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February 2016 WINES&VINES 79 WINE EAST WINEMAKING Sheldrake Point Winery Ovid, N.Y. Located on a 155-acre farm on the western shore of Cayuga Lake, Sheldrake Point Winery was founded in 1997. They currently have 44 acres of vinifera grapes and produce about 11,000 cases annually. Their winemaker is Dave Breeden, who has master's degrees in chemistry and philosophy and a Ph.D. in phi- losophy from the University of Illinois at Ur- bana-Champaign. After moving to the Finger Lakes in the late 1990s, he began his wine career as an intern at Cayuga Lake's King Ferry (Treleaven) Winery in 1999. He joined the winemaking team at Sheldrake Point in 2002 and was named their winemaker the following year. In 2013 Sheldrake produced natural ice wine from its Cabernet Franc planted in the late 1990s. Breeden identified which Cabernet Franc grapes he wanted to use for ice wine andhad them covered with netting in Septem- ber 2013. On Dec. 12, 3.16 tons of grapes were handpicked at night. Utilizing an elevator, the entire load was put into their Bucher Vaslin 50-hectoliter mem- brane press. Breeden and a representative from Bucher devised a program to press with only an initial rotation, at a pressure of 2 bars, which lasted for 51 hours without any further rotation. A total of 280 gallons of juice was produced, clocking in at 41.5° Brix, TA of 9 g/L and pH of 3.74. Fermentation began by diluting 5 gallons of juice with 1 gallon of water and inoculating with Laffort VL-1 yeast re-hydrated with Go- Ferm protect nutrient. Small amounts of juice were added over the course of a month, keep- ing the fermentation between 20° and 30° Brix at all times. Additional yeast was added twice more, and the fermentation continued for 59 days between 60° and 67° F. Rather than reach typical table wine alcohol levels, Breeden said he stops fermentation "when we like the bal- ance." This fermentation was stopped by chill- ing on Feb. 12, 2014. He added 300ppm of SO 2 to the new wine as well as 8 pounds per 1,000 gallons of bentonite because, "The Cabernet Franc was remarkably protein unstable." The wine was kept in the tank at around 60° F for about two months, followed by a series of pad filtrations, all with pads by Carl- son that were sourced from Clarifications Tech- nologies Inc. On April 22 the wine was filtered through 10-micron pads, and 10 days later it went through 5.0-micron pads. Five weeks later, on June 16, it passed through 2.0-micron pads, followed four days later with a run through 0.8-micron pads. The wine rested for another 83 days until bottling, when it was sterile filtered with 0.45-micron pads and a 0.45-micron Parker Domnick Hunter mem- brane supplied by Aftek Inc. In 2014, Sheldrake Point made an iced MERCIER BARRELS www.piwine.com • 800-488-7492 Presque Isle Wine Cellars is the exclusive representative for Tonnellerie Mercier French Oak Barrels in Eastern U.S., Ontario and Texas. Mercier Barrels are artisanal in quality but not in price, with customized options to preserve your terroir and enhance the quality of your wine. We use Mercier Barrels for our own wines and You Can Taste the Difference. WINEMAKING SUPPLIES FROM AWARD-WINNING WINEMAKERS SINCE 1964 CALL RANDY BRANCH AT 814- 725-1314 X 209 TO CUSTOMIZE YOUR BARRELS AND DISCOVER THE MERCIER ADVANTAGE.