Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/1031957
80 WINES&VINES October 2018 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST ester, N,Y. Finally, the wine is sterile-filtered at 0.45 microns, with a Padovan plate-and- frame unit, also from Aftek. Becraft makes one last SO 2 check before bottling and, if needed, adds sulfur according to a pH-based molecular formula. Bottling is done with a Costral Comet 2000NG Monobloc filler, sourced from Vance Metal Fabricators, in Ge- neva, N.Y., which decided not to continue to offer such equipment shortly after selling this unit to Anthony Road. It has an 11-spout filler, which the winery utilizes at 1,900-2,000 bottles per hour, with a maximum capacity of 2,400 bottles per hour. The winery bottles its Pinot Gris with twist- off closures, matching colors of the cap with the specific labels. Since each supplier has its own color schemes, Becraft uses closures from several suppliers, including Amcor Stelvin from Waterloo Container, of Waterloo, N.Y., Scott Laboratories and the Guala Closures Group. "The main similarity between all of them is the liner. The ones I use have the Saranex liner. That is the most reductive, tightest cap," he noted. Currently, Anthony Road offers three wines made with Pinot Gris. The regular estate wine, which retails for $15.99; a bar- rel-fermented version for $26.99 (available at the winery only); and as a major compo- nent of the Devonian White, a $12.99 wine utilizing Pinot Gris press fractions and any of the other wine not included in the final estate blend. The estate wine is stainless- steel fermented, with no malolactic fermen- t a t i o n , w h i l e t h e s m a l l q u a n t i t i e s o f barrel-fermented wine do undergo malolac- tic. Total Pinot Gris production has averaged 850 cases for the last two vintages. Becraft has experimented with used French oak barrels and a puncheon for the fermenta- tion, and for the first time, in 2017, skin- fermented Pinot Gris in a one-ton bin, punched down once a day, and fermented dry on the skins. He transferred the new wine into stain- less steel, and then into two older barrels for aging. The resulting rosé has not yet been released. The puncheon is a 500-liter Hungar- ian oak vessel made by François Frères, and the used barrels, which have only been once or twice, come from California wineries and are made by Canton Cooperage and Tonnel- lerie Mercier. Becraft likes to utilize the used oak both for the economy and for the more subtle oak influences on his Pinot Gris. While he believes the 15-plus-year-old Pinot Gris vines are beginning to offer fruit of some complexity, he is not afraid to blend in small amounts of Riesling if a riper vintage requires some acidity. When asked if he had a particular style of winemaking, he answered, "My job at An- thony Road is to express our estate site on the western shore of Seneca Lake and, conversely, that of the Finger Lakes." He describes his methods as minimal intervention — not hands off, but as a parent might guide his children. "It's worked well for me," he added. We ended the interview with a tasting of six examples of the winery's Pinot Gris, rang- ing from 2012 to 2016. They included the regular stainless-steel wine as well as two of the barrel-fermented vintages, and the 2017 skin-fermented rosé, which showed a spicy texture with modest tannins, complemented by a nice acid structure. It was interesting that the oldest wine tasted (2012) was still very much fruit-driven, with good balance and great acidic finish. This was something of a surprise, since the growing season that year was long and hot and produced some of the Finger Lakes' best red wines in recent memory. I believe this is a testament to the quality of Anthony Road's Pinot Gris fruit and the wine- making techniques used to express it. When well-sited and carefully tended to, Pinot Gris appears to have a bright future in New York's Finger Lakes. Ray Pompilio is a wine writer based in Ithaca, N.Y., and a regular contributor to the Wine East section of Wines & Vines. EASTERN WINE LABS Serving the Analytical needs of East Coast Wineries WWW.EASTERNWINELABS.COM Ph 609-859-4302 Cell 609-668-2854 chemist@easternwinelabs.com AOAC Member EasternWineLab_Mar09.qxp 1/22/09 9:47 AM Page 1 RAY POMPILIO Phil Arras, winemaker at Damiani Wine Cellars