and that she will send out a notice pieces to pan and brown about 5 minutes on each side. Add beef broth, of the changes to all members be- wine, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, pepper and salt. Partially cover, bring fore any vote occurs. to a simmer, and continue simmering for about an hour or until chicken A plaque was presented to the is tender. (Optional: at this point Julia recommended removing liquid owner of The Nutcracker Restau- from pan and skimming off fat.) rant, in appreciation for allowing us In a small nonstick pan, heat butter on medium until melted. Add flour to meet there the past several years. one tablespoon at a time, stirring constantly until thick and smooth. Congratulations were given to all Stir into chicken along with mushroom mixture. Cook on low until the members who won medals at sauce is thickened. this year’s NY State Fair, the Serve over noodles or rice. Makes 6-8 servings. For more servings, use Western NY Contest (Niagara twice as much chicken, browning in batches if need be. County Fair) and the Erie County Sources: Adapted from The Frugal Gourmet Cooks with Wine by Jeff Fair (see page 2). Smith and The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child. All recipes are Financial Report tested before printing.

Paul Carletta reported that RAHW had $1,390.44 as of September 8, 2012.

www.rochesterwinemakers.org 13 Home Wine Press October–November 2012

Calendar of Events for 2012 Saturday, November 10 ...... Club meeting

Calendar of Events for 2013 Saturday, January 12 ...... Club meeting Friday, March 15 ...... deadline for 2013 WineMaker Interna- tional Amateur Wine Competition Saturday, March 9 ...... Club meeting Saturday, May 11 ...... Club meeting July TBD ...... Club meeting Saturday, September 14 ...... Club meeting Saturday, November 9 ...... Club meeting

About Rochester Area Home Winemakers Officers: President: Bruce Dunn Vice President: Tom Banach Secretary: Richard Catalfo Treasurer: Paul Carletta Board of Directors: Mindy & Ben Zoghlin (Chairs) ...... Tom Banach ...... [email protected] Paul Carletta ...... [email protected] Richard Catalfo [email protected] Terry Chrzan ...... Bruce Dunn ...... [email protected] Hank Kingston ..... Committees: Membership Committee: Hank Kingston (Chairman) Newsletter Committee: Tom Banach (Chairman), Jill Misterka (Edi- tor), Richard Catalfo, Hank Kingston Social Committee: Bruce Dunn (Chairman) Website: www.rochesterwinemakers.org Webmaster: Tim Fitch ...... [email protected] Facebook Group: Rochester Area Home Winemakers