Being there for the old and the new of the wine business

Video of Hosmer Winery

Cameron "Tunker" Hosmer and his wife, Maren, own one of the older wineries on Cayuga Lake. In the last several years, Hosmer Winery has won numerous awards for its wine.

JEFF RICHARDS/Star-Gazette Hosmer Winery winemaker Brent Eva, right, talks with customers as they sample some of the winery's Raspberry Royale wine.

But Tunker's heart is often in the vineyard, not the barrel room. Some of the vineyards at Hosmer were planted in the 1970s by Tunker's dad, David.

David had inherited the property from his grandfather's niece, who had used it as a summer place. David wanted to get out of the textile business; he wanted to raise something, and considered everything from buffalo to grapes.

Once he decided on grapes, he grew them to sell to large producers, primarily Taylor.

Tunker has a degree in pomology (the study of small fruits) from Cornell University. He earned it on the advice of his father, who said to the young Tunker, "How about going to school and learning about grapes?"

While he was in school, Tunker spent a semester at Fresno State learning the practical side of grape growing. Meanwhile, while Tunker was learning about grapes, his father was planting Catawba, Dechaunac, Seyval and Moores Diamond varieties on the family farm.

Once Tunker came home, he concentrated on growing grapes, but also did a bit of home winemaking for about 10 years.

"Our friends said ŒYou have to do this as a business' after tasting our wines," Tunker says. "I was pretty amazed when we sold our first bottles." That was the 1985 vintage in 1986.

By the 1990s, the business had expanded to the point where, Maren says, "we had to get the retail business off our front lawn."

JEFF RICHARDS/Star-Gazette Cameron ³Tunker² Hosmer owns Hosmer Winery in Ovid with his wife, Maren.

They brought property across the road and added onto a barn that became the tasting room.

Over the years, Tunker has added different varieties of grapes to the Hosmer mix, including cabernet franc, pinot noir, Riesling and chardonnay. He served as both winemaker and vineyard manager until he hired Martha Gioumousis.

According to Tunker, Martha helped with the winery's barrel changes, suggesting different types of oaking and toast levels for wines that are aged in oak.

Martha was the winemaker for Hosmer's 2001 Dry Riesling, which won the Governor's Cup in 2002.

Tunker was pulled back into the winemaker's chair when Martha left, until Brent Eva came to Hosmer at the end of 2003.

Brent's a local boy who worked with Tunker and Maren in the vineyards to make "boat gas money" while still in high school. He wasn't always a fan of the wine industry.

"When I was young, I just wanted to get out of this place. As I grew up, I kept coming back to here and really liked it," Brent says.

He studied culinary arts at Cobleskill and was a chef at Wagner Winery's Ginny Lee Cafe in Lodi. Brent says he was a "seasonal chef" in the area from 1991 to 1995, and did winery work for the rest of the year.

Brent still was not sure what he wanted to do for a living, so he worked with Tim Miller, the winemaker at Chateau Lafayette Reneau.

"He gave me my real crash-bang course in winemaking and cellar operation," from 1995 to late 1998, Brent says.

At Sheldrake and Standing Stone vineyards, he learned "finer lab skills" before being hired full-time at Sheldrake in 1999. He stayed there until last fall, when he joined Hosmer as its winemaker.

Brent believes that the "mouth feel" is an important part of winemaking, even more crucial than aroma or bouquet. According to Brent, "mouth feel" is the relationship between the alcohol, sugar and acid in the wine.

"You don't want a burning alcohol taste; you are looking for a balance between the acid and the sugar," Brent says.

When it comes time to put the blends together, Maren and Tunker work with Brent.

"It's always good to let people try blends," Maren says.

The three are able to bounce ideas off each other, and the result is a better wine, Maren says.

With Brent on board, Tunker jumped back into his beloved vineyards.

Hosmer has 55 acres of grapes, and "Tunker wants to oversee it all," says Maren. "He has a lot of knowledge and is willing to listen to suggestions. He does love the vineyard."

Tunker is a firm believer in many of the old methods, but embraces much of the new technology, including laser planting.

Bob Madill, co-owner of Sheldrake Point Vineyard in Ovid, needed to plant some vines and tried the Canadian Custom Grape Planting service, which uses laser equipment to survey the field before the vines are planted.

This helps to keep all of the vines in uniform rows, making it easier to maintain the vineyard and pick the grapes.

After the method was used at Hosmer, Tunker realized that "it was a great opportunity."

He became the Finger Lakes contact for the business. Tunker goes all over the Finger Lakes, using a John Deere tractor with a German Wagner grape planter attached, surveying the field with laser equipment and then planting the vines.

"It's a pretty cool business," Tunker says. He describes the process as "fairly sophisticated" and says the vineyards "come out perfectly. It looks like graph paper."

Tunker has seen both the old and the new of the Finger Lakes grape-growing and wine business.

"It used to be a kid, 20 years old, went out and planted five acres of grapes on venture. It's not happening anymore," he says. "Now folks are planting with the intent of having a winery. This whole farm winery thing has a lot of wineries popping up."

Tunker and Maren have a good head start on the new wineries joining them in the Finger Lakes. They planted cabernet franc vines 10 years ago. As the plants have matured the grapes produced have help the winery earn gold medals for their cabernet franc wine each of the last five years.

Wine Guy picks

- Riesling 2003: Tropical nose, apricot taste with a clean, lingering finish.

- Cabernet Franc 2002: Cherry nose, raspberry taste with a smooth and velvety mouth feel.

- Dry Riesling 2003: Citrus, crisp lemon and pear flavors.

Hosmer Winery's suggestions

- Pinot Noir 2002: has a really nice weight and texture; there's a lot there.

- Cabernet Franc 2002: Not really dense and dark; bright fruit and texture.

If you go ...

Phone: 888/HOSWINE (467-9463); 607/869-3393.

Web site, e-mail: www.hosmerwinery.com; info@hosmerwinery.com.

Business hours: Sales and tastings 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Saturday; noon-5 p.m. Sunday, April through December. Winter hours by arrangement.

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