TRAVESSIA Winery Blog

Massachusetts wine sucks!

Fact:  Every state in America has a winery.
Question:  How good is the wine being made in each state?

Joel Stein set out to find the answer by drinking and evaluating one wine from each state - 50 states, 50 wines.  He did it with help from his wife, his friends and Gary Vaynerchuck.  This sure seems like a fun exercise and the type of thing that I would love to participate in.  But this experiment was actually published in Time magazine and that’s what I have a problem with.  Readers, regular wine drinkers or not, could read the Time’s article and make purchasing decisions based on how each of the individual state was rated in the review.  Here's the problem…  No single wine can indicate the quality of ALL wine being produced in its native state.  However, reading the review for the Massachusetts wine that was chosen would lead most people to conclude that Massachusetts wine simply sucks.  Here is the review for the Nobska Red wine produced by Cape Cod Winery:

<<If an old lady were to make wine at her bed-and-breakfast and the only ingredients she had to work with were sugar and paint thinner, she'd make this wine. Everyone at the wine-tasting party was choking and running to shake off the taste that reaches down and drags up the darkest part of your soul. Have you ever had cheap grappa? Or Old Grand-Dad whiskey? Then you have some idea of the face this wine causes you to make. Why would you make a heavy, Bordeaux-style red blend (which is what the winery claims it's aiming for) in this cool climate when, even if you somehow succeeded, it would never go with Cape Cod food? A woman at our party has a parent who lives near a different winery in Cape Cod, and she said its wine is awful too.  Rating: Undrinkable — by Joel Stein>>

The review is right on point.  They nailed it for sure.  I tasted this wine early this year after I had heard that the winery was for sale at the time (I don’t believe it was sold).  I had about half a glass of it and dumped the rest.  Cape Cod Winery’s Nobska Red is quite simply one of the worst wines ever produced in the history of mankind.  This is not a subjective matter… the wine is technically faulty and should have never made it to the market.  How did Joel Stein select this wine for his review beats me.  But the Nobska Red is not an indication of the overall quality of the wine being produced in our state.  I’ve written before that there is room for improvement but to make this Nobska Red our state’s “example” wine is wrong.  It’s wrong and not fair to everyone else working hard to improve the quality of their wines, especially those dedicated to growing their own grapes right here in Massachusetts.

To get an accurate review of the quality of wine being produced in each state we would need to taste every single wine being made.  Just kidding :-)  I know this would be an impossible task since there would be tens of thousands of wines to be tasted.  So maybe we should taste a few from each state.  A criteria could be established to determine how wines are selected as representatives of their state.

I salute the experiment and think that it’s certainly a fun way to look at wine in America, maybe even raise more interest in American wine.  But I’m concerned for the inaccurate conclusions that readers may take away from this.  I want to ask the few of you who read my blog to please don’t give up on our local wines even if you come a across a bad one.  Unless the bad one is my own, in which case I expect you to bring it back to me and ask for your money back.

Note that it is not my intention to bash Cape Cod Winery and the people there who I’m sure have no intention to put out crappy wine.

When rain is the enemy of good wine

Early last week I walked through the vineyards in Westport and Dartmouth to evaluate the effect of a total of 5 inches of rain in the previous four days.  Yes, 5 inches... almost as much rain in four days as we got the entire 2007 growing season.  The crop isn't completely lost, and in fact some varietals are doing quite well (Merlot, Cabernet Franc), but it isn't pretty for some of the vineyard blocks.  What are the major impacts of rain during harvest?

Dilution of flavor and sugar in the berries
The vines absorb more water than we would like them to at this stage and the result is that the intensity of flavors is reduced.  Flavor intensity is one of the most important factors in producing good wines.  Sugar is also diluted but that’s not as critical as the loss of flavor since sugar can be added to the juice prior to or during fermentation - a process called Chaptalization.  This correction of the sugar amount in grape juice is usually allowed in cold climate regions like ours where sugar in the grapes may not naturally reach the desired level for good wines to be made.  The French, especially in Burgundy, have been adding sugar to their grape juice for centuries.

The development of rot... Rot = Evil
I could leave it at that, but let me take it a little further.  Wet grape clusters tend to rot especially on tightly closed clusters as in most Pinot varietals.   Rot, even of the noble kind, does not add pleasant flavor to dry wines.  Moreover, berries can burst if they swell beyond the skin's ability to retain all the water which is absorbed.  With the "meat" of the berry exposed to insects and bacteria... it's a disaster in the making.

So, what's a winemaker to do?
Option 1: Pick early.  Yes, sometimes a winemaker and vineyard manager will decide to just go ahead and harvest the grapes the day before the heavy rain.  The problem with this is that sometimes the grapes aren't ripe enough to make good wine.  It's a "play it safe" approach based on the idea that it is better to make some wine than no wine at all.
Option 2: If the decision is made to weather the storm and wait for full ripeness despite all the rain, then extra work has to be done at the winery.  If quality wine is the goal.... the winery has to be very selective when the grapes are finally harvested.  By this I mean that every berry that has developed rot should NOT be included in the making of the wine.  This requires hand picking and hand sorting, a time and money consuming procedure.  Even with the rotten berries removed, we still have to deal with the issue of lack of flavor intensity.  Techniques like draining some of the grape juice from being in contact with the skins (called saigneé) or extending juice to skin contact can be used to try to make the best of it.

That's the price to pay for quality wine to be made in years when mother nature throws at us a pool of water just before harvest.  This off course all comes with heavy financial implications tied to the loss of revenue from sales of either lesser quality wine, or in the worst case... no wine at all to be sold.

This my friends, is another reason why wine is such a special beverage unlike any other liquid we consume.  Next time you fill the glass, think about it... not only is the wine you are drinking a reflection of its natural growing conditions during each individual year, there is no guarantee that the wine made from this vineyard and its vines will be there next year.  This is why most wine labels include the year in which the grapes were grown - it's not just to make it fancy, the year (vintage) does really matter.

 

The Feds say Yay!

On Wednesday I received notification from the TTB that my application for a winery permit was approved.  If you follow me on twitter this is old news to you since I posted (or should I say twitted) the news within minutes.  But I know most of you don’t really know what twitter is all about and are maybe even scared of finding out (and I don’t blame you, I’ve been there).

Having my application approved by the federal government is a huge step.  Over the last few months I’ve seen the Travessia bank account get smaller and smaller.  From the purchase of equipment, to paying for legal services and application fees, to the rent I’ve been paying since August, it’s been a bit, how should I say it… uncomfortable.  All the money going out, no money coming in, and I did not even know if the government was going to let me do this.  It sure takes a little bit of money, but more than money, please say it with me… it takes BIG BALLS.

So, getting this approval feels great, but it’s not a completely done deal just yet.  Now that I’ve got my federal permit, I have to apply for a winery permit with the state of Massachusetts.  Now, you would think that there aren’t that many wineries in Massachusetts so the process should be pretty straight forward and quick.  Think again.  I would not be surprised if I have to wait a couple more months before I clear this final hurdle.  But we all know that these "road blocks" exist for a good reason.  It's about determining how much do I really want this... at least that's what I keep telling myself when the doubts set in from time to time. :-)

We are one step closer to that opening day when we all get to celebrate a good glass of Travessia wine.