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80 WINES&VINES September 2015 GRAPEGROWING WINE EAST Natural Corks Champagne Corks Twinline Corks Bartops VISION Synthetic Corks G-Cap® Screw Caps Sales Representatives: Chris & Liz Stamp info@lakewoodcork.com lakewoodcork.com 4024 State Route 14 Watkins Glen, NY 14891 607-535-9252 607-535-6656 Fax PIONEER INNOVATOR PARTNER utilized. The juice is cold-settled, followed by a clear racking and, if needed, diammonium phos- phate (DAP) is used as a yeast nutrient. Fermentation takes place in 2,200-gallon tanks, and Weis inoculates with SIHA Active Yeast 7, a highly active dry yeast isolated from German Riesling vineyards in the Mosel. Weis also uses Zymaflore Delta yeast from Laffort, which emphasizes tropi- cal expressions such as grape- fruit, passion fruit, mango and lychee. Fermentation is con- trolled at 59° F and completed in about 18 days. Following fermentation, Weis likes to leave the new wine on its lees up to two months, if possible, and looks for a balance between creaminess and fruit flavors. The wine is filtered once, using a Pall crossflow filter, and bottled with 40 ppm SO 2 into 750ml bottles topped with Saxco screwcaps. The winery switched most of its white wine production closures to screwcaps in 2014, with Chardon- nay the only cork-finished white wine. All the Dr. Frank red wines are also cork-finished. Ideally the wine would be bottled early in the spring, but the 2014 Grüner Velt- liner was bottled Dec. 14, 2014, and released this February. Weis prefers to bottle age the Grüner for a minimum of two months, and preferably a bit longer, but this early release was based on the economic need to replace the sold- out 2013 vintage. Weis said he likes his Grüner Veltliner to be fruit forward, have good acid structure and a moder- ate alcohol level. To fulfill that style, he focuses on trying to get the crop level balanced in the vineyard, stressing that the vine vigor must be moderated. Balance is also the key to the success of Dr. Konstantin Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars. The winery is pro- ducing an average of 60,000 cases annually, according to Wines Vines Analytics, with a selection of wines made from at least 10 vinifera cultivars. The original es- tate vineyards on Keuka Lake are now complemented by the new ones on Seneca Lake, and with their commitment to Grüner Velt- liner, the winery is providing a foundation for fellow American growers to build on—providing a new home for an old Austrian classic. WE Ray Pompilio is a wine writer based in Ithaca, N.Y., where he has close access to the largest concentration of wineries in the state. - B E C O PA D - Y E A S T & E N Z Y M E S - C R U S H PA D E Q U I P M E N T - S T E R I L E F I LT R AT I O N - W I N E R Y H O S E - O A K A LT E R N AT I V E S EASTERN WINE LABS Serving the Analytical needs of East Coast Wineries WWW.EASTERNWINELABS.COM Ph 609-859-4302 Cell 609-668-2854 chemist@easternwinelabs.com AOAC Member EasternWineLab_Mar09.qxp 1/22/09 9:47 AM Page 1 WINES & VINES DIGITAL EDITION View this issue on your tablet, smartphone or online at winesandvines.com/digitaledition