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76 WINES&VINES October 2018 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST T his article is a companion to the report in the September 2018 issue of Wine East in Wines & Vines on growing Pinot Gris in New York's Finger Lakes wine region. It will present winemaking techniques used by two winemakers, Phil Arras of Dami- ani Wine Cellars in Burdett and Peter Becraft of Anthony Road Wine Co., just across Seneca Lake in Penn Yan. Combined, the two wineries produce about 1,600 cases of Pinot Gris annually. Damiani Wine Cellars Pinot Grigio Damiani Wine Cellars is co-owned by Lou Damiani, Phil Davis and Glenn Allen. Damiani originally studied food science before changing to engineering, but he maintained a serious interest in wine. He and longtime grower Davis partnered to plant their first vinifera grapes in 1997 and released their first wines in 2004, with 1,200 cases. Today, they have approximately 40 acres of vineyards and pro- duce about 8,000 cases annually. Damiani was the wine- maker from 2003 until 2012, when he handed over his duties to Phil Arras. Arras came to the region in 2003 to study philosophy and political science at Cornell University. While there, he took the popular wine appreciation course and decided wine would become his vocation. "I was always a science nerd," he said. He began working for Cayuga Lake's Shel- drake Point Vineyards in 2008. He intended to study winemaking at the University of California, Davis and was accepted into its program. Fate in the name of Lou Damiani intervened, and Arras took a full-time job assisting him in January 2009. After serving as the assistant winemaker for three years, he was named head winemaker in 2012. In addition, Arras now operates a small mobile wine-bottling business for Damiani and several local wineries. Damiani's Pinot Grigio is so named because of its style and his family heritage. Arras looks to make the wine in a lighter, crisper style, with alcohol limited to about 12%. With that in mind, he chooses to use fruit with Brix levels that are not too high (19°-20° Brix) in order to maintain a bright acidity. Whether the grapes are purchased from longtime supplier Chris Verrill or sourced from the winery's own vineyards, he said, "I want to pick on flavor, but I use numbers as a good indicator of ripeness, as well." He did stress, however, that with Pinot Gris, acidity can drop precipitously, with pH skyrocketing if the fruit hangs too long. When the hand-picked fruit arrives at the winery, it is put into a refrigerated tractor-trailer and stored overnight, set at 35° F, so it is at 38-40° F for processing the next morning. The grapes are removed from their 30-pound Pinot Gris in the Finger Lakes Winemakers discuss their methods and equipment for producing the aromatic white wine By Ray Pompilio ANTHONY ROAD WINE COMPANY Three juice samples of Pinot Gris grapes at Anthony Road Wine Co. The dark one (left sample) was on the skins for two to three days and will be used for a skin-fermented wine. The sample in the center was juice from machine-picked Pinot Gris that got to the press after a few hours. The light sample (right) was machine- picked fruit that arrived at the winery minutes after picking.