Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/480754
84 WINES&VINES April 2015 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST the canopy to the first set of catch wires. The pruners shorten the spurs to three buds, and in mid-May shoot thin to two shoots per spur point, removing water sprouts and any growth from the third bud, which was left as "an insurance policy." "The reason we spur prune is with 7-foot vine spacing and cane pruning, we had too much apical dominance. We were getting only 25% of the canes in the range of 20-40 grams; the rest were too big or too small," Santos said. He added, "Spur pruning has evened the growth, and the vast majority are in the 20-40 gram range. This leads to a lot less green fla- vors as well." Santos explained that cane pruning pro- duced a large amount of fruit on the bigger canes and that fruit expressed a lot of MP green flavors from the aggressive growth. Spur prun- ing has dramatically lessened that problem, and it allows Santos to keep the canes within his preferred range—roughly equivalent to the diameter of a pencil. With 7-foot spacing of vines, the Scott Henry system affords an additional advantage: If vine sizes within the row vary, they can elimi- nate the bottom part when size dictates that it only needs 40 buds and return to VSP when applicable. Thus, regardless of trellising tech- nique in the row, as long as canes are kept pencil-sized, the right fruit-to-wood ratio will produce consistent quality fruit, even if the fruit yield per vine is different. Leaf removal is done after shoot position- ing, usually around July 4, when they mechani- cally remove leaves from both sides of the trellis, unlike some of their white varieties, where they only remove leaves on the east side of the trellis. Santos has found it necessary to cluster thin Cabernet Franc about once every five years. Based on a historical average of 5 pounds of fruit per pound of pruned canes, he can determine if cluster removal is neces- sary. If so, two or three clusters at most will be removed per vine. To determine harvest readiness, Santos looks at physical maturity parameters. How brown the seeds are, how easy is it to pull berries from the stem, how degraded the pulp is, providing juiciness. "Hopefully all those things align with the chemistry numbers and flavors," he said. Santos stressed that this was an optimal approach and doesn't work every year. On the chemistry side of ripening, they take a weekly sampling of 200 berries and determine the average berry weight. Once the weight begins to decrease and TA goes up, berry dehydration has begun, and sugar in- creases are a function of water loss and not photosynthetic ripening. At this point, the grapes are machine-harvested, with a small amount of handpicking sometimes needed due to disease pressure. Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard, Dundee, N.Y. About 10 miles northwest of Hazlitt, on the west side of Seneca Lake, is Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard. They have some 74 acres of vineyards, the oldest dating to the 1970s, when Hermann J. Wiemer decided to plant his future in this part of the Finger Lakes. The most recent vineyard plantings date to 2009, when they were established under the co-ownership and vineyard staff of Fred Merwarth, who is also the estate's winemaker. Merwarth went to Cornell University, where he studied horticulture, agricultural business and German. A turning point came in 1999, when Merwarth spent a semester in Germany. He finished his education at Cornell and planned to return to Germany as an in- tern. He contacted Hermann Wiemer for help connecting with someone overseas, but Wiemer instead suggested that he join his vineyards and winery, and Merwarth started in March 2001. Within the year, Wiemer's vineyard man- ager and assistant winemaker left, and Mer- warth was given the responsibility of running the bottling line. In 2003 he took over wine- making duties, and slowly Wiemer began to plan his exit strategy from the business. "I didn't look at it as an opportunity," he said, "because I had no plans to stay in the Finger Lakes." The two spent about 2.5 years working out the details, and in August 2007 Merwarth took over ownership, along with his wife Maressa, and shortly after with Oskar Bynke, a former Wiemer intern and Merwarth's friend from college. Merwarth manages 5.5 acres of Cabernet Franc, most of which was planted between 1999 and 2004, with Clones 327 from Bor- deaux and 332 from the Loire Valley. Clone 214 (Loire) and 623 (Bordeaux) were added in 2009. The majority of vines are 327, which "is fantastic—it does a great job of expressing the site," Merwarth said, echoing Santos' appreciation of the clone at Hazlitt. Referring only to Cabernet Franc, Merwarth added, "You don't need as much diversity in mate- rial," and he is satisfied for now with his blend of clones. All the Cabernet Franc is planted on 3309C rootstock, which, he said, "has shown durability, especially this past winter." The Cabernet Franc vines are planted a few miles north of the winery at Magdalena Vineyard. The site is primarily Honeoye silt loam, strongly influenced by limestone and calcareous shale. Clone 332, however, is on Lima silt loam. While much of their plantings are on 8-foot by 6-foot spacing, the Cabernet Franc has much closer vine spacing at 8 feet by 3 feet. Addi- tional vines (Clone 327) are only 2.5 feet apart. This spacing provides Merwarth with 1,600 to 2,178 vines per acre. Fred Merwarth is winemaker and partner at Her- mann J. Wiemer Vineyard. Cabernet Franc Clone 327 is grafted to 101-14 rootstock at Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard in Dundee, N.Y., where the company's nursery business sells 275,000-300,000 plants per year.