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May 2015 WINES&VINES 91 WINE EAST WINEMAKING ing a 0.45-micron pad. Bell ex- plained he follows some basic guidelines, which include ade- quate SO 2 , no sugar and no oxy- gen pickup when bottling, usually within two weeks of filtration. This time point allows for some uncertainty—choosing the right closure. He wants to avoid those with rampant oxygen exposure, and those with the greatest incon- sistencies, a "quality" Bell believes is found in natural bark corks. He does not want to experience much bottle-to-bottle variation, "and it's natural cork closures which are the biggest perpetrator of that," he said, citing his belief that such corks have the highest standard deviation of quality. Bell currently uses 1.75-inch long Diam micro- agglomerate corks, which provide a comfortable level of predictabil- ity. Ideally, the Cabernet Franc would bottle age for eight months or more, yet business needs some- times shorten time allowed. If it were possible, Bell said he would bottle age two years or more, to develop the complexity he feels the grape can offer. When asked about his pre- ferred style for Cabernet Franc, he said, "The core of the wine should be fruit expression— things like raspberry, raspberry jam, even raspberry seeds—and also some floral, balanced with spice, vinosity and tannin struc- ture." His aim? "We at Fox Run want to make Cabernet Francs that are extraordinarily floral and lifted, smelling of sweet rasp- berry, with hints of herbal tension and maybe contributions from the chlorophyll family." Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, Hector, N.Y. Hazlitt's winemaker Michael Reidy originally thought of follow- ing his father into the brewing industry. However, after part-time winery work in the Finger Lakes, and the opportunity to enroll in the first class of Cornell Univer- sity's undergraduate viticulture and enology program in Ithaca, N.Y., his beverage choice became wine. He finished the program and immediately was hired as as- sistant winemaker at Hazlitt in December 2006. Effective March 2010, Reidy became Hazlitt's head winemaker. Together with vineyard man- ager John Santos, Reidy conducts a number of berry samplings to help determine harvest readiness by berry weight and flavor char- acteristics. He looks for a sugar level of 23°-24° Brix, with "nice color and good seed tannins," which is an optimal scenario. Grapes are machine harvested, separated by vineyard blocks and clones, and processed through a destemmer-crusher with the aim to leave about 15% of the berries unbroken. Typically he adds about 100 grams per ton of Laffort Tanin VR Supra, an exogenous, sacrifi- cial tannin to help preserve the grape tannins, so they can com- bine with the anthocyanins to optimize color. The must rests for about 24 hours with no added SO 2 prior to inoculation. The Cabernet Franc is tank fermented. Reidy primarily uses Lallemand ICV D254 yeast, a Rhone isolate from Scott Labora- tories. He also employs Laffort Zymaflore FX10 and F15 yeasts, which "tend to burn off a little bit of the green that you can get in Bordeaux varieties, especially in this region," he said. Once fermen- tation has begun, he adds a direct inoculation of Chr. Hansen Vinif- lora freeze-dried malolactic bac- teria, sourced from Gusmer Enterprises. This usually coincides with a pump over aeration at 1.060-1.040 specific gravity, when the must is pumped into a tub to release carbon dioxide and allow oxygen into the mix. Overall, the must is pumped over once daily for about three weeks and then sits on the skins another week, or Get the packaging supplies you need, when you need them. Introducing Fast From Stock, our new inventory management tool that guarantees same-day shipping of top-selling wine bottles, closures, PVC's and hard-to-get spirit bottles. Fast delivery just got faster. www.FastFromStock.com • 888-539-3922 Once malolactic fermentation is com- plete, Hazlitt 1852's Cabernet Franc is transferred into barrels.