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September 2015 WINES&VINES 79 WINE EAST GRAPEGROWING employee Mark Veraguth. The winemaker for Grüner Veltliner and Vinifera Wine Cellars' Ger- man-type wines is Peter Weis, who is both from Germany and trained there. Having worked at Dr. Frank's winery since 2006, Weis is also the Seneca Lake vineyard manager and, as a result, he moni- tors the Grüner from vine bud break all the way through bot- tling. The virus-free vines were obtained from Vintage Nurseries, probably passing through the UC Davis quarantine program. The loamy soil is planted in two blocks, one with 8.5-foot by 5-foot spac- ing, and all the rest planted with 8.5-foot by 4-foot spacing, which consists of about 1,400 vines per acre. The closer planting helps limit Grüner's vigor on this site. The vines are hilled up to a depth of as much as 1 foot in the winter, and that soil is removed for the growing season. The vines are trained with VSP, leaving a maximum of four canes per vine. Since Grüner Veltliner usually produces large clusters, Weis likes to use two to three canes, leaving each cane with 10-11 buds. Leaf thinning is done by hand on the east side of the vines right before or at bloom, and sometimes it's repeated a bit after bloom. If Weis feels he has left too many clusters, he will trim the excess once the berries are pea- sized. He also averages two sum- mer prunings with their hedger and cultivates every other row. By July he ceases cultivation, which helps avoid soil compaction from the tractors and harvester. Thanks to the relatively loose clusters, Weis doesn't see a lot of disease pressure, although he said, "It's a little more tender to downy mildew." As harvest approaches, he aims for good fruit flavors and acid structure. "When the acids go down, the flavors fade a little bit," Weis said. He looks for the berries to start developing a golden hue to complement the usual green, and he likes the flavors to include grapefruit and passion fruit. In 2010, the Grüner grapes had more yellow color, and the flavors were more intense, but not as fruity or crisp. That vintage also produced a higher alcohol level. Winemaking Grüner Veltliner is harvested about five days before Riesling, usually by mid-Octo- ber. The grapes are both hand- and ma- chine-picked, with a yield of 4 tons-4.5 tons per bearing acre, which comes to a bit more than 6 pounds of fruit for each of the 1,400 vines per acre. Since the vineyard is almost an hour away from the winery, the grapes are picked as early in the morning as possible, around 5 a.m., to keep them cool and limit mac- eration from the ma- chine picking. Once delivered, the grapes are given an addition of 50 ppm of SO 2 , are de-stemmed and crushed, and go into the press. Weis sometimes chooses to separate part of the must and allows four to six hours of additional maceration before pressing. The pressing is limited to 2 bars, and press fractions are Winemaker Peter Weis is in charge of German vari- eties at Dr. Konstantin Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars.