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September 2015 WINES&VINES 75 WINE EAST GRAPEGROWING 2 acres of Chambourcin and Steu- ben the following year, and their first wine was made in 1997. Additional plantings of the hybrid varieties Vidal Blanc and Cayuga White were made in 1998, as the accepted wisdom at the time was that vinifera would not sur- vive in their part of northeastern Pennsylvania. The Troxells' particular vine- yard site, however, was milder than surrounding areas, and after doing some more research, they decided to introduce vinifera. They planted Riesling in 1999, and in 2003 added a first planting of Grüner Veltliner along with Cabernet Franc. The following year Troxell was able to source enough Grüner vines from Am- berg Nursery in the Finger Lakes to plant another acre. Based upon the information compiled in the Grüner Vineyards table on page 78, the 2003 planting at Galen Glen was the first commercial U.S. planting of the cultivar east of the Rocky Mountains; the earliest planting of the variety on the West Coast was done in 2001 at Illahe Vineyards & Winery in Dallas, Ore. Grapegrowing Their planting continued with Gewürztraminer in 2005, more Grüner Veltliner in 2006, Zweigelt in 2007, and the last of the Grüner in 2010—this time sourced from Double A Vineyards in Fredonia, N.Y. The winery currently has about 20 acres planted, with Grüner Veltliner totaling almost 3 acres. The Amberg-sourced vines are on 3309 rootstock, while those from Double A are on 101-14. The vines on 3309 are planted with 6-foot x 9-foot spacing, while the 101-14 stock is planted at 4.5-foot x 9-foot spacing. All vines are trained with vertical shoot posi- tioning (VSP), except for a half- acre on Scott Henry, in an attempt by Troxell to limit vigor. Troxell utilizes a two-cane sys- tem, but following two difficult winters, he has left two additional canes to double the buds. Previ- ously he would hill-up the vines for winter protection, but he stopped that procedure about three years ago because he thought the hills made for more of a mess on his sloping vineyards and added extra labor costs to the vineyard. He has a weather station on the vineyard site and measured the coldest winter temperatures at -4° F each of the past two win- ters. According to Troxell, Aus- trian research shows Grüner Veltliner bud damage begins at 0° to -4° F, and based on some of the bud damage he has seen the past two years in lower parts of the vineyard, he thinks the tempera- ture there was a bit colder. Troxell also believes the vineyard eleva- tion helps to mitigate the effects of cold weather. "We're at 1,000 feet of elevation, and when you get cold weather moving into the valleys, we're warmer up here. When I planted the vineyard I didn't think it was a big deal, but now I know it's tremendously im- portant, regarding frost protection and absolute cold temperatures," he said. Their vineyard is just north of Blue Mountain, a 150- mile ridge that forms the eastern edge of the Appalachian moun- tain range. This past winter, temperatures on the south side of the mountain ridge fell as low as -11° F, which might prove to be fatal for Grüner Veltliner. Another difference on his side of the mountain is the soil. Much like the Finger Lakes in New York, the soil is composed of glacial de- posits, providing loose and stony, well-drained conditions that aver- age 5 feet in depth and is dominated with Berks shale, as it is known in the area. On the other side of the mountain, however, the soil is laden with boulders as the glacial deposits ended to its north, where Galen Glen is located. The winery is part of the Lehigh Valley AVA. Troxell also ad- dressed another cli- matic characteristic affecting his vines: the rainfall pattern. Situated between two of the higher ridges of the mountain, he said, "Here, in the middle, we get sig- nificantly less rainfall." Wine- maker Sarah Troxell added, "It's only a small little patch here—a microclimate that is designated a rain shadow." Such conditions warrant irrigation three out of five years, on average. The average bud break for Grüner Veltliner comes in the first 10 days of May. Troxell does early leaf removal right after bloom, in mid-June, using a Collard leaf re- mover. The French machine uti- lizes compressed air, which flexes the leaves, then shreds them and removes leaves on both sides of the vine as well as cleaning out the cluster, encouraging looser bunches. "I clean the garbage out of the cluster and remove the leaves early on. In our climate, Grüner definitely benefits from that," he said. He described his canopy management as "pretty standard" except for his focus on removing very large laterals that shade the fruit, which he generally does in mid-July. He added that Grüner Veltliner is vigorous enough to often war- rant a second hedging later in the season and believes his Grüner tends to be more similar to "grassy" Sauvignon Blanc if nitro- gen levels in the soil are too high. "I don't think we have the benefit of all the clones of Austria, so it's a delicate balance between crop load and pushing the nitrogen down so you get less of the Sau- vignon Blanc while still maintain- ing concentration," he said. This year Troxell plans to introduce some cover crop competition to help tame the vine vigor. Both the Troxells work the vine- yard during the growing season. As winemaker, Sarah Troxell concen- trates on keeping the clusters open and clean to discourage disease pressure, going so far as to open the catch wires because of the cul- tivar's propensity to form its second cluster high on the cane. One prob- lem she notes with Grüner Veltliner is "sour shrivel," which can occur closer to harvest and is exemplified by some of the berries looking like partially deflated soccer balls— both misshapen and too soft to the touch. These berries are very sour and low in sugar, necessitating the removal of the entire cluster. "Growing Grüner is challenging; there are not many wineries here growing it," Galen Troxell said. "I really need to take a trip back to Austria, because I'm not going to figure out the nuances and subtle- ties on my own." Winemaking Typically, harvest is in early Octo- ber, with dates ranging a week earlier or later. Galen and Sarah Troxell both determine ripeness in the vineyard. Winemaker Sarah Troxell thinks that Grüner Velt- liner's thicker skin of holds up well, making harvest decisions easier, for example, than for Riesling. The ripe, green berries will show more gold from sun exposure, and she looks for how easily the berry comes off the cluster. The Troxells prefer tropical flavor char- acters showing some pineapple and white grapefruit. Troxell feels that Grüner Veltliner is a lower acid grape at ripe- ness, so she doesn't like too much acidity before picking. As for the numbers, their fruit typically ranges from 5 to 6 g/L of total acidity, sugar at 22°-23° Brix, and pH Galen Glen Winery owners Sarah and Galen Troxell developed an appreciation for Grüner Veltliner in Germany during the 1990s.