Frigid weather produces sweet wines

The cold winter helped to produce some real wine gems in the Finger Lakes this year.

Wineries that left grapes hanging past the usual harvest time were rewarded -- temperatures became cold enough to pick frozen grapes from the vine. (At temperatures below 18 degrees, the water in the grapes is ice. The juice produced from frozen grapes has higher concentrations of sugar, acid and fruit flavor.)

Frozen grapes yield about one-third of the normal volume of juice. The concentrated juice collected and made into wine by this method may qualify to be labeled "ice wine."

Wineries on Keuka, Seneca and Cayuga lakes took advantage of at least three cold spells this winter to harvest frozen grapes for producing ice wine.

I had a delightful meeting with Heron Hill Winery lab technician Tracey La Pierre during a recent visit to the Hammondsport winery. I accompanied her to the cellar, where we sampled some of their 2003 Riesling dessert wine.

"We had everybody out there," said Tracey, referring to Dec. 2, when they picked frozen Riesling grapes by hand in about two hours.

The vines had been netted to catch the precious nuggets if they fell -- and to protect the grapes from wildlife intent on doing a little harvesting of its own.

I felt a little like a burglar as Tracey used a wine "thief" (a long tube) to draw out a sample from the 500-liter tank. Having the opportunity to taste something this good, especially before it has been released, was quite a treat.

The wine has a parade of flavors that hit you at different times. I first noticed pineapple, then peach and apricot.

Mineral tones mingle with the fruit flavors. The high acid level was perfectly balanced with the abundance of residual sugar. The result is a very sweet dessert wine that finishes with a clean refreshing taste. It does not cling to your tongue like sweet syrup.

The wine, available at the winery only, will be released this summer.

Fulkerson Winery in Dundee is making vidal ice wine from grapes harvested above Seneca Lake in November.

A mechanical harvester was used to help bring in more than four tons of frozen vidal grapes on Veteran's Day weekend.

Although winemaker Sayre Fulkerson inoculated the juice with yeast at the time, it has been stored at ambient outdoor temperature, very cold, and it has not fermented much yet. He is transferring the juice to oak barrels now that his chardonnay wine is finished and expects to have ice wine out next winter.

Hermann J. Wiemer, owner of the vineyard that bears his name in Dundee, is producing his first ice wine with Riesling grapes. The grapes were harvested as they hung frozen on the vine the evening of Nov. 10 and the morning of Nov. 11.

Hermann and his wine associate, Fred Merwarth, have produced about 180 gallons of the golden nectar. Their wine also has great balance between acid and fruit, with apricot and mineral flavors.

- More next week: I'll return to the topic of ice wines and tell you about a visit to Sheldrake Point Vineyard on Cayuga Lake.

Jeff Richards' wine column appears Saturdays. For comments or questions, he can be reached at 607/271-8279 or 800/836-8970, ext. 279, or e-mail: jrichards@stargazette.com.