Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/480754
April 2015 WINES&VINES 79 WINE EAST WINE INDUSTRY NEWS Bradley Beam, enologist for the Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association, said blending in softer grapes such as Prairie Star can bring down the acid and added, "We need to look at blending a lot more." But malolactic fermentation, he said, is not necessarily helpful in deacidfying the wines. "We did a Frontenac Gris that way, and it came out tasting like a Dreamsicle." Winemakers should not shy away from the sweetness their grapes contain at optimal ripe- ness levels. "Sweet sells," said Mark Wenzel, winemaker at August Hill Winery in Peru, Ill. "I don't know that the varietal matters so long as it's sweet." At Shelburne, Joseph said, "We do an off- dry red and an off-dry white, and both of them outsell all our dry wines. That's a reflection of the people coming in the door. As a wine- maker, these are not wines that I'm excited about, but we have to do what customers want, and they enable me to make wines I want to drink." The sweetness factor rises the further one gets from cities, several panelists said. "The more rural your winery is," Beam said, "the more popular sweet wines are." Not that there's anything wrong with that, he quickly added. "Sweet's not a fault. A lot of people say that you can hide anything with sugar, but people can sense if something's off, something's not right about a wine." For those struggling with the high-sugar, high-acid aspects of cold-climate grapes, Beam has a widely available, very inexpensive solution. "If you're at 25° Brix with high acid," he said, "a little water can help in both as- pects. The earlier you can make that blend, the better." Added Wenzel: "People do it all over the world, but people don't like to talk about it. With our La Crescent, we might try 1% water, and it really pushes up the aromatics." While distilled water would be the preferred addition, Wenzel goes to the well. "We use well water and haven't seen any flaws. Our industry has so far to go and a lot ahead of us. My big thing is I don't want faults. Will it be a better wine with distilled water? I have bigger issues than that." New grapes are making viticulturists' jobs easier and more flexible. Marquette, introduced by the University of Minnesota in 2006, is "a premium variety," Joseph said. A newer hybrid, Petite Pearl, has "a lot of potential," said Irv Geary, owner/winemaker at Wild Mountain Winery in Taylors Falls, Minn. "It's got nice soft fruit, very nice tannins. It could make a phe- nomenal blending wine with Marquette." Other speakers said that wineries should play up different attributes. "Consumers' ac- ceptance of a varietal name is very hard to achieve," said keynote speaker Keith Bown, chief winemaker of Constellation Brands' six Canadian wineries. "Focusing on making better wines at lower Brix…is the long-term key to success." —Bill Ward Learn more at www.PLANTRA.com to Jump Start your new planting 800-951-3806 ©2013 Plantra, Inc. "Paper or Plantra®" The choice is yours! Cover with a carton or Jump Start the whole planting! New Vine or Orchard Tree Checklist Jump Start Grow Tubes Paper Cartons Mini-greenhouse blocks wind without blocking optimal sunlight P NO Uniform growth and full height reduce training trips P NO Multi-year weed spray protection P NO A picking crew harvests La Crescent at Shelburne Vineyard in Shelburne, Vt. LISA ARMS